"Never" is a song by contestants of ''

Produce 101 Season 2 ''Produce 101 Season 2'' () was a 2017 boy group survival reality show on Mnet, and is the second season of the original South Korean version of the franchise. The public (called 'national producers') "produces" a boy group by choosing 11 membe ...

''. It was re-released by

Wanna One Wanna One () was a South Korean boy band formed by CJ E&M through the second season of ''Produce 101''. The group was composed of eleven members: Kang Daniel, Park Ji-hoon, Lee Dae-hwi, Kim Jae-hwan, Ong Seong-wu, Park Woo-jin, Lai Kuan-lin, Yo ...

, the winning group of ''Produce 101 Season 2'' on their album ''

1X1=1 (To Be One) ''1X1=1 (To Be One)'' is the debut extended play by South Korean boy group Wanna One, a project group created through the 2017 Mnet survival show, ''Produce 101 Season 2'', composed of eleven trainees from different entertainment companies that wi ...

''.

Background and release

'' was a South Korean survival show that aired on

Mnet M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

from April to June in 2017 where 101 male trainees from various entertainment companies competed to debut in an 11-member boy group which would promote until December 2018. On the 8th and 9th episode, the 35 remaining trainees were split into five teams and given five new songs from different producers, with different genres. They were tasked to perform these songs live in front of total audience of 2000. "Never" eventually came second during the show's on-site voting, and received praise for its exceptional stage performance. It was sung by the following 7 contestants:

Hwang Min-hyun Hwang Min-hyun (; born August 9, 1995), known mononymously as Minhyun, is a South Korean singer, songwriter and actor. He began his professional career in 2012 as a lead vocalist of the South Korean boy group NU'EST. In 2017, he participated in s ...

Kim Jong-hyun Kim Jong-hyun (April 8, 1990 – December 18, 2017), known Mononymous person, mononymously as Jonghyun, was a South Korean singer-songwriter, record producer, radio host, and author under the SM Entertainment label. He was the main vocalist o ...

, Kim Jae-hwan,

Ong Seong-wu Ong Seong-wu (Hangul: 옹성우, born August 25, 1995) is a South Korean singer and actor. He is known for his participation in the survival reality show ''Produce 101 Season 2'', where he finished in fifth place, and is a former member of the ...

Park Woo-jin Park Woo-jin (Hangul: 박우진, born November 2, 1999), better known mononymously as Woojin, is a South Korean rapper, singer and songwriter. He placed sixth in the second season of ''Produce 101'', becoming a member of the project group Wanna ...

Lee Dae-hwi Lee Dae-hwi (Hangul: 이대휘, born January 29, 2001), better known mononymously as Daehwi, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, producer and television personality. He is a member of South Korean boy group AB6IX, and is known for his particip ...

and

Lai Kuan-lin Lai Kuan-lin, also romanized as Lai Guanlin and better known mononymously as Guanlin, (; Hangul: 라이관린, born 23 September 2001) is a Taiwanese rapper, singer and actor based in South Korea and China. He is known for finishing seventh in ...

(collectively known as Nation's Son); all of them except Kim Jong-hyun eventually went on to debut in the winning group

Composition

"Never" is a

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

song produced by

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

members and Flow Blow.

Commercial performance

On June 3, 2017, "Never" by Nation's Sons achieved an all-kill on Instiz, charting at #1 on real-time charts of

Melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...

, Bugs,

Soribada Soribada ( ko, 소리바다) was the first Korean peer-to-peer file-sharing service, launched in 2000 by Sean Yang. The name 'Soribada' means "Ocean of Sound" or "Receiving (downloading) Sound". It was closed in 2002 by court order but continued t ...

, and

Naver Naver (Hangul: 네이버) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. It was launched in 1999 as the first web portal in South Korea to develop and use its own search engine. It was also the world's first operator to in ...

Critical reception

"Never" was chosen as one of the 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2017 by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', with Tamar Herman commenting that the song was "one of the best sonic moments of K-pop in 2017" with its "layered vocals, powerful raps, and propulsive drops flowing into a blend of subtle, melodious instrumental elements and frenzied synths."

Track listing

Sales

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

References

{{authority control Korean-language songs 2017 songs Wanna One songs Produce 101 Songs written by Hui (singer) Songs written by Wooseok