Meaning of “Seven” by Jung Kook (ft. Latto)
Beginning in late 2022 the members of BTS, beginning with Jin, commenced serving their mandatory military service, as stipulated for young male South Koreans. As such the band is more or less on hiatus (which actually began beforehand) and is expected to remain so until 2025, after all seven of the Bangtan Boys complete their service.
This reality has seemingly afforded those who are not active in the military to venture out more on their own. And in that regard, Jungkook has used the opportunity to drop a few notable tracks.
For instance earlier in the year, Charlie Puth featured Jung on his single “Left and Right“. And now, on 14 July 2023, Jungkook has dropped “Seven” featuring Latto, who is concurrently one of the hottest rappers in the industry.
JUNGKOOK DROPS THE F-WORD (IN SONG)
To note, BigHit Music has released two versions of this track, one “explicit” and the other “clean”, and it is the latter we’re looking at in this post. And as for the former, Latto is a mainstream American rap artist, so dropping NSFW lyrics is nothing new to her.
But as for Jungkook, him using the F-word, in a sexual context, on the “Explicit Version” caught his fans off guard. But that said, if not for the fact that there’s a South Korean artist involved, as K-pop lyrics tend to be a lot more sanitized than American fare, there probably wouldn’t be a “Clean Version” of this song to begin with.
THE TEAM BEHIND “SEVEN”
The producers of this song are Cirkut and Watt who, according to Jungkook, were the ones who recommended that he enlist Latto to participate. Those four individuals – Cirkut, Watt, Jungkook and Latto – are credited co-writers of “Seven”, alongside Theron Thomas. And the director of the track’s music video is a L.A. duo known as Bradley & Pablo.
THE LYRICS OF “SEVEN”
It can be ascertained from the onset that “Seven” is not K-pop fare, because the first verse, as rendered by Jung Kook, possesses what may be deemed an overt romantic reference. And with that in mind, it is also established early on that what we’re dealing with here is a love song which, as it progresses, becomes more sex-oriented.
And in those regards, “Seven” is more or less straightforward. For instance, the title refers to the days of the week, more specifically pointing to the notion of the vocalists “loving” each other 24/7. But it should be noted that said “loving”, in context, proves to be a reference to the physical, not sentimental type.
Or explained otherwise, the characters whom Jung and Latto are portraying may be in love alright. But what they relish the most about this relationship, obviously, is sleeping together. So conclusively, the “Clean Version” of “Seven” can be deemed a sex song, but one in which all of the lingo – let’s say unconventionally in this day and age – is actually SFW.
