NCT Pt. 1 (Intro and Members' Guide)
Having gone almost 5 years without a bias group, NCT, has successfully won me over and is my current bias group. Today, I shall dedicate this post to my lovely NCT.
Background (if anyone was wondering): I started listening to Kpop in 2009, got obsessed starting from 2010, my very first bias group and the group that got me addicted to Kpop is Shinee, my second bias group is EXO, and ever since 2015 I stopped having a bias group. I loved NCT's music since their debut but started officially stanning in 2019, and my favorite sub-unit in order (EVEN THO I LOVE ALL THE SUB-UNITS) is WayV, (NCT U because all my favorite songs are from this unit), NCT 127, NCT Dream.
NCT 2018 Black on Black |
NCT, which stands for Neo Culture Technology, is a boy band under SM Entertainment that debuted on April 9, 2016 with NCT U's The Seventh Sense. They are notorious for their unique and confusing (debatable in my opinion) concept in which the group has an unlimited amount of members who all promote in different sub-units but all under the NCT name. Think of NCT as a huge brand while the sub-units are small labels under the brand.
pls excuse my shitty handwriting
NCT is separated into two types of sub-units: regional/city based and united (at least this was the original concept). Regional units are as the name suggests; these sub-units mainly promote in their assigned country but will promote overseas as well. As of June 2020, the two regional-based sub-units are NCT 127, the Korean sub-unit, and WayV, the Chinese sub-unit. The united sub-units are not fixed. The two current united sub-units are NCT U (U literally stands for united and is the epitome of the united concept... all the comebacks have different members because the members in the comeback are determined by how suited they are for the concept) and NCT Dream (the members are all supposed to be all under 19 years old and once they hit 19 years old, they graduate from the group and new members are added however in 2020, SM released a statement stating that they have gotten rid of this concept and NCT Dream will now be a fixed unit with the 7 original members). They also have special project groups such as NCT 2018 where all the members promoted together (what an AMAZING time that was). As of June 2020, there are 21 members who range in age and nationality.
sorry this is so tiny and blurry... all rights go to the original owner... I got this from weibo Here is a brief guide to all 21 members (oldest to youngest): I'm going to be including some inside jokes because they are my favorite facts of these members. If you are looking to know more about NCT, I am hoping these inside jokes might pique your interest and help you learn more about them. Also, basic guides are available on kprofiles.com if you are interested in learning more, so I did not bother listing all their fun facts. Also, for their positions, I may not be 100% correct. Please feel free to correct me if I am incorrect. Taeil Year: 1994 Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean Position: Main Vocalist Sub-units: NCT 127, NCT U Fun Facts:
Johnny
Year: 1995
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean American (from Chicago)Position: Dancer, Rapper, Vocalist, dad of NCT 127 Sub-units: NCT 127 Fun Facts:
Taeyong
Year: 1995
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean Position: Leader of NCT 127, pillar of NCT, Main Dancer, Main Rapper, (sub)Vocalist, Face of the Group, Center, Visual Sub-units: NCT 127, NCT U Fun Facts:
He is a phenomenal rapper. He writes his own raps, composes (I am sure he will show us more amazing songs in the future), has amazing flow (idk anything about rap but his flow sounds dope AF to me and that's all that matters to me), very very distinguishable and unique voice, very clear diction, and he truly has his own distinct rap style. You don't need to know Korean to understand what vibe his song is).
A fan-favorite of NCT B-sides is the song Mad City performed by Taeyong, Mark, and Jaehyun. The rap lyrics were written by Taeyong and Mark and reflect their inner thoughts and frustration regarding the backlash they face from the public and their determination to fight through it due to their love for music. I absolutely love their flow here and their voices. Mark and Taeyong are definitely two of my favorite Korean rappers. This song is also where the iconic quotes: "Mark is absolutely fully capable" and "why are they doubting TY" came from.
I love all of Taeyong's songs, but my favorite is definitely Yestoday. With raps by Taeyong, Mark, and Lucas, paired with Doyoung's vocals, this song is a true masterpiece. Taeyong actually wrote this song during his pre-debut days and this was meant to be performed by him and Doyoung, but instead, the company added Mark and Lucas and included it in NCT 2018's Empathy album, which is my favorite NCT album and I highly recommend everyone to check it out because every song is amazing. The song talks about a lot of things. I interpret this song as Taeyong and Mark's autobiographies.
