So you wanna get into NCT, eh?
Part 2 - NCT 127 - Introduction and MVs
I promised I would do more of this and the holidays are done and today is the first of the year so that seems like a great time to get to it!
Tumblr has a 10 video limit so I'll actually make a second 127 post tomorrow(?) with some more MVs, but these are my personal picks for 10 most crucial 127 MVs so that's what we're starting with.
I mentioned in my intro post to NCT that NCT 127 debuted in July 2016, on the 7th, after the larger whole group of NCT had debuted in April of that year. 127 is the longitude of Seoul, and with the original intent of NCT to have a multitude of subgroups focused on different parts of the world, 127 were established as the first of these groups with a focus on Seoul and South Korea.
NCT 127 debuted with seven members:
Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta
Jaehyun, Winwin
Mark, Haechan
In December of 2016, two ungrouped, already debuted members of NCT were added to 127, Johnny and Doyoung, and then the final member, Jungwoo, was added in September of 2018 after he joined NCT earlier that year.
Johnny, Doyoung, Jungwoo
(All pictures taken from the NCT official Facebook page from the Golden Era promo posts, so these photos are all from summer 2023 and I'll use the same set of photos for the other subgroup posts to be consistent)
If you're interested in putting in the effort to learn the members and looking at this single set of photos isn't going to get you there (how could it?) my pro tip for learning kpop group members for ANY group is to pull off a split screen or makeshift split screen and make use of the many many fan-made lyric videos on Youtube. If you have a computer, have two windows open on Youtube with one having the official MV and the other a lyric video (you can find these by typing in the group name, song name, and "lyric video" and trust me, you'll find plenty). Mute one, compare the video lengths, then time them to coincide- the lyric videos will typically light up a picture of the member singing as well as have their name at the bottom of the video with the lyrics, so you can have a constant guide to who is singing what throughout. Makeshift split screening can be done by watching the MV on your TV while watching the lyric video on your phone at the same time. I've done both of these and it's helped me a lot!
Okay, back to 127 members specifically- despite the focus on Seoul, 127 is an international group member-wise, with Winwin coming from China, Yuta being the first SM artist to come from Japan, and members Mark coming from Canada and Johnny from America. Jaehyun also lived in America for four years growing up, so they started out with a pretty solid English speaking base.
They debuted with Fire Truck (소방차) in July 2006 as we've already covered, and their first EP which was just titled NCT #127 - The First Mini Album. They've released a whole pile of albums, mini albums, various singles, special releases, and several Japanese albums over the years so there's quite a big pile of songs and material to go through.
Now a factual, historical way to get into discussing them here would be to list songs in order of how they were released and talk about how successful songs and albums were and etc, but I don't really feel like doing things that way so I'm just going to follow my heart and list them in the way that feels right to me to talk about them. These posts are a formalized version of the spam of messages that friends of mine have gotten when they dare tell me they want to get into a kpop group, so I'm going to follow more of that kind of format where I'm going to post the songs that I think will hook you with only a few bits of info between most of them so you can just get into the music. If you really want info about album successes and statistics, Wikipedia and other websites have got you. I got you for the music videos and fun facts instead.
HERE WE GO.
Kick It (Mar 4, 2020) reigns supreme as NCT 127's most viewed song on Youtube, and is one of NCT's top viewed MVs overall out of all releases. This song has a grip on everyone after almost 4 years and it's not letting go anytime soon. They've performed it live at all kinds of big awards shows and music festivals and still do, including a few days ago at the big SBS Gayo Daejeon festival, and Taeyong is famous for complaining about his older sister watching one of their award show performances and him discovering later that all the screenshots she took were of shirtless Johnny and none of him or anyone else dancing or singing.
Listen, I wasn't going to include songs I put in the intro post, but Fact Check (Oct 6, 2023) made it into my top 5 Spotify songs of the year in barely over a month so like I had to include it anyway, and I figure some people will see this post first without seeing that one or whatever. This song feels triumphant and bombastic and the number of times I've blasted this while cruising down the highway recently is HIGH so you get it again. A fun fact I didn't include in the other post is that Taeyong did some of the choreography for the song, so uhhh yeah that can justify me posting it again I guess.
