Song Review:: Seventeen: SPILL THE FEELS- LOVE, FAME, MONEY (Feat. DJ Khaled)

- October 14, 2024

Release date: 2024 October 14
Album tracklist: Eyes on You, Love, Fame, Money (feat. DJ Khalid), 1 to 13, Candy, Rain, Water
Album runtime: 18 minutes

Did I watch the concert so I've already seen this performed? Yes.

Have I watched the music video trailer? No, which is a surprise. Normally I'm all over them like fur on a cat, but with my conflicted feelings over the title track collaboration, my reticence is unsurprising. The concert helped. Woozi was very clear that he is the songwriter for the group, and I trust him.

Also, I had to round up to hit that 18 minutes for the run time, which means the average length of song is less than 3 minutes. Which does not please me, and I'm a little disappointed in Woozi and Bumzu for that. At least the title track is over three minutes.

There is a very Latin pop feel to the instrumentals, which I'm not sure we've seen a lot from Seventeen. It's been a familiar sound over at KQ and with Stray Kids as well, but we haven't heard Seventeen adopt that this strongly yet, which means we're getting a new genre out of Woozi and Bumzu, something I'm assuming is the result of the collaboration. I'm not sure this is going to end up being a song I bask in to listen on repeat. Something about the specifically Latin pop elements is not easy on my ears and I can only be grateful that it's not louder during most of the song where it's present. The first part of the song, primarily the first verse and first pre-chorus, is definitely my favorite, because it lacks the repetitious elements that rub me the wrong way. The only time it doesn't make me want to turn off my ears is during Jeonghan's bridge.

However, as much as I don't like it in the instrumentals, I like the adoption there in the vocals. The rapping in particular I just want to vibe to, but I'm also partial to the slow, lazy rap style anyway. Fast rapping has its place, but there's just something about slower rapping that is just very nice. Pun not intended, but I'm not changing it. Also, we don't get any big vocalist belts. Instead what we get is lower registers from everyone. Vocally, what we have is a still pond. Peaceful, relaxing, lulling, with occasional splooshes of higher notes. And the verse rhythms is also fascinating. But can we take a minute to talk about Jeonghan's bridge? First, we get lower Jeonghan with a chorus behind his vocals, something I am fully in favor of. Second, it's not often we actually get to hear vocals following the accompaniment, rather than the other way around. And third, he got a very prominent spot, which is a little emotion inducing.

"Choosing love over money and fame is easy to say, but hard to do. Without deep, genuine love, it can feel nearly impossible. So how to love...and how do you express it?" It's been a while since we've gotten a love song out of Seventeen, and opening with Jeonghan is a direct hit to the fans, but a good one, I think. Also, having Jun and Jeonghan be isolated from the rest of the group, one by being actor coded and the other being normal civilian coded is absolutely brilliant. Mingyu driving a car off a dock/bridge and then just ruffling his wet hair to grab roses out of the trunk is a strong way to start off the music video after the Jeonghan feels and really sets the mood for all the fire and explosions the music video has (ironically, their first concert of the tour also featured fire because the stage caught on fire). I've also decided that the choreography matches the lazy vibe of the song, but I'd need to watch it in full to appreciate it better.