yuerstruly

Disclaimer: Please do not read this piece if you cannot accept criticism of any unit or member of NCT.

As one of the few existing NCTzens that actually enjoy all of NCT (and actually manage to catch most releases on the week of), I thought I would summarize my thoughts for this year in a post. This is the first time I’m doing an overview (part of this is definitely to make my Dreamwidth posting more habitual) despite having followed the boys since SMROOKIES era (2015), so this should be fun. Hopefully?

My NCT 2024 Releases playlist currently sits at 123 songs (as of 2024-12-25) and runs for 6 hours and 33 minutes. This includes every group/unit release, as well as solos, from albums and singles to OSTs. Everything covered is in chronological order!

Our first release of the year was NCT U’s “Do It (Let’s Play),” on January 11th. This was the OST for NCT’s mobile game, NCT ZONE. I don’t really have much to say about this song, except that it’s a cute song. I hear this song almost every day since I open the game a lot, but it’s not up there amongst my favorites.

Onto February, releases were raining down, though I’m not sure if the packed scheduling was particularly smart or handled well. We kicked off the first of many solo debuts this year with Ten’s first mini album, TEN, on February 13th. The title track, “Nightwalker,” clearly outlined how Ten wants to present himself as a soloist and artistically. While not my favorite title in general or song in the mini, I found it the strongest option and approve of it. My personal track picks would be “Water” and “ON TEN.” Overall, this was a solid mini, so I’m quite looking forward to his first comeback scheduled for next year.

Hot on the heels of Ten’s solo debut, we had Taeyong’s solo comeback with TAP on February 26th. While his solo music is not really to my taste, I vibed more to “TAP” than “SHALALA,” and did like “Run Away” the most out of all the tracks. I plan to revisit this mini at some point, but not before I upload this post. He is the most NEO to NEO, I’ll give him that.

Just two days later, WISH made their debut with Korean and Japanese versions of “WISH,” and B-side “Sail Away.” I liked the B-side much more than the title, but “WISH” is pretty much in line with the sound they have now established.

On March 23rd, Jungwoo released the OST “Smile Good Bye” for Fu Bao. I don’t have many thoughts about the OST itself, but the phenomenon was hilarious to see. Seeing an entire nation get so emotional over a panda was certainly not on my 2024 bingo card. This is Jungwoo’s first OST, and I’m hoping he can do more in the future.

First full group comeback of the year was with DREAM’s DREAM()SCAPE on March 24th. This is hands down my favorite release of theirs, and I felt it’s the strongest they’ve released as of yet compared to their past minis and full albums. “Smoothie” was an excellent title, and I’ve looped this mini so many times that I’m sure it would hit top 3 if there was a way to count how many times you’ve listened to an album in full. While many think “icantfeelanything” was too short, I think it was the perfect length. It’s enough to leave you wanting more, but whatever “more” that could have been added might not have worked. My second favorite B-side was probably “UNKNOWN,” but the rest don’t fall far behind. This mini has strong loop potential without making any cuts to it.

We then got our second solo debut of the year with Doyoung’s YOUTH, which came out on April 22nd. He debuted with a full album consisting of 10 tracks. It was very … Doyoung. I know it’s not a good descriptor by any means, but the tracks reflected his personality. My favorite track by far was “Beginning,” and stand out tracks to me were “From Little Wave,” “Serenade,” and “Rest.” I felt the first half of the album was a lot stronger than the second half. The title, “Little Light,” grew on me pretty fast, and it’s always heartwarming to hear, whether it’s on variety shows or Doyoung’s stages. I’m glad he went with a band-/rock-oriented direction for his title track! I’d like to something musically stronger from him for his comeback though.

DREAM made their JP comeback with Moonlight on May 8th, which is a nice listen and exciting at times, but it was a weak in comparison to their debut single, “Best Friend Ever” (which is, for the record, very heard to beat in my opinion). I do have the song saved, and it’s one of those songs of theirs I would categorize as “gives me hope.”

Mark dropped his first single of two of this year “200” in mid May. To put it simply, I liked the song. Very thematic. I didn’t actually get the references because I’m not a Marvel/Spiderman fan, but I did see enough comparisons, and I sent it to my best friend who is a Spiderman fan. He approved! It’s different from his previous singles, and while Mark is a versatile artist, I hope he gets a solidified sound for his upcoming solo.

Though not an actual “new” song, 127 finally got a digital release for “Colors” on. All I have to say is, please let 127 do more songs like this! And stop holding these JP songs hostage! They could’ve easily released yet another JP mini/full album. Here’s to hoping they will do another one sometime in the future, but not at the cost of MAHAE’s health.

WayV then made their comeback with the mini Give Me That on June 3rd, and I personally label this as their first “full Korean” comeback. Their last was On My Youth in 2023, which was still Chinese-focused to me. Give Me That, on the other hand, really throws them into the Korean promotions, with their first promo B-side being “She A Wolf,” which is a Korean song. While I thank PRISM Center for putting in the effort to give WayV the full package comeback and putting in the effort to get WayV their first music show win, this comeback also felt like a case of stripping WayV of their Chinese identity. “YuEr, they can’t promote like a K-pop group with a Chinese-focused promotion!” Well, I can think of about five other solutions for them to still make bank, and none of them require profiting off xenophobia. If not for the fact that they promoted “New Ride” on music shows, I would have forgotten WayV could sing in Mandarin. As for the title track itself, the sound is casual, funky, and laidback, but I am not sure if this is the type of music I want to see, especially since it doesn’t seem to have their signature sound, something you could have found in their past titles, even if I have reservations about the songs themselves. Meanwhile, “New Ride” sits with “Let me love u,” but is nowhere near what I categorize as “WayV musical excellency.”

Though “Moonlight” was released on May 8th, its accompanying B-side “Stupid Cupid” didn’t come out until June 5th. I personally don’t feel much for this song, but it’s also not something I would skip if it came on shuffle.

WISH made their first comeback with “Songbird” on June 25th. I enjoyed it a lot more than “WISH,” if I’m going to be honest, though I’m still not a fan of the chanting parts. I wouldn’t say it’s grating to the ears exactly, but it’s a recurring problem I have. To no one’s surprise, I liked the B-side “Tears Are Falling” a lot more.

Doyoung then got to do OST “Cry” for a J-drama, though I believe this is a belated digital release. I could be wrong on this, however. I’m not a drama watcher, so the impact isn’t the same, but I quite liked the chorus here. He suits these emotional OSTs well!

Chenle got to sing OST “Keep on living, keep on loving” for C-drama The Double. It’s a soothing song, though I haven’t watched this drama, nor do I plan to. He’s made drastic vocal improvement this year in particular, and it’s heartwarming to see! I hope he gets more C-drama OST opportunities in the future.

Despite Taeyong’s enlistment, 127 came back strong with their sixth album, WALK, on July 15th. While sonically different from their past releases, it is nonetheless a solid album and stays consistent if we’re talking about musicality and flow of the album. “Walk” is a lot more laidback than their more hype hits like “Cherry Bomb,” “Kick It,” “Sticker,” and “2 Baddies,” but it’s a song that, like their other titles, hits its full potential with a performance. You can tell the members had fun during their performances, and I felt that this song lived up to the name of being title track for WALK. My favorite track was of course “Gas,” a more hype song that is, well, my fratboy anthem. While others don’t buy into the fratboy agenda, I do, but how many people objecting have actually gone to Asian frat parties? Probably not that many, so I’ll stand by my take.

Shortly after, we got Xiaojun’s cover of “The Crazy Companies.” I don’t actually care much about the song, and as an ABC born past 2000, there’s not much that could’ve gotten me to become a huge fan of Eason Chan, who is the original singer of this song. Still, congratulations to Xiaojun for getting this opportunity to sing in his mother tongue, Cantonese! I loved his voice here.

Though much like an OST, Doyoung’s “17,” I believe, is part of a special project. The vibes make me think it would fit right into the tracklist for YOUTH, his debut album. This is probably something to listen to when you need a song of comfort or even motivation.

WayV then made their JP debut with the mini The Highest on August 8th (wow, Xiaojun’s birthday and Father’s Day for Chinese people). I’ll be frank. “Go Higher” wasn’t a good song. This is what I define as grating to the ears, and I would’ve liked “Tempo” more as a title. There weren’t any standout tracks for me beside “Bandage,” which has the vibes of a shounen anime opening, and I found this one of the weakest JP debuts by far coming out of SM, especially compared to what the other units are getting. I won’t say I hate the other tracks though, for whenever I try listening to the mini, “Go Higher” is the only one I end up cutting out.

