Because I wasn’t watching YouTube (or other short-form streaming video) during most of the month of March, I had no way to access the ‘Wakey Wakey’ video when it was first released. And because for whatever reason SM Entertainment/Avex records (SM’s proxy in Japan) didn’t release the whole album until later…I didn’t have access it on Spotify until like, last week.
Okay, great.
“But now that it’s on Spotify,” you ask, “why don’t you review it? Even without the video! You did that with Chen’s solo album a while back.”
Real answer:
Once I finally found it, I listened to ‘Wakey Wakey’ (or W2, as I’ll call it in the rest of this post). Then I listened to it again. And just now, I gave it a third chance.
I think you know where I’m going with this.
W2 is not my cup of tea. Which is a shame, because with a name like ‘Wakey Wakey’ it would be really fun if it were the kind of song that you could blast in the mornings with a cup of coffee.
This song reminds me of ‘Regular’ crossed with Hitchhiker x Taeyong’s ‘Around’ with a little sprinkling of ‘Chain’ on top. Unlike ‘Around,’ though, which has a delightful sense of humor and makes me laugh every single time, W2 is just…relentless.
The same tight melodic range (read: NO melodic range) of ‘Regular’ combined with the high synth sample? No thank you.
One of the hard parts of being a fan of a group while they’re actively building a sound and a fanbase is that they’re going to keep exploring. What you initially liked about them may not be where they ultimately end up.
There’s a beauty in staying open, and giving a young group the space to grow and explore. That’s what I tell myself, at least.
Just when you thought he couldn’t look even more like an anime character…
Taeyong of NCT at the 2019 Idol Star Athletic Championship
He goes and matches himself to the field and the NCT lightstick. SMH.
My eyes are happy to look at the reds and greens and neon yellows, all nicely saturated and balanced. Even the vaguely repeating stripes of the track and his tracksuit scream harmony. This picture is so complete. There’s nothing superfluous or distracting, simply great content. And you can imagine him skipping along, hair bouncing.
With the release of the repack album Regulate and its single “Simon Says,” NCT 127 completes the Regular-Irregular cycle.
“Cycle” seems like the wrong word to use. It calls up Wagner and epics and possibly Vikings. This is just k-pop. And yet, it fits.
Perhaps this is because with the “Simon Says” video, we loop back to the very first teasers for “Regular.” Our group, as office workers, dreaming of something better. Fully fledged, those dreams became the “Regular” video.
In “Simon Says,” office dreams have turned into a nightmare.
Or at least a weird fashion dystopia featuring a giant table fit for a cabal of villains.
“Simon Says” is a fabulously NCT 127-type of song. It’s rhythmic, bass-heavy, a little bit grotty, and weird. This is why we like NCT 127, because they provide something different from a typical refined, pre-packaged k-pop release.
For me, standout bits of this song are, in no particular order:
The “fishbowl” mixing effect (similar to “Boss”) with lots of ear candy—there are many layers of distortion and ad libs that blossom when you listen with headphones
Haechan and Taeil lead the vocal line to victory with that bridge—one of the best moments of the song
I love the nod to the choreo (and dystopian concept) of Baekhyn and Loco’s “Young“
The bass. This one bites a little bit harder than “Cherry Bomb” or “Limitless”
Vans with shoelaces tied around everybody’s ankles over their pants
The octaves—seriously, the vocal line killed on this song
Best English line ever: “Bless me, achoo”
I can’t stop dancing to it
The music video wasn’t super-exciting, but I can deal with that. I’d like to get a dance practice video to get a good look at the choreography, but I’m not holding out for a masterpiece. Apparently they learned this choreo in an insanely short amount of time while they were promoting “Regular” in the US.
Side note: I love the timbre of Taeyong’s voice. It has this stretchy, almost creaky texture to it.
