Kimi Kar (Agartala, Tripura) & Kaamaakshi Bhat (Zirakpur, Punjab)

Hoshi, member of the self-producing idol group, SEVENTEEN, revealed his first solo mix tape at 10:10 pm KST on 26th May 2021, making his fans surprised and curious as the member was finally going to welcome his first solo mix tape. Fans were sent into a frenzy when it was announced that the song will be released a week after its release announcement was made public. The teaser of “Spider” made fans feel the energy boast and oozed them with excitement. The high quality music video, with surprising elements, made the fans more curious than ever.

The leader of SEVENTEEN’s performance unit, Hoshi, is not only a well-rounded performer with distinguished vocal and rap ability, but is also credited with choreographing various SEVENTEEN songs throughout his career. The long awaited “Spider” Music Video was released on YouTube on 2nd April at 6 pm KST along with its music release on other platforms like Spotify, Apple music, etc. Through Hoshi’s mixtape Spider, Hoshi establishes himself as a choreographer, lyricist and songwriter, showcasing his creative independence and growth as the Artist Hoshi.

The Song “Spider” was itself written by Hoshi along with his co-writers and bandmates, WOOZI & BUMZU. Hoshi stated he was so happy and honoured to be able to play the music that he made for CARATS. Hoshi recommends CARATS to listen to his song when they feel energetic and confident. Spider is a captivating R&B song induced with Hoshi’s melodic whispers and sensual vocals showing carats a mature side of him. The song starts with a plunging sound accompanied by the sound of a water drop. Hoshi sings the first verse in a hushed tone along with backing vocals from Seventeen’s member Woozi. He sings with the feeling of being trapped and asking for help. The song talks about how falling in love with someone is like being stuck in a spider web. It compares the experience of being unable to escape an individual’s magnetic and deadly charms to the helpless movement of prey stuck in a spider web.

Going onto the song, in Spider, Hoshi likens the feeling of falling for the deadly and inescapable charms of an individual as if obsessed with it, like a prey caught in a spider’s web, who is inescapable even with the desperate movements for freedom. Perfectly portraying the emotions and story of the song, Hoshi amazingly let out his dance moments in the flow. Using the elements and back dancers as webs and a force that is not letting him out of this web.

This story portrayed by Hoshi is slightly different, here he is intoxicated by the love of the individual that he himself can’t escape from it & eventually he likes it. He likes the feeling of being intoxicated in this puzzle of Spider and prey to the extent he doesn’t wanna leave. The accompanying music video and choreography visualise the state of being “Trapped” and unable to escape from this maze like dynamic. Hoshi’s sentimental vocals are backed by dreamlike pluck sounds and a restrained baseline, further heightening the tension in this thrilling game of Spider and prey. Through the lyrics of the chorus, Hoshi is sharing his feelings about being in a toxic relationship.

“숨이 막힌다고

네가 날 볼 때면 네가 날 볼 때면

몸이 떨린다고

네 손이 닿으면 네 손이 닿으면

거미같이 넌 날 가둬놓고 말지

엉켜 있는 우리가 헤어나지 못하게

거미같이 퍼즐 속이 난 즐겁지

싫은 척해도 baby 난 좋아 baby”

Which translates to:

“Can’t breathe

When you look at mе, when you look at me

I shiver all over

When you touch me, when you touch me

You tie me up like a spider

We’re tangled up, we can’t escape

Like a spider, I enjoy this puzzle

Pretend to hate it baby, I still like it baby”

He feels restless and entangled in it with no way out. It’s suffocating for him and he cannot enjoy a pure relationship. As for the instrumental, most of the part was neutral but when it hit the chorus it went into thrilling energy. What stood out to us in this song were Hoshi’s falsettos. Electric guitar and bass during the dance break definitely add up to the song as a whole which makes it more enjoyable.

Overall, the music mixed well with the atmosphere and energy from the song is the appreciation point. The dance point of Spider can’t be chosen, just one. The lead dance point is 3D performance from the start until the end. With the remarkable music by Hoshi, came along with many success as the song peaked #1 in many countries and reached 7M views in just a week. It was cheerful to watch his bandmates rejoice over his success through the SNS accounts.

Spider is a grooving song but what actually increases its essence is its music video. The music video is absolutely stunning and beautiful with one of the best cinematography we have seen yet. We can see that black, red and, white color has been utilized wisely to imprint the image of a spider. As soon as the music video starts, it plays with our minds and eyes as we can Hoshi hanging upside down. The artistic shots of mv are all related to the idea of a spider. He smoothly weaves through the set that seems like a web. There is one scene where Hoshi can be seen spreading white paint on the floor in the shape of a web as if he is stuck inside it which adds to the aesthetics of the music video. Focused shots on Hoshi could be seen in the mv with his slow and precise movements. Spider is a song that shows Hoshi’s solo potential as a whole.

Hoshi, the performance leader of Seventeen showed a powerful and charismatic performance in the song Spider. The choreography of the song has fluid movements and some hand gestures with match the theme of a spider. As expected from him the choreography is indeed innovative. There are backup dancers in this performance which helps increase the beauty of this song. Hoshi can be seen dancing and engaging with backup dancers in the music video a lot which is normally not seen in kpop solo stages. All movements done with the backup dancers add up to the feeling of lyrics Hoshi is trying to convey. The more you listen to this song the more you get it trapped in your head much like the lyrics of the song and you simply cannot help but like it. This is a song that gets hooked to you after a single listen.

Seventeen has 13 members and they all have different characteristics and you can see that in their solo works. Hoshi is a sub-vocalist in Seventeen but in Spider you can see his vocals shine with falsettos and deep tones. Spider shows his creative growth as a soloist but he himself said that there isn’t much deviation between solo Hoshi and Seventeen Hoshi. Although this song was produced by Seventeen’s production team we have never heard something like this from them. In short, Spider is a mind-blowing song with an intense melody and sensual vocals to make you feel every beat of it. Spider was released on all music streaming platforms and debuted at #5 on Worldwide iTunes Song Chart. If you haven’t listened to this song yet you should listen to it right now!

Did you watch the Music Video of Spider? Let us know what you think about it in the comments.