In preparation for DREAM’s American leg of TDS3, they released “Rains in Heaven” on August 23rd. While this is a heartwarming song and fits the release date, with it being near their debut anniversary and all, I genuinely wish they had gotten something else for their English single. Do I like the song? Yes, I actually did loop it for a few days! Still, the song comes off as too mellow given its supposed purpose, and I feel that unless you are deep within a specific brand of Renjun/DREAM feelings, it is a letdown.

Shortly after, Jaehyun made his solo debut with J, which makes him the fourth NCT member to get a solo! Like Doyoung, he released a full album rather than a mini, the main difference being the track count. J has eight tracks, and one of them is an English version of the title. Given that this is Jaehyun, I’m less surprised that there was an English version of his title track, but I am massively annoyed by how short the album is. This is basically a Blackpink full album, the opposite of what SM does. Though I have gripes with the length, I did enjoy the album in full. “Can’t Get You” is objectively the best song on the album, and given that Babyface contributed to this track, I can’t say I’m surprised. “Completely” was simple, but it definitely hit the hardest emotionally for a lot of Valentines, me included. “Roses/Dandelion” was a great pre-release, showing two sides of Jaehyun as an artist, but at the same time, I wish he worked more on his lyrics. I’m not expecting him to be spitting bars (lol), but he definitely has room for improvement, and I’d hoped that by working with more Western producers, he could get some more pointers. Hopefully we can get some change by the next time he releases music.

Finally, after a debut and a comeback with a single, WISH made a comeback with their first mini. “Steady,” which came out on September 24th, was an exciting release, and their title is my favorite of theirs so far. It doesn’t hit as hard as “Songbird” in some areas, but I found it to be a listening experience that sparked more joy. “Dunk Shot” was their pre-release, and though I didn’t like the song much when it came out, it fit nicely with the rest of the mini. “3 Minutes” and “On & On” were definitely the B-sides I liked more, but the other tracks aren’t bad, allowing me to listen the full way through without skips or cuts.

NCT’s star vocalist Doyoung joined yet another project with a cover of “First Love.” It’s a reinterpretation of Jung Joonil’s “First Love,” so I can’t comment on how Doyoung’s version sounds compared to the original. This song would fit an image of walking in light rain and then seeing the love of your life as the street light shines on their face, but I may be correctly wrong about the vibes.

Yuta closed off our last solo debut of the year in NCT with Depth on October 3rd. It doesn’t start off strong despite “LAST SONG” being the first track, and though “Off The Mask” is the title here, I almost felt that “Save You” would have made a better title track. “BAD EUPHORIA” is a good follow-up to it even with its short length (not that half the tracks even hit the three minute mark). Again, I’m not exactly sure why this was labeled an ALBUM with seven tracks, but maybe I can take it up with AVEX here instead. Depth was definitely very Yuta as much as the other solos had created unique identities, but this is more or less a useless descriptor to people who don’t know these members.

WISH then got to do “Make You Shine” for Pokémon in mid October. Though I haven’t touched Pokémon in so long, this song doesn’t really feel like a song for said brand/series? Their image and ages perfectly suit this project, but I wish I could feel something that sparked more adventure. I was hoping to get a song that made me want to run down the hill like I’m Ash and Pikachu in search for the next Pokémon Gym. Maybe in the near future!

Days before Jaehyun made his enlistment, he dropped “Unconditional.” Absolutely cruel, singing about a girl from California and saying he’ll buy her Prada when I’m from California. What about me! Okay, jokes aside, I don’t care about the style of this song as much compared to his debut album, but the lyrics are absolutely crazy. Whenever I click on this song, I’m playing it for the moment of euphoria. Terrible enlistment song!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Doyoung released “The Story” in early November. He said this is his favorite song of his, and while I can see why, I feel like it’s not holding up by itself. It’s a heartwarming song, but it didn’t hit the feels personally. Was it because I wasn’t around to actively anticipate the single? Maybe. It’s definitely still on brand for Doyoung, with the whole uplifting direction. Hopefully he’ll have a good comeback next year.