Turning to Regulate, the repack album, I prefer the original. The concept and song selection on Regular-Irregular is already fantastic, and I don’t feel like the addition of new songs made it any better. The Korean version of “Chain,” while great (…off the chain, you might say), doesn’t match with the vibe of this album at all. It’s jarring to me, and not in a good way. “Welcome to my Playground” doesn’t grab me.
The one exception is “Simon Says.” It enters at just the right time—directly after the dream-turned-nightmare of the interlude—and that war chant at the beginning helps to set off the “irregular” portion of the album.
Conceptually, this comeback was a success. The overall concept of Regular-Irregular/Regulate is pretty cool, albeit a bit complicated. Hey, it’s NCT. Complication comes with the territory.
Some of the details of execution could have been done better, such as the other b-sides in the repack, but I don’t think they detracted enough from the overall concept to be a problem. The biggest issue, for me, is the title track. I still dislike “Regular” and don’t see that changing anytime soon.
I can deal with that. Concept is king.
NCT 127 will always be “NCT one-twenty-seven” to me, instead of “NCT one-two-seven.” You’re welcome.
Mark is the best rapper in SM Entertainment. He writes most of his own lyrics, and tends to play around with rhythm. His voice isn’t overly resonant, which is not as much of a problem as it sounds—helps him stand out against smooth vocals.
Haechan is not a rapper, even though he had a rap line in “We Go Up.” I used to describe his voice as fuzzy, but lately it’s not as rough—Haechan has refined his singing technique to a smooth velvety texture.
Taeil, on the other hand, has a smooth, piercing voice. If we continue the fabric metaphor, Taeil’s voice is a light, cool silk. He has tremendous flexibility and range.
Complimentary charisma
I’l use the word “charisma” because it’s used so often in Korean-English translations. What I like about Mark, Haechan, and Taeil together is that like their voices, they bring a complimentary set of strengths to the table.
Mark I often describe as “workmanlike.” He has an incredible work ethic (literally been in all NCT comebacks with the exception of “Baby Don’t Stop” and songs with the vocal line only), and a drive to improve. In 2018, his dancing has gone from merely adequate to wait, is that Mark?. He once got a dance feature at an awards show, even though his official position in NCT has nothing to do with dance. He will make sure things get done.
Almost on the opposite side of the spectrum, Haechan is a performer. He will take any opportunity to make a joke or do something extra. You will always be entertained when he’s around. Where Mark can sometimes be overly serious and focused, Haechan lightens the mood—but he’s deadly serious about performing. Watching his slow transformation into Michael Jackson (1, 2) is fascinating, as he’s obviously studying and applying what he sees.
Because Taeil is so quiet, he’s harder to figure out. But given that he plays piano and guitar, and given that if he weren’t an idol he would have gone to University for music, I feel safe in saying that he is an artistry guy.
A sense of humor
It may not be apparent when you first get to know NCT, because Taeil is so quiet in interviews, but all three dudes have a great sense of humor. Haechan (his stage name literally means “Full Sun”) is the most obvious, because he’s always the class clown. Taeil doesn’t often joke around on camera, but his playful sense of humor still shows through occasionally—like in his feature during promotions for “Touch.” Mark is less of an instigator, but is more than willing to play along with jokes and gives great reactions. My favorite example of this is Haechan and Mark’s surprise game of Rock Paper Scissors during promotions for “My First and My Last.” (Haechan’s reaction is real, btw.)
Now humor doesn’t often factor into a comeback song, but it is an indicator of how a team will perform together. Even based on these random Insta photos, these three work together just fine.
To sum up, a Mark/Haechan/Taeil subunit would be a winning combination of looks, musical balance, charisma, and teamwork. And they already have promo photos!
K-pop idols are already some weird combination of trading cards (for the stats and modular personalities) and paper dolls (for the fashion), so I don’t think it’s all that weird indulging in some fantasy football-inspired dreams here.
So if you’re a SM Entertainment rep randomly trolling the internet looking for ideas, consider this one.
