[Review] Cheers To Youth – SEVENTEEN’s Vocal Team

1 month ago 17

I am finally finishing reviewing the newer songs from SEVENTEEN’s 17 is Right Here compilation album. Last up on the list is SEVENTEEN’s vocal team’s Cheers To Youth. Previously, I reviewed the album’s main title track MAESTRO, the Hip-Hop team’s LALALI and the Performance team’s Spell singles. As it is a compilation album, the rest of the two-disc album consists of the Korean versions of all their Japanese singles and every Korean title track released over their careers thus far. And finally, getting around to reviewing the new songs off the album is timely since the group is gearing up for their next comeback ON MONDAY! So more SEVENTEEN to come!

Cheers To Youth delves into the J-Rock genre with a wholesome message that everything will be okay. I really enjoyed this single a lot. There are a few great moments in Cheers To Youth that I must point out. The upbeat instrumentation is definitely the song’s strongest asset. Still, I particularly love the funky direction that bridges the soft piano opening of the song and the launch into the J-Rock genre. It was an entertaining sequence and really lifted up the song. JOSHUA’s part in the second verse when the electric guitar steps up was another moment I found myself gravitating towards repeatedly. The “My, my, my” that follows the second chorus (noting the first chorus occurred during the intro) was also another moment that I found so soothing and peaceful. Elsewhere in Cheers To Youth, I found the vocals, melodies and choruses to be extremely comforting and uplifting, which suits the song’s message mentioned earlier. Overall, Cheers To Youth is a lovely song with a positive message to reflect on.

The video features the five members facing their own internal struggles with themselves. WOOZI has social anxiety that prevents him from going outside, DK is a student in a pressurised education system who is worried about underperforming, JOSHUA is an office worker who is constantly on the lookout, SEUNGKWAN struggles with loneliness, and JEONGHAN worries that he isn’t enough and that there is always something wrong with him that needs fixing (taken from ichsanjulian-ed4so’s YouTube comment). But together, they join the Tiny Issue club, where they can speak to their internal struggles and help each other through them. With each other, WOOZI goes outside, DK is awarded for his academic successes, JOSHUA is praised by his co-workers, JEONGHAN feels better about himself, and SEUNGKWAN (along with the rest of the team) gains life-long friendships with one another. At the end of the video, the club invites a sixth member, a tiger, representative of fellow member HOSHI, whom the song was inspired by.