DREAM then did a followup to DREAM()SCAPE with DREAMSCAPE on November 11th, which was pretty much the opposite of the former. I didn’t care enough about the intro, if I’m going to be honest, any excitement the instrumental sparked was mitigated by the singing melody. The title, “When I’m With You,” was something I had high hopes for, especially since they said it was “house-based electronic pop” and I love house, but it came off a little bland since the song doesn’t go anywhere. It’s a cute song, but I feel it would’ve worked better as a promotional B-side. Nice choreography and fun MV though. While “Flying Kiss” started off a little too mellow for my liking, I sat up during the chorus. It is definitely a more interesting song than the title for me, and I am so, so proud of Haechan’s lyrics getting to shine in such a beautiful song. Right behind, we got “i hate fruits” and “No Escape,” two of my favorite tracks on this album. To be honest, I have tried giving this album so many listens, but by the time I finished listening to “No Escape” my brain would always drift away, though I can clearly identify the instrumental of “Best of Me.” It’ll take time for this album to grow on me because I’m always forgetting what I’m listening to, except “Off The Wall,” which is a nice track to end the album with.

Doyoung then did an OST, “Snow Flower,” for the remake of K-drama I’m Sorry, I Love You. All I have to say here is that it is a very emotional song and Doyoung lives up to the title of “sings like he’s gone through divorce three times and lost five kids” or whatever it is.

WayV then made their second comeback of the year with FREQUENCY on November 25th. Well, “HIGH FIVE” was a terrible pre-release, though the vibes reminded me of “Give Me That,” and leaved me unenthusiastic about the mini’s release until someone said the members mentioned that their title was more “NEO” this time around. I actually wish no one had told me that because FREQUENCY didn’t feel like “NEO” here, it felt like a “NEO” reject. “TWIST” is the only good song on this album, and while “Filthy Rich” is okay for a listen once in a while, it’s just that. Okay. There were also only two songs in Mandarin here, but they did not hit.

WISH made their final comeback of the year (thank god—they’ve been busy) with WISHFUL on November 27th, livening up the holiday vibes with their title track “Wishful Winter.” Except, I don’t care about “Wishful Winter” as a song, and the only thing they had going for them was the cute MV that accompanied them. This was a bland song with no vocals. This is NCT. If I wanted bland I would at least need good vocals, and I would go listen to “Coming Home” instead, which is in dire need of a rerecording. However, the rest of the album’s new tracks were pretty good, with “FAR AWAY,” “CHOO CHOO,” and “P.O.V” all making strong first impressions. Of course, “NASA” was my favorite by far, as an enthusiast of the original short version they released on YouTube, and though it’s not as hard-hitting in full, it still works and functions as a good song. Absolute banger actually.

Mark dropped the single “Fraktsiya” on December 16th, featuring Lee Youngji. Unlike his previous singles, this one is rap heavy with much more hype instrumental. I think that, because I listened to this song while on some high—either late at night or early morning—I very much enjoyed this song, to the point that I looped it all day. Lyrics were fascinating to me but the reaction to them online reminds me of middle school boys going “OOH BURNNN,” which, well, doesn’t seem to be really the case, given that this isn’t some surprise Soundcloud drop. Great feature from Youngji! It’s honestly nice to see Mark doing some solo work, though right now it seems to be at the cost of his creativity outlet.

Doyoung does this last OST of the year for Namib. To be honest, “Smile Again” is the type of song I would have expected Doyoung to do for his solo before previews of his band-geared, rock-adjacent, Disney princess-esque previews, which I do prefer for Doyoung’s solo identity and what music means to him. The song isn’t bad by any means, but I will say OSTs are more miss than hit in general for me, especially since I am not a frequent K-drama viewer. It is nonetheless heartwarming to see Doyoung get these shots at showcasing his vocals.

I’d written the bulk of this piece on Christmas day and the day after, but then Jungwoo got an OST for Check in Hanyang, which was announced a day after I’d written here I was hoping to see Jungwoo do more OSTs. While Jungwoo may not clear top three vocalists in NCT, I believe his clear singing is very much a plus for OSTs, and I’m glad to have been proven right with “First Step.” May he get more solo opportunities like these in the future!

After 124 songs (previously 123 before Jungwoo’s latest OST) sitting at 6 hours and 37 minutes, I truly think NCT ended off this year with a bang! Some units fared better than others, but even with some disappointment about the artistic direction and my brutal comments, my love for NCT has not wavered, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for the future. Here’s to hoping a successful 2025 and a more smooth-sailing journey!

- YuEr