SM Entertainment’s love affair with minimalism continues.
Maybe it’s white space.
Whatever you want to call it, “We Go Up” is the latest in line of lighter songs that breathe between notes rather than being a 100% wall of noise all of the time.
Twice’s “Likey” also did this. I don’t follow all of k-pop enough to know if this is a legit trend, but I can trace it from Red Velvet’s “Peek-a-Boo” through to NCT 127’s “Boss” and now NCT Dream with “We Go Up.”
There are so many tropes that permeate this video. The IRL bubble sounds and other samples, which tie it directly to songs like “Boss” and even the clinking glass in EXO’s “Sweet Lies” and “Twenty Four” (I’m pretty sure it’s the same sample in both songs). There’s the pantheon of NCT dance moves, including the bicep flex, the elbow airplane, the knock-knees, the back-to-the-camera-ending-pose (previously seen in NCT 127 “Limitless” and EXO-CBX “Hey Mama”), and of course the obligatory NCT high five.
Mark is aging out of NCT Dream after this comeback. Because of this, the Dreamies have been working to bolster their rap line. I’m pretty impressed with Jaemin and Jisung’s raps. Somebody’s got to hold down the fort when Mark is gone, but nobody could replace him. Mark’s raps have gotten better with age (and he’s barely an adult). Compare his rap in “We Go Up” or “Go” to something like “Mad City” (which was still good) and you’ll hear how much he’s grown.
I really hope that Renjun drew the wolf that’s on their flag. He’s the artist of the group, in that the members have forced him to show off his drawing skills on variety shows.
Like “Boss,” Dreams’ “We Go Up” is a lot more interesting with headphones. There’s a lot of subtle layering that gets revealed when you pay more attention. The bass line is addicting–just enough space between the notes to keep you hanging on–and I love the use of the minor key.
Sometimes I think about how much SM does A/B testing and releases new-and-improved versions of their own content. Red Velvet’s “Mr. E” is a more refined version of “Zoo.” EXO tested the reggae concept with “Twenty Four” before they came out with a reggae-influenced title track. In that vein, this song feels like a refined melody of “We Young” from last summer combined with a bigger version of the beat from “Boss.” Not everything is an evolution, but it’s interesting to tease out the similarities and watch ideas develop.
Kind of like when every group in SM worse gold and silver lame sometime circa 2012.
Anyway, that has nothing to do with NCT Dream. “We Go Up” is not the sound I was expecting from them, but I’m loving it. It’s relaxed and loose and yet interesting and fun. I’m looking forward to their album release–this should be good.
PS. SM Entertainment, this is another official request for a Mark/Haechan subunit.
It’s rough, but I love this track of Mark and Taeyong from the NCT crew.
I have a fondness for the young, rough, unrefined bits in an artist’s career–when you can just see the first tendrils of talent unfolding but still being explored.
SM Entertainment has made a concerted effort to develop their rap talent, and has taken that seriously in pushing Mark and Taeyong (and I guess now Lucas) to develop and grow.
You can tell that this is a “challenge” song–somebody tasked them to write a song about what makes them angry. Young Nickel Creek used to record a lot of songs from these types of challenges, and I love how transparent they are.
For all its rough edges, I love this verse from Mark:
When I’m in the house, guess what happens at the end it
always turns out to be empty and demolished (I killed it)
I eventually always end up standing at the center of it
Always energetic still clenching a damn mic in my fist now (how)
Could this be possible? Am I that powerful?
Guess that’s why rumors around the world are saying that
“Mark is absolutely fully capable”
No more rules, just dial my number
If you’re ready to have your house blown
It me. I don’t rap, but I know this feeling. I know this capability. I know this bewilderment.
If I worked as hard as Mark Lee, I could make some things happen too.
I have so many thoughts about NCT 2018 Empathy. So many. Most of them are not positive, but I remain hopeful.
