IVE is Losing to SEVENTEEN with Same-day Comeback? 

SEVENTEEN and IVE officially made their comebacks within the same time frame on the afternoon of April 29.

At 6 PM (KST) on April 29, the K-pop scene became more heated than ever with SEVENTEEN and IVE’s same-day comeback. 

Particularly, while SEVENTEEN dropped their anthology album “Best Album: 17 Is Right Here,” marking their 9th anniversary. Meanwhile, Starship’s rookie girl group, IVE, also released the EP “IVE SWITCH” after over six months since their last promotion. The clash between these two groups has drawn keen attention from the public, making the music chart and album scene more exciting than ever.

As previously announced, SEVENTEEN’s “Best Album: 17 Is Right Here” will be a collection of their title tracks released throughout their career, along with 4 new songs. 

Among those, “MAESTRO” serves as the title track. Reflecting on their nearly decade-long journey, “MAESTRO” encapsulates familiar sounds for those who have listened to SEVENTEEN’s music.

According to the revelation of Woozi, the member responsible for composing and producing the entire discography of SEVENTEEN, “MAESTRO” is created by combining the sounds of 7 songs, including their debut title “Adore U,” “Oh My,” “Aju Nice,” “Fear,” “Cheers,” “Rock With You,” and “Super.”

“MAESTRO” is an energetic Dance RnB track, catchy, leaving an impression with its lively piano sounds and powerful beats. The song is a fresh experiment for SEVENTEEN, surprising listeners with unexpected transitions. The repetitive chorus creates an addictive sensation before unexpectedly transitioning to an outro dominated by percussion sounds, aiming to create a base for the highlighted dance break that will be introduced through the MV and live performances. Once again, Woozi’s musical prowess impresses fans.

Sending the message, “Let’s gather diverse individuals together to lead our own world and become the top leaders guiding the trend,” SEVENTEEN expresses their relentless desire to conquer despite having been active for a decade.

Since its teasers, the “Maestro” MV has garnered significant attention. Bringing the concept of “fighting against AI”, SEVENTEEN, along with the production team, invested heavily in the filming sets, creating grand CGI scenes reminiscent of science fiction movies. The group portrays the mysterious “darkteen” (dark SEVENTEEN) aspect through their gaze and powerful combat scenes against the forces of “subverting mainstream art”, at the same time treating the audience to a visually stunning feast with blockbuster-like scenes, undoubtedly costing a significant sum.

SEVENTEEN also showcases their strength in choreography in this release. Highlighting dance segments, especially tap dance, leaves fans amazed by the pinnacle footwork of the nine-year-old idols. Despite the entire “MAESTRO” stage being revealed during the two Follow Again to Seoul concerts over the weekend, the group’s choreography still astonishes audiences with its difficulty and complexity.

IVE transforms into Oriental goddesses in the new MV

In this comeback, IVE will promote with 2 titles – “HEYA” and “Accendio” from their new album “IVE SWITCH”.

So far, the “HEYA” MV has been released, continuing to showcase IVE’s musical strengths. The song boasts a pop remix with an addictive melody, leaving an impression through its chorus and powerful rap, highlighting each member’s strengths.

In terms of MV, IVE has intrigued viewers by combining delicate Oriental elements with modern ones. Members transform into “goddesses”, incorporating traditional details such as folding fans, decorative patterns, backgrounds, and costumes into the MV. IVE opens up a dreamy, innocent, and cheerful world inside the mirror box.

IVE members transform into Oriental goddesses, incorporating traditional details into the MV.

In contrast to SEVENTEEN’s dark and mysterious theme, IVE’s color palette is entirely bright and poetic, perfect for the summer vibe. The choreography is well-prepared to match the lively remix, suitable for a summer vibe. The highlight of the MV is the increasingly sophisticated visuals of the members.

SEVENTEEN surpasses IVE in terms of achievements (Initial assessment)

As SEVENTEEN – a top 3rd generation boy group, competes with IVE – a digital monster of the 4th K-pop generation, everyone was excited to see the two’s “battle” on the chart. 

As of the moment, SEVENTEEN is taking the lead over IVE, as their title track “MAESTRO” debuted in the top 10 on MelOn, specifically #8. The song’s ranking on iChart are also promising, having placed #13 on Genie and #6 on Bugs.

SEVENTEEN’s digital music rankings are still growing and have entered the top of Flo charts after 2 hours of release. In addition, the 3 other new songs from “Best Album: 17 Is Right Here” have also climbed into the top 100 on MelOn. On YouTube, SEVENTEEN’s MV reached 1 million views just 50 minutes after its release.

Meanwhile, IVE closely follows with “HEYA” debuting at #13 on MelOn 100; #10 on Genie; #3 on Bugs. The MV also garnered over 625 thousand views, while the girl group sold over 700 thousand album copies within the first hour. 

IVE is known as a group that “runs the long haul,” and their music rankings are expected to rise rapidly, especially after promotional stages and direct encounters with Zico – Jennie, who currently holds the Realtime All-Kill record with their collab track “SPOT!”.

On the other hand, SEVENTEEN once again sets a record in revenue as “Best Album: 17 Is Right Here” reached 2 million copies within 3 hours of release. 

Accordingly, SEVENTEEN is the first artist in K-pop history to have 3 consecutive albums seek 2 million copies on the first day of sales with their back to back releases “FML”, “Seventeenth Heaven”, and the latest “Best Album: 17 Is Right Here”. 

Previously, the group surprised everyone when their album pre-order reached 3 million copies on April 19th – 10 days before their comeback.

The Korean media is amazed at the album sales potential of SEVENTEEN, as “Best Album: 17 Is Right Here” is an anthology album consisting mostly of old tracks and priced much higher than previous releases. However, it seems that the group is entirely capable of consistency. 

Source: K14