seventeen spill the feels album review + concert tour notes
water! water! water! water! water! water! water! water!
i was pretty impressed and optimistic after the spill the feels album trailer, but if there’s anything i learned from the bait-and-switch of txt minisode3, it’s that the quality of a concept does not correlate with that of the album! no hopes up. well, mild hopes up. this is only my fourth svt comeback
preemptively removing myself from the dj khaled controversy!
album has been bouncing around my head for two weeks + i got to hear all three unit songs live in new york :3
eyes on you
hybe house era??
enha you were so aheadintrigued by the skipped beat in the intro that never returns
kind of flat but that’s sort of the point. very surprised i had an easy time differentiating the singers. i liked that they used super different vocal timbres for the choruses (astronomical differences between dk / jeonghan / wonwoo)
the coups/vernon rap cuts through the fat!! big fan of the variety
“tell me more about yourself” is quite a romantic line actually
love, money, fame
oh this is in the same key as eyes on you
shutting my ears for the first ten seconds i guess. please stop yelling at me
love to hear the Mingyu Whine™ he’s so funny
dk and seungkwan are tragically underutilized. like there is no room for them to impress anyone
love the “hey!” “whoa!” ness of the chorus; bet it made rehearsal more fun
while not the most memorable svt title track, i thought it was fun-sounding and lowkey without being weighed down by The Concept (ie. maestro). since this album was clearly made for touring purposes, definitely an appropriate genre
1 to 13
aye please vary the beat
there being “thirteen” parts of the heart is subjective, but it’s cute
“you make my day, you make my dawn” as a callback is also so cute
NOW we’ve descended into the lower range where i can’t really tell the difference between the members in the chorus
try mapping the “eyes on you” chorus and post-chorus over this song… what was the decision-making process behind having two nearly identical songs on the same album
candy
really love the crispy mid-range vocals!! if you’ve read my other posts you know i am a sucker for when different members sing the same melody and we can hear the differences in their voices!! because i mention it every single time i hear it!
i feel like it’s been a second since we’ve heard woozi’s middle range this clearly, and it is so so so nice i love you woozi
hahahahahaha not this kind of step-up modulation incorporated into the piano instrumental bridge lmaooooooooo
not my favorite vcu song but it is perfectly palatable and pleasant. i’d love to hear vcu lean more into a 1950s american big band ballad kind of love song? this song is like 70% of the way there
it’s also really interesting how out of place this song sounds on this album. would’ve expected something floatier like “dust” or way more upbeat like “ah! love”
rain
in the extremely specific category of hybe bg minor-key disco pop, i’d slot it exactly mid-distance between “standing next to you” and “back for more.” controversially i’d also put this after “idubilu” and before “spell”
minghao’s verse scratches the brain i LOOOOOVE the way he pronounces things
every time there is a new pfu song i discover a new dino timbre. this guy sings differently every day. are my ears bad? why am i using process of elimination to figure out who’s singing
how come pfu doesn’t get in trouble when they have cunty female dancers 🤨
the track could have been a lot more interesting but this song is Fine and Expected for pfu
dino’s outfit in this performance is by far the most stimulating thing onstage. first time that biceps distracted me from listening to the song but it did happen. i am down illogical. down tremendous
water
the track is pretty interesting
wonwoo’s verse is a highlight. love the releases and the gasps between each phrase. love his timbre love his voice
this is such a nitpick but i’m not a huge fan of the main instrumental figure. would redo it so it walks up and down more and so that the bass matches
seungkwan said this live during my show that “water” was really meant to be heard live. i agree. ie.: not meant so much for the album. but i enjoyed it quite a lot during the concert. this song would also go hard specifically four drinks in at that one nightclub in [redacted] city with that ice bar
the random distortion on vernon’s voice? the synth flute?? this song is sooooo peak silly hhu
when hhu came out for their set, all i could look at was the glint of mingyu’s sunglasses. the stage was pitch-black. lost my shit for 30 seconds. silly!!! ily hhu i really do
my ranking. i know you already disagree.
eyes on you
love money fame
candy
rain
water
1 to 13
final thoughts: decent album! except for “candy,” it’s pretty cohesive in sound, though a tad repetitive. i can understand why they might have wanted to rehearse totally new songs for the unit stages, esp anticipating jun’s break. (during jeonghan’s lines in “candy,” everyone stared morosely into the middle distance like he died instead of getting a 9-to-5.) the first three tracks are a welcome maturation of the overjoyed freshteen sound (a la “oh my” “snap shoot” “god of music”), though i wish they sounded more distinct from each other. again i do wish this album showed off their spectacular main vocalists a little more — didn’t realize how much of a signature sound their voices provided until they weren’t there. i hope they had an easy time rehearsing these songs!
a few thoughts on this album’s place on the svt right here north america setlist: considering that they haven’t been back here since “_world” was the most recent tt, performing four brand-new less-promoted songs out of a truncated twenty-two-song setlist came a bit at the expense of tracks that have gotten a lot more hype in the west. why canonize the svt is right here unit tracks into mvs if they were only going to be performed at follow encore tour stops in asia and one-time-only summer festivals? esp when these had already overshadowed seventeenth heaven songs like “yawn” and “back 2 back,” which have been played a total of four times? ultimately, it’s not the fault of the new album, only the timing. imo that’s the only valid critique of the setlist
final final thought: PLEASE watch this gay-ass music video