NKOTB and SEVENTEEN rumors, the next few months, and more

Donnie added a story on Instagram this morning with a photo of what appears to be cards he is autographing. It says "New Kids on the Block" at the top, so I'm assuming the rest of the guys will eventually be signing these as well. He didn't specify that they will be used for, but he did say after "the mystery" is revealed, that it would be the first of many things in the coming months!

It looks like we will have to wait until 2024 for this one, but he is thinking of planning a charity golf tournament in which fans can attend!

The "17" mystery has still not been solved, but here are a few things I've seen that may offer some more clues. 

I noticed that the K-Pop group SEVENTEEN reshared the "17" post last week, but my initial reaction was probably just them responding jokingly in a "hey that's us" kind of way. Kind of like maybe the New Kids might have done had they used the phrase "new kids on the block" about something unrelated to the guys. 

However, there have been some additional developments over the past few days that leads me to believe they may actually be doing something with SEVENTEEN. 

First is Donnie himself shared their retweet: 

Then the NKOTB account posted a gif from the movie "Dirty Dancing" yesterday, and SEVENTEEN retweeted that as well. 

Then music producer "Dem Jointz" posted these: 

According to the Wikipedia page about Dem Jointz, he "can be recognized by his "Incoming!" producer tag in the beginning on the songs he produced". So, it looks like he may be producer if they do collaborate!

Update: The "17 mystery" has since been solved. 

I've seen a few people concerned about the two groups going on tour together and tickets being difficult to get. I think if they collaborate, it'll just be for a song. Donnie has said the 2024 NKOTB tour will most likely be just the New Kids with an opening act (see this post for that). SEVENTEEN has over 12 million followers on their social media accounts, so they might be too big to be an opening act. Also, keep in mind the guys collaborated with many other artists on their original release of "The Block" and they didn't tour with them (New Edition, Ne-Yo, The Pussycat Dolls, Akon etc.).   

Donnie has been reading the speculations online and he responded to a few more posts (see some previous responses here). 

After the NKOTB account posted the "Dirty Dancing" scene, Rattail posted a clip from the movie in which the song "Big Girls Don't Cry" was playing in the background. Donnie responded and said they were on to something with that song. I'm assuming he's referring to the song "Big Girl Now" from their album "The Block". 

He also responded to a post by thegothgirlblockhead. She suggested they may be re-releasing a "Dirty Dancing" music video for the re-release of "The Block". Read her post and Donnie's response below: