Seventeen: The Ok-pop band making Glastonbury historical past

The largest act on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage this yr isn't Coldplay or Dua Lipa. The truth is, it’s possible you’ll not even have heard of them.

The act in query is Seventeen, a Ok-pop boyband that has a whopping 13 members and offered greater than 10 million albums final yr.

The one act to promote extra? Taylor Swift.

However regardless of Ok-pop's international success, the UK has remained chilly in direction of the style.

Though bands like BTS, Blackpink, Stray Youngsters and Aespa have damaged out, their largest hits have tended to return in collaboration with Western artists like Selena Gomez, Woman Gaga and Coldplay.

Seventeen don’t collaborate. In contrast to most Korean pop teams, additionally they write and produce their very own materials. Now, they're making historical past as the primary Ok-pop act to grace Glastonbury's foremost stage.

The magnitude of the respect shouldn’t be misplaced on them.

“There’s a nice sense of accountability,” says Choi Seungcheol, also called the chief of the band S Coups.

“We'll hold coming again to that feeling and do our greatest to organize, so we are able to shock everybody… Not simply our followers, however everybody else within the viewers.”

Seventeen play on the pageant in a yr by which it strikes additional than ever from its rock roots.

Reflecting the general public's altering listening habits, they are going to be joined on the Pyramid Stage by Afrobeat icons Burna Boy and Ayra Starr, whereas pop star Dua Lipa and R&B sensation SZA acquire headline standing.

Seventeen play shortly after lunchtime on Friday afternoon. It's a far cry from the late-night units they play in Asia, however S Coups isn't fazed.

“The time of day doesn't actually matter to us,” he says.

“Truly, it's even higher that we carry out within the afternoon as a result of the viewers can see us higher within the daylight.”

That positivity can be acquainted to anybody who's heard Seventeen's music.

Recent lemonade and filled with enthusiasm, songs like Shining Diamond and Very Good are a welcome reminder that pop may be enjoyable.

The band's origins lie within the pistachio inexperienced basement of the South Korean leisure firm Pledis.

That's the place the members have been chosen, rejected, skilled and pruned throughout an extended and grueling apprenticeship.

“It lasted possibly 4 to 5 years,” says rapper Jeon Received-woo, recognized to followers as Wonwoo.

He was one of many first recruits in 2013 and survived a number of rounds of auditions, all of which have been documented within the on-line collection Seventeen TV.

The present was unscripted and unedited and sometimes aired for hours at a time. Followers on the reside stream may select digicam angles, watching as the kids ate, confronted assessments and, on one notable event, have been scolded for losing time.

At one level, the collection disappeared for eight months, leaving followers questioning if the group had been eradicated.

Wanting again, S Coups says the hiatus, throughout which three members have been changed with out rationalization, helped Seventeen take management of their future.

“Our deal was somewhat delayed and Woozi, certainly one of our members, thought we may debut sooner than deliberate if we made our personal music.”

Woozi, whose actual identify is Lee Ji-hoon, turned out to be the band's star card.

A classically skilled musician, he has co-written and produced the vast majority of his output: over 140 songs up to now.

“He impressed the opposite members to get fascinated with making their very own music, so additionally they began studying the way to write songs and lyrics,” says S Coups.

“Collaborating in our inventive course of goes an extended option to making our music extra genuine. That's why we're very pleased with it.”

“That's the massive weapon we’ve,” Wonwoo provides.

It appears unlikely that Pledis would relinquish inventive management after 4 years of molding his younger recruits, however the band says the connection relies on mutual belief.

“Typically we’d do one thing and it could end up in a different way than the corporate had deliberate,” says S Coups, “however I wouldn't essentially name it a battle.”

“It's extra like convincing them to return to our aspect and perceive our imaginative and prescient.”

Seventeen lastly made their debut in Might 2015, with an hour-long reside efficiency on South Korean tv, adopted by the discharge of their first EP, 17 Carat.

At the moment, the lineup consisted of (deep breath) S Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino.

From there, they’re divided right into a vocal workforce, a hip-hop workforce, and a dance workforce. The band's identify is derived from a tripartite configuration: 13 individuals + three models + 1 band = 17.