Ahhh Superhuman, my criminally underrated beloved. I'm constantly waffling on what my favourite NCT 127 track is, but Superhuman is definitely one of the top contenders. It's such a gem and I managed to miss it when it originally came out since I wasn't super into NCT yet at the time, which is a shame since it came out the day after my birthday (May 24, 2019) so it was a birthday gift I didn't even realise I was getting. The MVs always cover a decent amount of the choreo up with other things happening but it has some of my absolute FAVOURITE choreo that 127 has ever done which thankfully someone preserved the dance practice video of so you can appreciate it fully. Stellar song, stellar vibes, stellar choreo, it's perfect, thank you.
If you're newer to kpop and you haven't learned about repackage albums yet, it's something that happens where a second version of an album will be released usually a month or two after the initial release. A few songs will be added, a new lead single MV will be released, and a new theme will go with the whole thing. Punch (May 19, 2020) was the new lead single on the repackage for the album that Kick It was the lead single off of (Neo Zone) and is one of the many NCT 127 songs that a lot of people have lumped into being so-called "noise music" since it has some less traditional sounds with the electronic, synthy bits in it but it's honestly amazing with layered sounds and textures and very much worth taking the time to give it the chance it deserves.
The benefit of coming to a post like this instead of only listening to released albums is you get the overlooked masterpieces like Save (June 4 2021) thrown at you! Save was a special collab with Amoeba Culture, an independent record label in South Korea, so it didn't get regular promotion and it's not on any of 127's albums but it is SO CATCHY and such a treat. It's got heavy dance beats and it's so hard to not move while listening to it. I DARE YOU TO TRY.
Cherry Bomb (Jun 14, 2017) is close behind Kick It as 127's second most viewed MV and is an absolute classic from the song itself to the iconic choreo. You'll understand why the choreo is iconic after you watch it, trust me. They've ripped a lot of pants for this song over the years. Mark has an epic rap break, Winwin was still around, Taeil hangs from a giant hook in the middle of a warehouse, Johnny gets dragged around on a couch, there's a lot going on.
Simon Says (Nov 22, 2018) is another repackage album song (from the repackage of Regular-Irregular, Regulate) and is from the brief, sweet spot where 127 had all ten members active, making it one of only two MVs with everyone before Winwin debuted as part of WayV and became inactive in 127. Haechan and Taeil always crush high notes but something about their section that starts with Haechan at 2:53 and has Taeil right at 3:00 always gives me goosebumps.
The original version of Highway to Heaven was released on the Superhuman album, but the English version got an MV (Jul 22, 2019) so that's the one you're getting here. Just 127 playing around in the American desert with a sparkly jangly feel good song with immaculate vibes, what more could you want?
Limitless (Jan 4, 2017) has some truly tragic hair and was one of the worst eras for 127's hair health, and this MV is a really weird assortment of incredibly random nonsense (what is even GOING ON in this entire video) but the song itself is another one of my favourites so I usually just try to pretend the MVs don't exist (yeah there's multiple) and appreciate the song itself for what it is and try to forget Mark's ramen hair and Winwin's dreads (that I think are mainly only in the second MV) and Jaehyun's icicle hair and whatever it was that they did to Taeyong.
READY TO GET DIVISIVE? Either you're going to love Sticker (Sep 16, 2021) or hate Sticker, there is no middle ground. This song SPLIT the fandom and general public, but according to Wikipedia, the album sold "a combined 3.58 million copies [and] broke the record for the best-selling album of all time by an act under SM Entertainment and earned the group the Daesang award at the 31st Seoul Music Awards". Internationally, it "debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, becoming the longest and highest-charting K-pop album in the US in 2021", so obviously some people loved it (it's me, I'm people). This is peak 127 being weird and experimental and there's viral memes of the boys reacting to the demo of the song before recording their version of it that are hilarious. I think it's great. You might not. That's okay.
Okay that's the 10 song limit so you'll have to come back for more MVs hopefully tomorrow. The next post is going to include some more divisive stuff, some softer things, and some Japanese releases so stick around for that! (haha get it, stick around, since I just posted Sticker, see what I did there?)
This post is the second in a series of posts introducing new fans to NCT in a way that makes sense, by getting familiar with one subgroup at a time before moving on to the next. Linked down at the bottom is the intro post, and the rest will be linked as they're added.
Still to come about 127? More MVs, then a guide to some of the fun stuff like their extra content they post on Youtube, before we move on to NCT Dream!
Dedicated as ever to @catatonicrainbow and @poetry-protest-pornography 💖
[So you wanna get into NCT eh? 1 | 2 | 3]
