What HAPPY BURSTDAY Represents

Dependable yet dynamic, this era is an all-encompassing homage to “The SEVENTEEN Show.”

The most essential HAPPY BURSTDAY teaser picture to see to understand this era’s main message is one with this text:

“THE NEW SEVENTEEN IS RIGHT HERE… ALL NEW POSSIBILITIES BURST FORTH. THE BURSTDAY PARTY IS ALWAYS OPEN TO THOSE WHO EMBRACE NEW CHALLENGES. IF YOU’RE READY TO BURST OUT YOUR POSSIBILITIES, JOIN OUR PARTY ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. WE WILL NEVER STOP CHALLENGING OURSELVES. THE BURSTDAY WILL CONTINUE FOREVER.”

This not only brings to mind SEVENTEEN’s debut video, “Adore U,” which has a birthday party theme, but the Face the Sun era, whose trailer includes this message:

“We will now break free from the shadows that shackled us and soar towards the sun. We will be the sun to… people the world over, and share our music and message with them. I believe that this road that leads to you will never end.”

Both statements describe being reborn and going down an endless road together. They are unconditional invitations to join SEVENTEEN on their celebratory journey of self-discovery. By “being the sun” for others, they trust that others will “be the sun” for them, and this moral of their story - that letting others’ lights shine has positive ripple effects - has remained relevant. The SEVENTEENTH HEAVEN era challenges everyone to be the boldest and brightest versions of themselves. The 17 IS RIGHT HERE era encourages people to bring their unique “orchestras” into the musical that is life; everyone has a valuable role to play. And the FML era sends that message via text on the screen of its preview video that says it is “Inspired by everyone around the world.”

As detailed previously, the FML era is an homage to The Truman Show, but there is a key difference in SEVENTEEN’s version of it:

“SEVENTEEN’s story is made up of all the factors that influence them, whereas Truman’s story is made up, period… what takes something from pretend to real is not just personal buy-in, but collective care and cooperation. SEVENTEEN are growing with their audience; Truman is isolated from them. Truman’s world stays static, whereas SEVENTEEN’s world expands.”

Long after the well of inspiration runs dry for people like Truman, it stays overflowing for SEVENTEEN, because their version of a show within a show involves the constant incorporation of worldviews beyond their own. SEVENTEEN’s party never ends because they keep welcoming more and more guests! The “BURSTDAY” party can “CONTINUE FOREVER,” because it stands for something greater than itself.

A Universal Invitation

SEVENTEEN use the “show within a show” premise in more than just their Truman Show tribute. In the “Adore U” video, they use green screens and seem to make up the plot as they go. Later music videos maintain the movie-making premise but show a sturdier sense of direction. They work together on everything from set construction to script-pitching in “CLAP” (which has green lightning symbolism that returns in the new “THUNDER” video!), and they film a movie in videos like “Happy Ending.” Another form within the music-video form that they use is a computer program in “MAESTRO,” which asks the viewer to answer the question “Who is the real MAESTRO?” Posing questions to the audience like this remains important to SEVENTEEN. They want their story to be less like The Truman Show and more like a group project in which each participant gets to cast themselves; a sense of agency is what distinguishes their journey from Truman’s. They want that sense of agency to stay with the audience as much as with them, which is why they leave a blank in front of “_WORLD.” That Face the Sun-era track is free to personalize! Likewise, they let viewers finish the prompt “LOVE IS ___” in the “LOVE, MONEY, FAME” music video, from an era about inspiring people to SPILL THE FEELS!

The HAPPY BURSTDAY era continues SEVENTEEN’s prioritization of active participation and open-ended questions, with a “Choose Your Own Adventure” set of videos and a new question in “THUNDER.”

No Secondary Characters

The “DARE OR DEATH” HAPPY BURSTDAY trailer starts and ends from a first-person perspective, as if “you” are the one filming. “You” see the malleability of identity, as “you” watch the members of SEVENTEEN literally see themselves in each other. One member morphs into another again and again: S.COUPS becomes VERNON, who becomes JUN, who becomes DK, and so on and so forth. During this, the surroundings change in mysterious ways. What first resembles a tunnel that “you” appear to fly through turns out to be the circular, vertical walls of a building. What at first looks like an innocuous fellow elevator user is suddenly one on fire! What resembles flames on a moving truck look more like flickering lights in the distance as a scene changes.

Confusion remains even when one thinks one knows which member is on the screen: VERNON runs by a car in which a different version of VERNON is a passenger, THE 8 moves in sync with a version of himself dressed like a devil, and WOOZI’s reflection appears when HOSHI looks in the mirror.

Even the literal message stays elusive. The text on the screen at the end says “CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF” but is then rearranged to say “CHALLENGE OR SETTLE.” In short, nothing is as it seems.