Aside from being an amazing rapper, he is, in my opinion, one of the best dancers of his generation. He has a very distinct dance style so he always captivates my attention. When he dances, he also has an unbeatable onstage persona. He is almost intimidating to watch, but you can't turn away from him because he is so mesmerizing and beautiful. Many professional dancers have praised him as being as good as a choreographer. He doesn't just dance to the choreography; he makes it his own. He adds a lot of personality into his dancing and he makes lots of great changes to the choreography to suit him and his group's vibe.
Here is one of his freestyles.
Here is a video made by a talented YouTuber, shaky raindrop. ALL her videos are top quality. She makes some crackhead videos but also has a phenomenal series about the members of NCT's dancing. Due to her videos, I have gained so much more respect for the members' dancing. This video is pt 2 of a video she made about Taeyong as a dancer. Here, she puts to words my thoughts about his dancing style. Taeyong is a true artist and performer. I argue he is one of the top artists in the world. Not only can his rap, lyrics, and vocals, tell us a story, his body can through dance... and he is one of the best at it in Kpop. Despite being one of SM's most pushed members in NCT, he is still SOOOO underrated in Kpop and in the world. Like Doyoung said, he is the pride of NCT. I want to show him off everywhere. I am honored to be his fan.
Yuta
Year: 1995
Ethnicity/Nationality: Japanese
Position: Lead Dancer, Vocalist, Rapper
Sub-units: NCT 127
Fun Facts:
watching Yuta dance is truly a pleasure... he is very explosive and has very sharp movements at times but he knows when and when not he should be explosive... the word I would use to describe him would be bouncy
Here is a cover Yuta did of White by DBSK.
Kun
Year: 1996
Ethnicity/Nationality: Fujian province of China
Position: leader of WayV, Main Vocalist Sub-units: WayV, NCT U Fun Facts:
Kun is one of those people who knew from very early on that he wanted to be a singer. To become a singer, he participated in many school talent shows, singing competitions, joined a Taiwanese band named Change for a while, played an extra in a few music videos and low budget videos, and graduated from the prestigious Beijing Contemporary Music Institute
He has many self-composed, self-written songs.
Gu Ren Gui
This was a song he wrote when he was 14 for a competition and is one of the popular NCT meme songs. All jokes aside, Kun is well-trained in composing music, and even after debut continues to perfect his skills. He has a SoundCloud with some songs he composed. On WayV's channel, he often uploads videos of behind the scenes of some of his composing and music writing.
Here is one of his works.
Dream Launch Acapella version
Not gonna lie, SM has been very open with the members participating in songwriting. I hope Kun will have the chance to compose and write more and more songs. I am hoping his songs will one day make it into WayV's albums.
Doyoung
Year: 1996
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean
Position: Main Vocalist
Sub-units: NCT 127, NCT U
Fun Facts:
Ten aka Lee Yong Qin (Chinese name)
Year: 1996
Ethnicity/Nationality: Thai but of Chinese ancestry
Position: MAIN DANCER, rapper, Lead Vocalist, resident savage Sub-units: WayV, NCT U Fun Facts:
His dancing is godly. Regarded as one of the best dancers of his generation, Ten is art itself. His dancing is very fluid and expressive. Here is his dance cover of Taki Taki.
Here is a self-choreographed dance cover with WinWin of lovely by Billie Eilish and Khalid. Here, they went for modern dance showing NCT's diversity in performing all sorts of genres.
He also performed on Hit the Stage, a show where some of the best kpop dancers battle through dance performances. Here is the Devil concept performance. I get chills every time I watch it. Sadly, he did not win first place which in my opinion is an atrocity. His performance was really one of the best. However, he did win first place during the Uniform concept episode.
I also highly recommend checking out Baby Don't Stop by NCT U performed by Ten and Taeyong. These two top dancers in NCT really killed the choreography. It is also interesting to see their differences in dance style.
When he first debuted in NCT U with The 7th Sense, he was a rapper. However, after being locked up in SM's dungeon for a few years, his vocals improved immensely. You can see his growth through his AMAZING solos, Dream In a Dream and New Heroes, Baby Don't Stop where he was in charge of the vocals, and finally as the lead vocalist of WayV. Xiaojun, the main vocalist of WayV, revealed that a lot of the high notes in WayV's songs are done by Ten.
