Song Review: Seventeen – Shohikigen (Expiration Date)

Seventeen are here to cap off an incredibly successful 2024 with the release of a new Japanese single. Shohikigen (消費期限) has been available for awhile now (I first wrote about it as part of a J-pop round-up), but they’ve just unveiled the music video for the song. While it’s rare for a K-pop act to promote a ballad in Korea, slower material tends to do quite well in Japan.

In many ways, Shohikigen is your typical idol ballad. Its melodies are sentimental and rousing, offering a chance to both emote and impress with powerful vocals. What makes this song slightly unique is its addition of rock guitar. The track opens with a stirring strings arrangement before moving into a standard OST-esque verse. It’s very pretty and seasonal with gentle melodies that slowly build toward something more grandiose.

Electric guitar makes its first appearance during the pre-chorus, going on to underline much of the track from that point on. This adds grit to the chorus and matches well with Seventeen’s tightly layered performance. The melodies here could be stronger, but the refrain has a sense of drama and heft that’s very satisfying. Shohikigen goes from gentle drama OST to bombastic action movie soundtrack in the space of a minute, and that sense of growth is its biggest asset.

Grade: B