The Singles Jukebox

A Seventeen sub-unit, sensibly submitted by Anna…

[Video]
[5.93]

Anna Katrina Lockwood: The K-pop boy group ecosystem is wilting under the long shadow of BTS’ influence, with a bumper crop of dudes trying to fill the market gap by hollering unmelodiously through overly conceptual, poorly-lit music videos. Seventeen are doing none of that — instead making use of their we’ve-sold-a-truckload-of-records artistic freedom by releasing “Fighting,” from the BSS subunit. This song has that very particular, K-pop-specific campiness I love so much — not that surprising given they share a label with the sublimely campy Orange Caramel, but surprising when you consider that label is now majority-owned by HYBE, also parent company to BTS’ own label, amongst other business dealings. BSS — short for BooSeokSoon, a portmanteau of a syllable each from the three members’ names — had an initial run five years ago with the vaguely sports-themed “Just Do It,” which is of a piece with “Fighting,” a song about, uh, getting up in the morning and hyping yourself up for the day? These boys are here to sing for you! It’s cheerful, it’s kind of nonsense, it’s melodic as all hell, and you really need to view the music video — a charming set piece of juxtaposed scenarios (bedroom in a Starbucks, greenery-filled roundabout leading to a stock exchange, park bench in an airplane) — for full effect. Lee Youngji turns in a charmingly husky guest verse, leavening all that chipperness despite being haunted at every turn by the relentlessly upbeat trio of Seungkwan, DK, and Hoshi. The boys turn in solid vocal performances all round with nary a hint of irony — a vibe I find endlessly charming, though I’ll be the first to admit this is an acquired taste for most folks. I have longed for this type of song. As is ever the case with Seventeen, “Fighting” was capably composed by group member Woozi. I think it’s telling that in talking about this delightful song, I feel that it’s necessary to speak on BTS so much, but such is their pervasive influence on the scene — though perhaps that’s soon to change, since as of today, all seven members of BTS are enlisted in the South Korean military. I had a whole segment here comparing HYBE to Sub Pop here, but I think I’d rather focus on “Fighting,” honestly. It’s great. It’s all the reasons I got in to K-pop in the first place. I find it entertaining that HYBE bought Pledis to shore up their boy group stocks for BTS’ enlistments, and ended up releasing this goofy thing. Who’s influencing whom?
[10]

Micha Cavaseno: Was joking with our beloved Ryo earlier in the week about how a friend might say “LOL why is this K-pop thing emulating this pop song from 10 years ago” to which I rejoined them with “Buddy, this might be them emulating a song that emulated a song that emulated that pop song.” “Fighting,” for example, feels like my beloved “Girl” by Block-B but long in the tooth; completely understandable given it’s made by guys who debuted about a year or so after that aforementioned record dropped. Of course, there’s some additions (Lee Youngji doing her confident cool girl Childish Gambino thing, a little bridge melody that accidentally reminds me of “A Little Bit of Luck”) but I don’t think there’s a supreme need to remake the wheel when it comes to power-poppy boyband K-pop. Still, perhaps a few stronger pushes away from the standard bearer would mean I’d be more confident in the “Fighting Spirit.”
[5]

David Moore: If somehow this was released back in 2011 or 2012 and was my first exposure to K-pop, it would have been as effective an entry point to the music as anything else from that time was. But I’ve somehow gone from having a handle on K-pop to completely losing the plot to finally being excited by current songs that really wouldn’t have made any sense at all during the early 10s crossover heyday. Which is to say that I only know what to do with this song ten years ago — it’s like being given a pop quiz that I probably knew the answers to in high school but now have no inkling how to respond. 
[6]

Oliver Maier: Broken Social Scene sounds different.
[2]

Ian Mathers: Ridiculous.
[8]

Michelle Myers: Despite its repetitive structure, “Fighting” is a great track because it achieves the optimal balance of fun and virtuosity. DK and Boo take turns wailing like it’s 2012, and music shows still require live vocals. Youngji’s agile rapping matches their energy. As for Hoshi, “Fighting” just wouldn’t hit without his tenacious sincerity. The song is truly his.
[8]

Nortey Dowuona: The piano riffing at the last pre chorus after Lee Youngji’s excellent verse (“we’re playing the crumpled up life like some down on his luck Beethoven”; great line) sounds so damn good. Shame the rest of the song is some soft rock/pop nothing burger. Woozi, Hoshi, s. Coups and Bumzu all share credit for this song, so which one of them chose to add a flattened drill bassline over the papery drums and added that riff? ‘Cuz if they did that of their own volition, they chose to have those “Hey Mickey” facsimile drums take on the whole first verse and first pre chorus and be the bedrock of the main song, which I find baffling since it both isn’t as vibrant or distinct. The lush piano motif and synth riff of the chorus are beautiful but they don’t hit until that Lee Youngji verse, and the song suddenly sparks to life. But right after that it’s back to the chorus, then the song just stops. Very baffling choices, made by 4 people. Hoshi’s the dance choreographer, why didn’t he redo the drums? Did Park Ki Tae, another composer who plays synthesizer and guitar put that riff in there because it might get thrown out? Sigh.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: Been a while since I’ve heard a boyband track with honest-to-god Radio Disney energy: competently produced yet still somehow janky, and charming for how unthreatening it is.
[5]

Brad Shoup: I’m always wary of anything that sounds like spy music, especially boy-band spy music that’s prepping me for austerity.
[4]

Crystal Leww: Charming work from BSS and Lee Youngji in a year where boy groups in K-pop really felt like a whole lot of blah, but really feels more suited to a pep rally where everyone’s a winner rather than something that actually creates hype.
[5]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Essentially an update on TROY’s “Green Light” but with the hollow theatricality of a Mamamoo song, down to Lee Young Ji channeling her inner Moonbyul. This isn’t smooth or silly enough in the way “Left & Right” was, so it lands closer to the miserable optimism of “Happy.” They sing like they’re being held at gunpoint, forced to smile.
[3]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Relentlessly goofy in a good-natured way, like if an hour’s worth of educational skits were jammed into three minutes of run. It’s janky but it works — moving through it all with a pace that implies cardio routines helps!
[6]

Michael Hong: Corniness is deliberate of course, just not sure it helps their cause that Lee Youngji raps like she just finished helping a Youtuber with a skit.
[5]

Alfred Soto: It has spritz, the wobbly synth bass I dig, and a lyric delivered if not with coherence then with clarity. 
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Kayla Beardslee: I love Seventeen. They’ve been my most listened-to artist for two years in a row (and are on track for a third); I amnestied a song of theirs last year just because I wanted to have a chance to write about them for the Jukebox; seeing them in concert last September is genuinely one of my most treasured memories. I could write hundreds of words about what makes this song such a triumphant comeback for the gloriously goofy Booseoksoon subunit five years after their first release, and how I love seeing Seventeen return to what they do best, which is take the art of making people smile seriously. I might even delve into the excellent music video and choreo and how they support the motivational themes of the track (what an unlikely accomplishment it is for professional celebrities to pull off an ode to the everyday office worker without being patronizing!) while never sacrificing its fundamental sense of playfulness. There’s an almost alchemical balance between levity and purpose in “Fighting” that only the greatest K-pop songs have ever achieved. I could dig into it, into the amount of times I danced along to “Fighting” in my office this year, into the general existence of Hoshi being Hoshi (and Seungkwan being Seungkwan, and DK being DK). But I think it’s a testament to the brilliance of this song that my practically infinite thoughts about it can all be summed up in one simple sentence: This pop music shit is supposed to be fun!
[10]