Woozi Addresses The “Burden” Of Being A Producer And SEVENTEEN’s Title As “Self-Producing Idols”

When BTS‘s Suga asked SEVENTEEN‘s Woozi how he viewed himself as a producer on Suchwita, the idol dived into his complicated thoughts on the topic.

Being a producer wasn’t a title Woozi took lightly. He admitted, “The way you said it makes it seem like a big deal, but if I’m being totally honest, the title of producer still feels like a burden.”

As a fellow producer, Suga tried to comfort him, “Why? You’re producing. That makes you a producer.” Even so, that didn’t take away those feelings from Woozi. He explained why.

Woozi admitted, “I never started out wanting to be the producer of this team.” His initial goal was to “support the members from behind and make them shine more” for their individual talents. Unfortunately, it morphed into something else.

Pledis Entertainment took Woozi’s role as the group’s producer and used it to market them in numerous articles as “self-producing idols,” joining the new trend. While it brought attention to the group, it became stressful for Woozi.

I’m just one member of the team. I didn’t start out being a producer because I thought it was cool. I never thought that way, really.

When we first debuted, the agency promoted us as self-producing idols. I asked if they had to promote the team like that in articles. I felt so much pressure.

— Woozi

He wanted fans to listen to their music and naturally discover that one of the members had produced it. Woozi confronted the company about it, “The agency said they’d tone it down so that it’s not too much. But we’re in our ninth year now, and we’re still called ‘self-producing idols.’”

In the end, Woozi decided to change his mindset about it in the past year. Since “fans feel so much pride” from the fact that SEVENTEEN produces their own music, Woozi now tries to view it positively.