Please.
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[5.67]
Ryo Miyauchi: While NCT 127 got to “if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands” first, Seventeen’s take on applause as a hook fares better. The matters bumming out this optimist’s anthem are so banal, but I’m inclined to see it as the group sharing a sense of humor. After showing their most sincere face via Chainsmokers drops, this playful side assisted by kinda-dumb guitar stomps is especially welcome.
[6]
Alex Clifton: Buzzy, stompy, and more aggressive-sounding than I expected from the boys who gave us “Don’t Wanna Cry.” It’s all very clean-cut rather than actually edgy, and the song seems to end much quicker than I want it to, but I will dance around to this in my room the next time I have a bad day.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: Hey, it’s a boy band who are hiding everything behind a shiny guitar riff that’s deployed in a way that is aggressively, perkily un-rock as anything going. I love this sort of thing, but how many times does Five go into Seventeen?
[7]
Nortey Dowuona: The drums click and slog along pretty quickly, the bass is full but too flattened, and the harmonization is actually really good but the rapping is boring and average.
[5]
Will Adams: Is the joke that the claps/snares are mixed so low that it’s impossible to focus on anything else?
[3]
Anjy Ou: Most of us have no idea how strong we are. We keep moving through life even as it throws rocks in our path and nearly crushes us. I love that this song celebrates the effort it takes to do that day after day without giving up. The combination of rock music with a funk edge and some rap thrown in is one that only Seventeen can pull off, and it’s hard not to bob your head to it. Which I think is the entire point – it’s asking us to be happy and dance not because we made it, but because we’re still here and we’re still pushing.
[7]