NCT

*disclaimer: there are many links to videos included in the text, but my recommendations will be said at the end.

The second group that I was introduced to was NCT (Neo Culture Technology). This is a group under the SM label that has a unique concept. This is a group that can add new members at any point and can form smaller units. There are currently 21 debuted members of this group with there being four units. I want to list all of the members now in birth order: Taeil, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Kun, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, Winwin, Jungwoo, Lucas, Mark, Xiaojun, Hendery, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Yangyang, Chenle, and Jisung. The four units are NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and WAYV. I have to explain a bit about each unit for this to make a little sense.

The first unit to debut was NCT U on April 9, 2016 with “The 7th Sense.” NCT U members are specifically chosen for each comeback. With the song “The 7th Sense” (depicted from left to right in labeled photo) the members for this comeback were Ten, Jaehyun, Doyoung, Taeyong, and Mark. On January 12, 2018 the song “Timeless” was released featuring three vocalists (from left to right) Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Taeil. February 18, 2018 was when the song “Boss” was released featuring the members (from left to right) Jaehyun, Lucas, Winwin, Taeyong, Mark, Doyoung, and Jungwoo. February 26, 2018 was the day “Baby Don’t Stop” was released featuring only (from left to right) Taeyong and Ten. There have been more NCT U songs, but there are the four that are my favorites.

The next unit to be debuted is NCT 127 on July 7, 2016. This unit’s debut song was “Firetruck” and it had 7 members. The members were Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan. When the group was getting to have their first comeback, there were two more members added to NCT 127, Doyoung and Johnny. The album titled “Limitless” was released on January 6, 2017 followed by the album “Cherry Bomb” on June 14, 2017. In the picture (front to back) is Winwin, Haechan, Taeil, Mark, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Doyoung, and Johnny. Jungwoo was added to NCT 127 in September of 2018. After that the group promoted as 10 for a bit before Winwin went to prepare for WAYV, but he is still a member of NCT 127. Their most recent comeback title track was “Superhuman” and was released on May 24, 2019. In the bottom left photo, (from left to right) front row is Mark, Yuta, and Taeil. Second row (from left to right) is Johnny, Haechan, Jaehyun, Taeyong, Doyoung, and Jungwoo. My favorite song by NCT 127 is “Touch” and was released March 14, 2018. A photo from this era is the bottom right photo.

The third unit is NCT Dream and they debuted on August 24, 2016 with the song “Chewing Gum.” This group is for members of NCT that are under the age of 19. When it debuted, it started as a seven member group: Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung. Jaemin was absent for their first and second comebacks (with “My First and Last” and “We Young” as title tracks). In the photo labeled “We Young” the members are (from left to right) Renjun, Chenle, Jisung, Mark, Jeno, and Haechan. On March 4, 2018 Jaemin returned with NCT Dream’s first single “Go.” On September 3, 2018 they had their last comeback with Mark as a member titled “We Go Up.” In the picture labeled “We Go Up” the members are (from left to right) Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Jisung, Chenle, and Haechan. At the end of 2018 Mark graduated from NCT Dream and the other six continued on. While Haechan was on tour with NCT 127, the other 5 members did a collaboration with Harvey titled “Don’t Need Your Love.” After NCT 127 tour, Haechan returned to join the “Boom” comeback. In this photo (from left to right) is Chenle, Jeno, Jaemin, Jisung, Haechan, and Renjun.

The last unit within NCT is the newest and is not even a year old. On January 17, 2019 WAYV debuted with an EP titled “The Vision.” This unit was made of four existing members of NCT (Winwin, Kun, Lucas, and Ten) but also announced the debut of three new members of NCT (Xiaojun, Hendery, and Yangyang). The specific thing about this group is that all of the members speak Chinese and sing/rap mostly in Chinese. This first EP had two songs previously released by NCT 127 but also included a third song that was new. In the photo labeled “Regular” the members (from left to right) are Xiaojun, Yangyang, Ten, Lucas, Winwin, Kun, and Hendery. After they debuted as a group, they started a YouTube video series called “RainbowV” to show the members collaborating in smaller groups to show off their talents to the fans. Ten and Winwin created a dance, Kun and Xiaojun wrote a song, and Lucas, Hendery, and Yangyang danced to a song. On May 9, 2019 WAYV released a music video along with a mini album. The title track is “Take Off” which shows fans their idols’ best sides. On October 29, 2019 the second mini album was released having the title track “Moonwalk” In this photo those in the front row (from left to right) are Ten and Yangyang. In that same photo, those in the second row are (from left to right) Winwin, Xiaojun, Kun, Hendery,and Lucas.

The reason that I enjoy NCT and its units so much is because there is a wide array of personalities and talent. Some of the things they say to each other are hilarious and you can see how much they care for each other and their fans. They are a highly diverse group with members from Japan, China, Thailand, Canada, South Korea, and one that was born in Taiwan but has their nationality is Chinese-German. Due to the flexibility of moving members around, certain roles aren’t always determined (like NCT Dream doesn’t have a leader). Those that want to care for the others, just naturally do. Doyoung and Taeyong are known for taking care of NCT 127 while Kun is known for taking care of WAYV.

Their music is unlike most other groups and a distinct sound. For recommendations for NCT, I would recommend NCT U- Boss, NCT 127- Cherry Bomb and Touch, NCT Dream- Boom, and WAYV- Take Off and Moonwalk.

Next: GOT7