If you’re just joining this comeback cycle, I was not a huge fan of NCT U’s “Boss” but liked NCT Dream’s “Go” despite my dreamies being all grown up. The more I listen to “Go,” the more of a Haechan appreciator I’m become. His voice is gorgeous and he uses it impeccably. (“Boss” is growing on me, ngl. Listening to it on headphones is like suddenly going underwater and seeing all the coral reefs and fishes when previously you were just been dog paddling above the surface.)
However, that brings us to NCT 127 and “Touch.” Writing about it means that I should post the music video on my channel and for that I hate myself a little bit.
This video makes me cringe.
It’s clear that Dream and 127 swapped concepts for this comeback, with Dream taking the hard-edged grotty urban-inflected hip-hop sound, and 127 covering the squeaky-clean brightly lit bubblegum pop arena. However, unlike Dream’s previous singles (even “Chewing Gum”), “Touch” doesn’t have a twist, or a nudge-and-wink, or a naughty streak. It’s just plain, simple bright smiles and boyfriend material.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that–there certainly isn’t. But it isn’t why I started listening to NCT and certainly isn’t what attracts me to k-pop.
I recognize that I’m not the typical fan (I’m older than most of their target market), because I see the younger fans clearly enjoying the visuals of all the members in this comeback. And yes, they are all very good looking. But I miss the gonzo NCT styling which even applied to Dream when they were promoting. There are no fur hats or eyeball rings and shark jackets or fantasy military jackets. Or Gucci on a hoverboard.
It’s not just the visuals that bother me, though. The actual song “Touch” is really corporate sounding, like you’d stick it into a commercial for an off-brand soda. Frankly, it sounds like a reject from EXO’s winter album that some underling producer got stuck with trying to “funk it up” for NCT.
Which brings us to the Empathy album as a whole, which someone remarked should be called NCT 2016-2018 since it contains all the assorted non-album releases since NCT debuted. “Black on Black,” all of the NCT U songs. NCT U’s “The Seventh Sense” was the first song that drew me to NCT, and if I had discovered it on an album like Empathy, I don’t know if I would have explored more. (Of course it was Dream’s “My First and My Last” that really got me. NCT Dream is secretly everybody’s favorite.)
Specifically, I dislike albums that are all single and no b-side. Even with the intro and outro, there’s no reason for me to listen to Empathy on its own. NCT has always been weak in their discography–partly because they’re still experimenting with their sound but also because they only have mini albums and don’t have a body of work built up like a band like EXO or Big Bang did. Granted, the inherent structure of NCT’s design would make it more difficult to build up a body of coherent work, because they’re built up of subunits with different themes and sounds.
Even more specifically, I’m really disappointed by the song “Yest0day.” Interesting title, not a bad hook, fantastic rap from Mark (who is really starting to hone his chops), all ruined by an idiotic rap from Lucas. One of the main reasons I like k-pop is that even when the rap is simplistic or lacking finesse it’s not dumb. I hate dumb rap where they take a word and then rhyme it five times in a row without any rhythmic variation or wordplay or anything. Mark delivers the opposite of that. So does Taeyong. But Lucas the Usurper? No more dumb rap, please.
Now. Granted. Part of this sounds like the knee-jerk reaction of someone who is protective of a fledgling k-pop group. And that is true, I like NCT and being a person high in openness, I like the idea of an ever-expanding group that can shift to accommodate different musical styles and moods.
But it’s hard to watch SM deliberately crash the original NCT concept. One of the benefits of doing it now is that I know that I won’t have to watch it happen in slow motion, when producers run out of ideas and the concepts all start to morph slowly into each other and enough members leave that all the subunits are consolidated to keep the group alive. At least we don’t have that future.
Maybe (hah) this means that we can get more clarity out of future NCT subunits, who will emerge to deposit a well-conceived package of music into our earballs before evaporating back into the nebulous NCT mothership. (Isn’t that what the concept was supposed to be anyway?)