“DARE OR DEATH” ends with two options. Viewers who click on either the “DARE” or the “DEATH” follow-up video see a rapid montage of intense imagery. The montages are different, and so are the messages on the screen at the end. The “DARE” video ends with “FACE THE CHALLENGE, BURN ANEW.” The “DEATH” video ends with “WITHOUT CHALLENGE, THERE IS NO NEW BEGINNING.” Neither video ends in resolution, just surprisingly similar sentiments. However, the “THUNDER” music video implies viewers should pick “DARE” over “DEATH”! After all, “DARE” has been a key word since the Face the Sun era. That era’s “HOT” music video features a sign saying “DARLING” that says “DARING” after MINGYU shoots down the “L”! Now, in “THUNDER,” MINGYU is the one who gets an “ACCESS GRANTED: DAREDEVIL VERIFIED” label; he proves both his “DARE” and “DEVIL” bona fides!

The “THUNDER” music video applies the key word “DARING” in other ways, too. First of all, it is daring from a film-making standpoint! Blitzes of images bombard viewers, who are swiftly flown through the doors of a club and past a neon sign that asks “DARE ENOUGH?” As the video nears its end, viewers feel like they are flying through rings of humans joining arms, as if watching a kaleidoscopic 3D movie. It is similar to the sensation of watching the “MAESTRO” video, which is designed to feel like viewers are being yanked backwards. “THUNDER” and “MAESTRO” both put “you” in the center of the action, then allow “you” to decide what’s next. “THUNDER” asks “DARE ENOUGH?” and “DARE OR DEATH?,” while “MAESTRO” asks “Who is the real MAESTRO?” Either way, “you” get to answer.

The ultimate shared theme between HAPPY BURSTDAY and past SEVENTEEN eras is real-time reality construction, which comes with the message that there are no wrong answers. When Truman goes “off-script,” he is punished, whereas SEVENTEEN associate “mistakes” with exciting second chances. Every day offers a chance to start anew, which is why anyone “READY TO BURST OUT [new] POSSIBILITIES” can “JOIN [SEVENTEEN’s] PARTY ANYTIME,” and it is why in “THUNDER,” they sing, “every day, different DNA.” It brings to mind a lyric in “My My,” a song from an era that shares the “endless journey” outlook:

“Every day, I open my eyes… meet myself in the mirror / And blossom a new me.”

Other “My My” lyrics now look like foreshadowing, too: “My journey starts with me;” “Over the sun… this is the place I’ve dreamed of;” “No one can decide for me.”

Still “Facing the Sun”

In addition to the key word “DARE” and the “endless road”-themed speech, there are a few more Face the Sun era thematic parallels to HAPPY BURSTDAY worth noting. First of all, both eras represent how quickly one thing can turn into its opposite; life changes fast. “DARLING” becomes “DARING” in the “HOT” video in a flash, and the story is both complete and not quite, because the last message in a video series is “World’s end… And.” “And” comes after “end;” it is easier than one thinks to rebrand an ending as a beginning.

“DARE” and “DEATH” have less distance between them than one thinks. This is represented by the similarities of the two videos’ on-screen statements, SEVENTEEN’s interactions with devilish alter egos, both “DARE” and “DEATH” being associated with MINGYU (“DARE” and “DEVIL”), and the pairing of the words “DARE” and “DEVIL” on a “MISSING” poster - which, notably, flies towards the screen in “THUNDER” at the 17-second mark!

A birthday party can easily become a “BURSTDAY” one. A “movie script” can easily be thrown out and replaced. And a premise that can be described one way can also be reframed in an opposite way. An example of that last point: “THUNDER” can be described as “going back to SEVENTEEN’s roots,” because of the birthday cake that is also in the debut video, “Adore U.” But does the cake in “THUNDER” deserve to be compared to the one in “Adore U”?! “THUNDER”’s is life-sized, colorful, and turned into a stage! The party has grown so larger-than-life that it makes sense to argue it is no longer comparable to the debut-era party.

The more SEVENTEEN’s story changes, the more it stays the same, and vice versa, because it has no definitive “A to B” format.

Still Dreaming - Literally and Figuratively

Just like the sun rises every day and one’s birthday comes every year, SEVENTEEN’s story can be counted on to always present the audience with a set of choices. Since their story has no start or end points, the concepts of going forwards or backwards are irrelevant, so if one makes the “wrong” choice, one always has time to make a different one. As they succinctly put it in “Do Re Mi,” a track from yet another era with the theme of “Life as one long journey,” “You define the world.”

“You” remain an active storyboarding participant in SEVENTEEN’s production, to the point where you even get to define what is “real” versus “dreams” or “nightmares”! In the “THUNDER,” video, SEVENTEEN’s states of consciousness remain up to interpretation, as some appear to have clones and others appear to fall asleep or wake up after being struck by lightning. Which versions of SEVENTEEN show up to the party and which ones do not remain open questions, just like in the flashback-filled “Eyes on you” music video.

