SEVENTEEN Tell Us What’s In and What’s Out—But Not Without Roasting Each Other

In recent years, K-pop has astronomically risen to worldwide commercial success, popularity, and fandom. While the South Korean pop music genre has been around for decades, superstar groups like BTS have helped catapult it to the center of the world stage. The 13-member K-pop group SEVENTEEN, who debuted in 2015, has emerged as one of the top groups of the pop culture phenomenon—and for good reason. Their incredible talent and charm, specialized sub-groups (hip-hop, vocal, and performance), and active role in all aspects of production all combine to produce K-pop magic. Off the success of their recent TikTok-famous hit song “Left & Right,” the men of SEVENTEEN sat down with Esquire to play a good, old-fashioned game of “In or Out.”

In the video, the group members vote “in” or “out” on a variety of topics, from diamonds, van life, tigers, ghosts, and bungee jumping, to sweet and sour pork, mint chocolate chip, flowers, denim, and more.

When asked about tigers, dance team leader Hoshi roars gloriously. The8, a member of the performance unit, tenderly adds, “Hoshi likes tigers, so we do too,” as the other bandmates nod in agreement. Gotta love big cats (almost as much as we love such supportive band mates)!

Things get real when sweet and sour pork comes up, and vocal team leader Woozi votes “out.” Future takeout orders are at stake here. Hip-hop group leader S. Coups asks, “Do you really not like sweet and sour pork? You sure?” Woozi responds, “Even if it’s there, I’d have maybe one piece,” to wide disbelief. “You better explain this well, or you might not get any from now on,” teases rapper Mingyu.

Ghosts are totally “out,” except for Vernon’s “in” vote. Explaining, the rapper says, “I don’t necessarily dislike them… I can’t watch horror movies, but—let’s say that ghosts really exist, and—” before his bandmates interrupt, asking what he would do if he saw a ghost right then and there.

Artificial intelligence drew the most split response among the group members. “Well, artificial intelligence might be more accurate with things like calculations, but I don’t think it can reach the capacities of human sensitivity,” S. Coups explains. “There are lessons people learn from making mistakes. So I think AIs must lack that warmth and sensitivity.”

Anna Grace Lee Anna Grace Lee is an editorial fellow at Esquire, where she covers pop culture, music, and entertainment.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io