I suspect that the deliberate switching of Dream and 127’s concepts, plus the cataloging of U’s random singles into one album, serves as a zeroing-out for the group. I think this is supposed to be a new start, a time for all the subunits to develop empathy for each other’s concepts and learn how to work together or whatever. However they promote from this point forward, it won’t be the NCT that we started with.
On the plus side, SM is always A/B testing, so I’m hoping we’ll get something stronger out of this. The concepts for both Super Junior and EXO crashed too, and both groups did alright for themselves.
PS: SM Entertainment, this is my request for an official Mark/Haechan subunit.
Twitter is a wonderland. Today’s bounty of wonder came in the form of a Venn diagram featuring the many incarnations of NCT.
The problem (“””problem”””) with this particular Venn diagram is that it’s entirely in Hangul, except for song titles which are deliberately in English.
This is not a problem–this is a puzzle! It’s a matter of cross-checking the members in each song with the other songs that they’re in, under which group. The name in the most-overlapping triangle, for instance, is Mark since he’s debuted with every group so far, and nearly every song. (He’s missing only from the NCT U vocal songs–Timeless and Without You–and the upcoming Tae/Ten release.
Then, I double-checked myself with the Hangul alphabet to make sure I had all of the names right, like in the case of Lucas and Jungwoo who both debuted with NCT U but haven’t yet done anything else, or the Dreamies.
Here’s a version in the Latin alphabet for us Westerners.
It’s a little messy but I didn’t want to completely obliterate the Hangul characters.
This is so much fun to look at. I’m excited for the rest of NCT 2018 and what different combinations they’ll come up with. Perhaps a Venn diagram will be impossible in the future–we’ll see.
Speaking of NCT 2018, we have been blessed with fancam of Taeyong and Ten’s Baby Don’t Stop which isn’t due to be released for a few more days.
Honestly? I’m not that into it. It reminds me a little of the pre-debut test Bassbot, but without the musical or choreographic interest.
The Eastern Bloc-inspired uniforms and Ukrainian architecture can stay, but everything else can slide on by.
HOWEVER.
That doesn’t mean we can’t have some NCT appreciation. Or is it analysis?
Boss sounds like an NCT 127 track, but has the delicate task of debuting two new members. Hence it being a U song.
Like NCT 127’s Limitless, Boss is a rather unsubtle statement of NCT’s goals. The meme behind “limitless” was simultaneously the number of members in NCT, but also drilling the idea for limitless potential into the heads of the members. Same with Cherry Bomb: I’m the biggest hit on the stage.
In a behind-the-scenes video for Boss, Mark talked about how the video starts with all the members fighting over who’s boss, and ends with them realizing that they’re a team. I get the teambuilding exercise, but is it really the greatest idea to meme a fight between Taeyong and Mark into existence when a new members are lurking?
Oh, wait, I forgot this is SM Entertainment. Of course it makes sense to pit all of them against each other, especially as we’re bringing in new members. It’s basically a thematic representation of how some of us feel about the new members.
The Boss video features Lucas the Usurper, who is apparently a 3rd rapper in the NCT crew. Lucas was probably supposed to be the leader of group that would have included Kun and Jungwoo, plus others from the auditions. I wonder if SM wasn’t getting good auditioners? I wish we knew more about the sudden switch to NCT EVERYONE ALL AT ONCE.
Anyway, I’m not endeared to Lucas. He is direct competition for my boy Mark. I am not one of those all-inclusive fans. I want Mark to win, always. Just keeping it real, folks.
Jungwoo has a nice voice. He can stay.
#JusticeforWinWin
On the style front, let’s appreciate the return of NC-TURTLENECK.
I want to escape into a misty forest at dawn and run toward the light that spills through the trees. I want to cloak myself in velvet and swim into a glittering nebula. I want to discover the truth of God and the universe.
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