“Heng:garae” is the 7th mini album from Pledis Entertainment boy group, Seventeen. This follows their most recent full studio album. There are 6 tracks in total. The title track for this comeback is, “Left & Right.”
1. Fearless
We start off the mini with a darker sounding song. This is of the rock genre with heavy guitar chords and notes. This feels like a song that you would hear when characters are about to go into battle. There is a cameo of Fear lyrics near the end, could this be a sequel of sorts? There are great moments of vocal ability throughout the song. After watching Road to Kingdom, this would have been a great song for competition.
2. Left & Right
Right away, this title track makes anyone want to dance. This is definitely inspired by those cha-cha songs from the 2000’s that would play at family gatherings and parties. If you watch the MV, it also features a dance that can be done at these said parties. The song has an infectious rhythm. It continues the rock genre that we got from, “Fearless”, a genre that is no stranger to Seventeen’s discography. After hard hitting songs like “Hit” and “Fear”, this one brightens up the mood.
3. I Wish
“I Wish” slows things down after two different hard hitting tracks. This upbeat ballad transports me to music of the 80’s and 90’s. It is nice and relaxing and appeals to my personal music tastes. Along with the throwback feel, it also feels like it could be an OST track.
4. My My
We got an early preview of this track as a pre-release music video as a gift to the fans. This track has a tropical house feel, but with a more relaxed tone. It feels like a song that you would hear when going on some kind of expedition. It also has an inspirational tone to it.
5. Kidult
Continuing with the rock genre, “Kidult” gives us more of a rock ballad. The tone of the song is very inspirational, to the point that it made me want to look up the lyrics for this one specifically. The lyrics definitely match the tone, as it encourages listeners that it’s okay to retain child-like characteristics as adults. This song shows off the vocalists skills.
6. Together
To cap off this album, “Together” brings good vibes. This pop-rock song has a bright tone to it. It’s probably the perfect song to listen to if you’re going on a roadtrip with loved ones.
Summary
It’s great to see that Seventeen is still holding onto their unique style. They managed to put out a whole mini with almost all rock songs. This mini changes things up from the previous album and title releases. This may not be a typical k-pop release, but it's definitely refreshing amongst a lot of the mainstream releases that we’ve been getting. I hope that they can retain their identity and be able to release albums with a variety of styles in the future.