Seventeen are celebrating a huge ten year anniversary today. They were popular right out of the gate, but few could have predicted just how massive they’ve become. I remember staying up very late to watch the premiere of their first music video (the ebullient Adore U) ten years ago, but I’ve grown more distant from their music in recent years. New single Thunder fits strongly within my EDM-loving wheelhouse, but misses the chance to measure up to their best work.
I’m so happy to hear big club beats back in K-pop. This energy has been missed and if it takes a group as influential as Seventeen to fully re-popularize it, I’m thankful for their service. However, songs like Thunder and aespa’s 2024 hit Whiplash are missing a vital element: Where’s the melody? As someone who listens to a ton of dance music, I know just how easily this genre can become faceless and generic. That’s usually due to a lack of melodic heft. I’m a greedy listener. I want big dancefloor energy and an equally big chorus.
In this regard, Thunder sputters. It doesn’t feel like much of a song at all. Instead, a series of spoken catchphrases populate the thumping instrumental. For a track with such consistently high energy, everything is unusually flat. This is most obvious during the hook, which opts to retreat into a minimalist, spelled-out repetition of the title accented by a whistled loop and followed by a haphazard melodic coda that mostly spins its wheels. For such a big club track, the production is oddly muzzled as well. The EQ of the mix feels very hesitant, as if there’s a full terabyte of data forced to stuff itself into a tiny 32gb flash drive. Where’s the scope and ambition? And without a song structure that allows for build and climax, Thunder ends without ceremony. It’s weird. On paper, I should be losing my mind over this song. In reality, it barely leaves an impression.
Hooks
7
Production
8
Longevity
7
Bias
8
RATING
7.5