‘The Breakdown’: ‘Flames and Motorcycles’ Inspired Seventeen’s ‘Rock With You’
Before their ninth mini album Attacca was even complete, K-pop supergroup Seventeen had already locked in the charming pop tune “Rock With You” as the project’s lead single. Between its embodiment of the notion of passionate love and the ease with which the track’s verse melodies surfaced, the selection was a no-brainer.
Seventeen’s Woozi, Vernon, and Joshua sat down in the studio with Rolling Stone for the latest installment of The Breakdown, discussing the making of “Rock With You,” from the writing and recording process to the song’s release and all of the lightbulb moments in between.
“For me, personally, I talked about this with Bumzu, too, but I was inspired after seeing the motifs in one of our album jacket photos,” said Woozi, who took note of photographs taken of the group’s hip-hop unit. “I saw the flames and motorcycle, and when I saw our members physically embodying this ‘passionate love’ idea, the inspiration hit me way quicker than if I had worked it out on paper or in my head.”
One of the more difficult parts of creating “Rock With You” came during the recording process, which found the group’s members undergoing numerous key changes to find the perfect vocal arrangement.
“Seventeen has created and sang countless songs up until now, but out of all of them, we had to execute the highest range this time,” Woozi said. “A whole bunch of our members had to sing in falsetto at full strength.”
By the end of the recording process, they had tapped into a range they had initially considered to be too high. Then came whipping up the fiercely choreographed music video for “Rock With You” and the process was a wrap.
“A song is fully completed by my standards, not just when the track itself is finished, but when I can envision our members and the grand performance that goes along with it,” Woozi explained.
