Welcome to the final album review of 2017. While there was one major release yesterday, I am currently on holidays and bulk wrote many of the reviews released this week. You will see that particular album review next week, so please be patient. I thought it would be nice to go back in time to one year ago (December 2016) when Seventeen made their comeback with Boom Boom. That was the title track of Going Seventeen, the focus on today’s review.

1. Beautiful – The track features Joshua, Hoshi, Mingyu, DK, The8 and Dino. It is an upbeat track that displays vibrant energy and feels great as a Summer track (despite it being released in Winter). I think all the members that featured in the song showcased their vocals and rap skills very nicely. It was quite catchy to listen to. (9.5/10)

2. Boom Boom (붐붐) (Title Track) – Click here to read the full review for Boom Boom. (8/10)

3. Highlight (Performance Unit) – The Performance Unit ended up releasing a music video for this track and ended up redistributing the lines for the entire Seventeen group to perform on stage. I like the mixture of pop and EDM, which allowed the Performance unit a chance to showcase more of their individual talents (including the dancing and the vocals). The drop made it epic and a standout. I usually don’t like autotune but whatever they were singing during the chorus, it sounded amazing. (9/10)

4. Lean On Me (기대) (Hip Hop Unit) – I liked how each member opened the song up with one line by singing (and this was seen a few more times throughout the song). I also liked how harsh Wonwoo’s raps sounded despite the song being more along the lines of RnB and featuring a jazzy instrumental. Mingyu’s vocals for the chorus were fresh, while Vernon’s part during the bridge gave the song some edge. It has head-bopping potential and extremely appealing. (8/10)

5. Fast Pace (빠른 걸음) – This track features the entire group. The song aims to go for a more mature sound with a strong impact from the very first second. Wonwoo’s intro and Mingyu’s 24/7 lines were the two that I remember strongly. The raps were perfect but I felt the vocals could have been huskier to make it even more sensual. (9/10)

6. I Don’t Listen (몰래 듣지 마요) (Vocal Unit) – Structurally, this is a very interesting song. Jeonghan and Joshua have softer vocals, so they had a soft instrumental to compliment the vocals. DK, Woozi and Seungkwan have more powerful vocals and they complimented the louder and more powerful instrumentals. I thought that was an example of good production. Naturally, the emotions could be felt flowing from their vocals and the ad-libs were amazing. (9/10)

7. I Don’t Know (글쎄) – This particular song featured S.Coups, Jeonghan, Jun, Wonwoo, Woozi, Seungkwan and Vernon. I enjoyed the subtle guitar in the background and ‘Woo Woo Woo’ in the chorus. The contrast between verse and chorus, in terms of intensity, was appealing. It just didn’t seem as memorable as their other tracks on the album. (8/10)

8. Flower Smile (웃음꽃) – What makes this song memorable is the fact that each member got some time (regardless of length) to show off some of their vocal talents. The chorus is also quite swayable, something I like when it comes to ballads. The emotions come in an overloaded form. What seals the deal for me is the guitar instrumental and the strong harmonies (particularly in the second chorus). (10/10)

Overall Album Rating – 9/10