“Eyes on you” and “THUNDER” also have a party setting and lightning strikes in common. Plus, they share a filming technique: A transition takes place as the camera zooms through someone’s pupil. It increases the odds that the following scene is just in someone’s head, and it adds significance to these lyrics from “THUNDER”:

“So what if they mock me, say my changed pupils are weird / What a shame if this all turns out to be a dream.”

Both “THUNDER” and “Eyes on you” represent the SEVENTEEN Universe’s expansiveness. Storylines that seem to imply one thing can be edited at any time to imply the opposite, and videos that bear resemblances to previous SEVENTEEN ones are also very distinct. One can find repetition in life, but one can never live the exact same day twice. Every day is a chance to reassess one’s reality.

New SEVENTEEN Classics

HAPPY BURSTDAY’s lyrics are full of traits that ought to strike long-time SEVENTEEN listeners as both new and not surprising. The first few songs don’t hold back on the fun, topping off the party-ready jams with interjections like “Whoah,” “Yeah yeah,” and “Bzzzt”! The genre-blending also comes as no surprise. “HBD” has rap and rock elements with an escalating EDM beat, and “THUNDER” is a fittingly electrifying follow-up. “Bad Influence” pauses for dramatic effect, as is normal, but this time, that pause takes the form of self-censorship! (Then again, it is characteristic of SEVENTEEN to “bleep” themselves, as their lyrics often acknowledge not wanting to get too “grown-up”!) To emphasize the “bleep” is no fluke, MINGYU self-censors on “Shake It Off” too, and in “THUNDER,” the group sings about feeling “Funked up”!

In addition to songs that scream “That’s so SEVENTEEN!,” HAPPY BURSTDAY lets each individual show off what they contribute to the group. Each member has a solo song and uses it to demonstrate a unique approach and skillset, while also showing how they can work well in different combinations. THE 8’s “Skyfall” and JUN’s “Gemini” pair clubby sounds with passionate and ballad-ready vocals. JOSHUA and DK let their talent at hitting high notes shine in “Fortunate Change” and “Happy Virus,” respectively. A computerized voice repeats “Burn into your mind’s desire” at the end of HOSHI’s “Damage,” and WONWOO also opts not to do the instrumental-only outro that many of the others do. He does not do a vocal-focused outro, either; he instead hums alongside a trailing-off piano. There is a dramatic pause before a resurgence of sounds in SEUNGKWAN’s “Raindrops,” and sounds in DINO’s “Trigger” also move farther and then to the forefront again. A drumroll cues up a beat drop during MINGYU’s “Shake It Off,” which has other tweaks up through the final synth wobbles. WOOZI lets a post-bridge guitar in “Destiny” steal the show. VERNON’s “Shining Star” is like the baby of his pop-punk song “2 MINUS 1” and an auto-tune-heavy SEVENTEEN song like “Ash”! JEONGHAN’s song, “Coincidence,” is short yet full of movement, as strings and piano heighten their prominence over time. Lastly, S.COUPS ends the album with “Jungle,” which is immersive on a more technical level. The sound travels from one ear to the other in a way that makes listening with headphones in order. (VERNON’s solo has a similar sonic movement that deserves headphones!)

The new solo songs are as multidimensional as the visual components of SEVENTEEN’s world. The songs transport listeners into layered alternative worlds through 13-plus routes. Making things even more engaging are the constant acknowledgements of “you”: “always up to you… Where to go” (“Skyfall”); “you show me” (“Fortunate Change”); “You’re my shooting star” (“Shining Star”); “I wanna know you” (“Trigger”). “You” stay a main character, which explains why HAPPY BURSTDAY has sixteen tracks instead of seventeen. The last slot is a space to represent “your” contribution!

Conclusion

HAPPY BURSTDAY carries on the traditions of past SEVENTEEN eras, but it is so much more than a SEVENTEEN tribute. This era’s songs and videos alike emphasize how SEVENTEEN’s storytelling implodes the format of storytelling itself. There is not solely a first-person, second-person, or third-person messenger. There are no chapters or a specific climax; a plot twist could occur anytime, anywhere. There is no cut-and-dry genre categorization. And it rhymes with previous installments while never repeating them; its themes are dependable, while the ways of communicating those themes stay impossible to predict. SEVENTEEN’s answers as to what comes next are just guesses that remain as good as the audience’s, and they learn and relearn things about themselves and about their worlds in real time. The curtain never closes on SEVENTEEN’s movie, so the party thrown in its honor never has to end!

With Easter eggs, cinematic influences, the desire to make life relentlessly eventful, and the creative applications of all three, HAPPY BURSTDAY is less of a full-circle moment and more of a reminder that SEVENTEEN’s world is a series of interlocking circles, and whenever the lightning strike of inspiration hits people, they can easily get in the loop!

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