Here is one of his solo songs, New Heroes. This is one of my favorites due to its GORGEOUS music video, amazing dancing, and very uplifting lyrics. I view this song as his life story.
I also recommend listening to some of his ballads with WayV. My favorite is Face to Face.
This man literally learned Mandarin for a year to debut in WayV. As a fluent Mandarin speaker, I have to say, his Mandarin is great for someone who only learned for a year.
He participated in Teen Superstar in Thailand and won the competition. He was offered a contract to join Starship but ultimately joined SM. He was once known as TNT...
Also, I just had to include this LEGENDARY clip... the legendary moment starts at 8:10 :)
ahem... I feel like it's obvious at this point that I love Ten... sorry NOT SORRY for the lengthy guide... please go to my WayV guide for a more in-depth guide
Jaehyun
Year: 1997
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean but lived in America for 4 years and that's why he's here (inside joke... sorry I couldn't help it... but he really did live in Connecticut for 4 years so he can speak English)
Position: Visual, Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Rapper, Prince of SM Sub-units: NCT 127, NCT U Fun Facts:
Here is Try Again, an SM Station collab with d.ear. Super soothing vocals... perfect for a rainy day.
WinWin aka Dong Si Cheng
Year: 1997
Ethnicity/Nationality: city of Wenzhou in China
Position: Visual, Lead Dancer, Vocalist, Rapper Sub-units: WayV, NCT 127, NCT U Fun Facts:
Personally, I feel like WinWin is treated better in WayV compared to NCT 127. He has more lines, more screentime, and more center positions. I do see him being treated slightly better in WayV, so let's hope that this improvement continues. My boi deserves more than 2 words in a song!
Jungwoo
Year: 1998
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean
Position: Dancer, Vocalist Sub-units: NCT 127, NCT U Fun Facts:
He received a lot of hate for joining NCT 127 late and because he joined when WinWin left and thus covered a lot of WinWin's parts, lots of people attacked him for "taking" WinWin's spot. This is SM's decision, not Jungwoo's. Stop attacking him!!!
Lucas aka Huang Xu Xi
Year: 1999
Ethnicity/Nationality: Hong Kong (half Chinese and half Thai)
Position: Lead Rapper, Vocalist, Visual, Center of WayV, resident crackhead Sub-units: WayV, NCT U Fun Facts:
He has been on Real Men 300, Law of Jungle in Last Indian Ocean, Keep Running, Happy Together, etc. This man is GOLD. My favorite of his variety shows appearance has to be Happy Together. I love his confidence. I feel like most people would come off as conceited and cocky but Lucas just comes off as really confident and positive when he praises his looks.
Mark
Year: 1999
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean Canadian
Position: MAIN RAPPER, Lead Dancer, Vocalist, (in my opinion) unofficial leader of NCT Dream
Sub-units: NCT Dream, NCT 127, NCT U
Fun Facts:
He debuted in NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and SuperM.
He is in almost all the NCT sub-units... during NCT 2018 this man literally had to perform 3 songs with 3 different groups all with costume changes in one go. Aside from all the groups he is in, he also went on A LOT of variety show by himself. For example, he was on High School Rapper where he ultimately placed 7th in the competition, was an MC on Show! Music Core, was on It's Dangerous Beyond The Blankets, etc.
Personally, my heart hurts seeing him so busy and overworked but I feel like he is happy doing all of this since music is his passion. However, I do wish SM knows that he is ONLY HUMAN and to give him and the other members a break. He looks sooooo skinny now :(
Mark is regarded as SM's best rapper. I am not a professional rapper but I love his flow, voice, stage presence, and lyrics. Similar to Taeyong, he also writes nearly all his raps for NCT songs, title tracks and B-sides alike. Mad City will forever be my favorite of his raps but here is another song with an amazing Mark rap verse. Though his part here is kind of short, it was very memorable for me.
Mark is an ACE. He actually passed the SM Global Audition through singing. The members of Dream voted him as the best vocalist that is a rapper. Also, his dancing is overshadowed by his rapping. He is another amazing dancer. Here is one of his freestyles.
HE IS SO PRECIOUS AND MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS
I feel like he is one of those people that nobody dislikes... like who can dislike such a talented, likable person???
