Seventeen are poised to make history as the first K-pop group to perform at Glastonbury Festival.
The 13-member band will be performing on the Pyramid Stage on Friday afternoon, where fellow stars including pop singer Dua Lipa, rock band Coldplay and US R&B artist SZA are headlining.
In a significant moment heralding K-pop’s continuing growth in popularity, Glastonbury will also mark Seventeen’s first performance in Europe.
Seventeen — comprising members S Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino — debuted in 2015 with the extended play (EP) 17 Carat and its title track “Adore U”.
The group’s name comes from their 13 members, the three sub-groups they are divided into—hip-hop, vocals, and performance—and the single team they form when they come together: 13 people + 3 sub-units + 1 group = 17.
The band got off to a strong start with “Adore U”, which reached No 13 on the Billboard US World Chart. With classically trained Woozi taking over the production and writing much of their music, Hoshi is at the helm of their performances.
It has been a remarkable few years for the band, during which they have sold 16 million combined album units including their 10th mini-album, FML, which was released in April 2023. A follow-up, Seventeenth Heaven, was released in October 2023.
FML dominated the IFPI’s Global Albums Chart, achieving an impressive 6.2 million combined copies worldwide through streams, downloads, and physical sales in 2023. It became the most pre-ordered album in K-pop history, topping the charts in South Korea and Japan, and debuting at No 2 on the Billboard 200.
In June, Seventeen became UNESCO’s first-ever Goodwill Ambassador for Youth, a milestone, which came after their participation at the 13th UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris in November 2023, where they talked about the significance of young people pursuing their dreams.
These achievements propelled Seventeen to No 2 on the IFPI’s Global Artist Chart, second only to pop titan Taylor Swift.
Seventeen’s close involvement with their music has helped create a close bond between their members and their fans, popularly known as Carats, as it allows them to showcase each member’s specific talents.
“If you watch our performances you can see that we constantly use the number of members on our team to our advantage. It’s our strength.
“We can harness and channel so much energy, and that power is something we can relay to directly to our audience. We think of it as our weapon,” S Coups told Refinery29.
“And another important point — that I feel isn’t stressed enough sometimes — is that it’s fun to make our own stuff. We enjoy the process a lot,” Vernon added, in the same interview.
As Seventeen prepares to make history at Glastonbury, they continue to break new ground and push the boundaries of what it means to be a K-pop group in the global music landscape.
“In every language we sing in, we try to show Seventeen as we are,” S Coups told Rolling Stone.
“And I know that people whose native language is not Korean have to work hard to understand our message. So when we record, we want to try as hard as they do when they listen to our music so we can share that together.”
