[4][5] In January 2022, another member, Woozi released his solo song "Ruby", also fully recorded in English, despite not having an English-language background.

[6] "Darl+ing" marks Seventeen's first song fully recorded in English performed by all members of the band.

[4] The song marks the beginning of the band's "Team SVT" project, which presents the theme of uniting Seventeen and their fans.

[9] Our international fans, even though they may not understand Korean, love us for who we are and love our music so much, so we just wanted to make a song they can easily listen to and understand.In March, Pledis Entertainment confirmed that Seventeen would release their fourth studio album in May, three years after their previous studio album, An Ode and seven months after their previous EP, Attacca.

[17] The song was released as a digital single on April 15, accompanied by a music video featuring dreamy scenes in a sunlit wheat field and a mystical house.

[24] A holiday version of the song was released as part of Seventeen's Japanese EP, Dream, on November 9.

[13][18] In their remix session with Apple, Hoshi revealed that the band "made the melody and rhythm more simple so that the song could reach a wider range of listeners.

"[29] On the other hand, NME's Abby Webster criticized the song for being "anti-climactic" and being "a tad too muted to strike a chord.

"[31] Sarina Bhutani from MTV praised the song's musical composition, writing that it "perfectly layers instrumental elements, like plucky acoustic guitars and melodic pianos, with soft electronic sounds to create the sonic equivalent of a warm hug.