Xiaojun
Year: 1999
Ethnicity/Nationality: Dongguan, Guangdong, China
Position: Main Vocalist
Sub-units: WayV
Fun Facts:
Can I just rant... This was performed in episode 1 of the show. The two mentors/group leaders had to pick the members they liked the most based off of their performance, but NOBODY picked Xiaojun. I'm sorry but WTF... He is handsome, can play the piano, CAN SING, and can write his own music. I do not understand why they did not pick him???
Hendery aka Huang Guan Heng
Year: 1999
Ethnicity/Nationality: Macau
Position: Rapper, Dancer, Vocalist, Visual
Sub-units: WayV
Fun Facts:
In NCT it is super difficult to have a bias because all members are HUGE bias wreckers, but I will say... Hendery is definitely my bias in WayV... with Ten being a VERY close second.
Being in a group where there are so many amazing dancers, it is easy to be overlooked but I really think Hendery is a great dancer. I am no professional dancer but his dancing is sharp and just the right amount of power. He doesn't over dance or under dance. He is the standard idol dancer in my opinion (I mean this positively). His freestyles are fun, on the beat, creative, and a pleasure to watch.
Sadly, this is one of the few clips I could find of him dancing to something not officially released by WayV. Can we get a NCT dance for Hendery please...?
Renjun
Year: 2000
Ethnicity/Nationality: Jilin, China
Position: Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer, resident savage
Sub-units: NCT Dream
he says this A LOT... I love this kind of attitude so I had to include it in his fun facts
Jeno
Year: 2000
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean
Position: Lead Rapper, Lead Dancer, Visual, Vocalist
Sub-units: NCT Dream
He is known to be a very boring member. His members often roast him for being boring and not being able to crack any jokes. Jeno actually embraces his nickname.
Haechan
Year: 2000
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean
Position: Lead Vocalist, Dancer, Rapper, maknae of NCT 127
Sub-units: NCT Dream, NCT 127, NCT U
He annoyed Mark so much pre-debut that Mark almost left SM.
He is known for his honey voice.
SM... pls don't overwork my boys
Jaemin
Year: 2000
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean
Position: Rapper, Dancer, Vocalist, Visual, mom of NCT Dream
Sub-units: NCT Dream
He used to drink about 6 cups of coffee with 4-4.5 shots of espresso a day but has cut back to only drinking 2 cups of coffee a day because fans were worried about his health.
Yangyang
Year: 2000
Ethnicity/Nationality: Taiwanese but hold German nationality
Position: Main Rapper, Lead or Main Dancer, Vocalist, maknae of WayV
Sub-units: WayV
He speaks Mandarin, English, German, Korean, and a bittttt of Spanish (but I think he already forgot most of it).
He likes to "joke"
Chenle
Ethnicity/Nationality: Shanghai, China
Position: Main Vocalist
Sub-units: NCT Dream
He offered to buy Jeno a computer (as a joke), he gifted Mark with an Apple Watch, he owns 3 pairs of AirPods. He has a huge house in the middle of Shanghai (this screams money), and he owns a house in Seoul which is where he lives instead of living in the dorms, etc.
He is the youngest person to be invited to sing at the Golden Hall of Vienna with a solo performance at the age of 9. By age 14, Chenle had released three solo albums and hosted one solo concert in China. He also appeared on China's Got Talent and countless other television programs. He also dabbled in a bit of acting. He had a cameo role in The Queen of SOP Season 2 (P.S. I actually watched this when it came out and I did not remember Chenle at all... it is so magical... I saw him before he even debuted in NCT).
I am not hating because I love ALL the members of NCT, but even Renjun is treated more like a main vocalist than Chenle and Renjun used to only be a vocalist and was later given the title lead vocalist. Chenle barely has any killing parts and high notes. Also, he has not appeared in any SM Station or collaborated on a ballad or done an OST. WTF SM?! Wasting Chenle's talent. Imagine giving up releasing solo albums and having solo concerts to come to Korea and debut in NCT just to be treated this way...
Also, Chenle is sooooo stable live. He always tries to sing the chorus when he can.
Jisung
Year: 2002
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean
Position: Main Dancer, Vocalist, Rapper, maknae of both NCT Dream and NCT as a whole as of June 2020
Sub-units: NCT Dream
He is so nice and loving towards Chenle. We can tell his NCT bias is Chenle.
I know I said BRIEF guide but I got a little carried away. Due to the length of this guide... I will continue talking about NCT in a Part Two. Here is Part 2 which discusses my thoughts on NCT's concept, musicality, dancing, and music videos.
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