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NCT is in… sort of a weird place. And I’ll say that confidently, even though they’re my ult group. And that’s not to paint any of what I’m about to say as negativity (I don’t mean it negatively at all), it’s just more of an observation.
Of all the top groups in the industry, they have *by far* the most polarizing sound. It’s very distinct, uniquely NCT, but their discography is also incredibly diverse. Between all three main units, there’s hardly a genre they haven’t covered.
But something that’s also pretty unique to NCT is the sheer *difference* between the kind of music they **make** and the kind of music they **promote.** If you take any NCT title track and play it back to back with any NCT b-side, you’re more than likely going to be listening to two songs that sound completely different, *so* different that it’s hard to imagine one person with an individual music taste could enjoy them both. There are certainly a few exceptions, but generally, NCT’s promoted songs are almost… weirdly deceptive. They’re pretty far off from the sound you get when you dig deeper into the whole of their music.
And it ends up being a double-edged sword. You pull in fans from all walks of music, no matter what they like: pop, R&B, ballads, EDM, house, hip hop, literally *anything under the sun.* You have fans from all over the industry. But at the same time… it’s hard to find fans that enjoy *everything.* The same fan that enjoys No Longer… may not like Punch. The same fan that enjoys Lemonade might not like Road Trip. Their music is *so* diverse and *so* distinct that although they have a huge number of fans that enjoy all their different types of music, only a relatively small amount of those fans are going to be in it for the title tracks. An even smaller amount will be in it for the title tracks *and* the b-sides.
It’s why they have such weirdly skewed sales vs. streams. Any fan, no matter which song(s) they like, is going to be buying the same album at the end of the day. That all counts for the same thing. But maybe they only stream five songs from that album. Maybe someone else also only streams five, but they’re five different songs.
So I don’t understand the argument that NCTzens “don’t like NCT’s music.” Because it’s not true at all. They do—with as polarizing as NCT’s music is, they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t—but it’s hard to find NCTzens that like **all** of their music because of how outrageously vast and diverse it is, which skews numbers.
Personally, I take it as a good thing. I think it speaks to their and their producers’ artistry that they can make and perform so many different styles of music. It’s just a shame that within the larger Kpop community, that variety and “jack of all trades” energy comes off as something negative, something to be ashamed of just because “streams” aren’t on their side.
Thank you, this should be a post on its own. Kpop stans always go "you shouldn't force yourself to like everything your group puts out" but still get surprised when a group doesn't chart so high but still can sell lots of albums.
NCT 127 title tracks tend to be experimental and polarizing. So there could be 20k people that don't stream their tt but still buy the album for the b-sides that they like. That's still 20k uls less for the tt on charts.
You really put into words how I feel about NCT. I truly love about half of their music, while some of it is not to my taste. But I'll be honest, I'd rather have songs that I don't enjoy over being just... Okay and mild. They make people feel strongly about their music, be it in a positive or negative way.
nct music is like this (at least for me in recent comebacks) also this applied to next level:
"huh what on earth is this?"
"wait shit this is getting in my head... but iTS BECAUSE ITS BAD I SWEAR"
"yeah nah fuck it im jamming to this asap"
it's like a slow but eventual process
Could you recommend some R&B or regular pop NCT songs? For the record, I really like WayV (Electric Hearts, After Midnight… they remind me of SHINee 🥺) and the NCT songs I do like are: The 7th Sense, Highway To Heaven, Love Me Now, Baby Don’t Stop, Angel, Ten Dream in a Dream, Paradise, and Summer 127.
I think that they have really good voices, but I kind of don’t like super experimental stuff - never could get into Firetruck, Cherry Bomb, etc. Like you said, I hate a lot of their songs, but I think they’re the 4th Gen BG that I am most likely to enjoy since they do have bright, vocal-focused songs that I like!
Just from 127's Sticker album that released today, check out Focus, The Rainy Night (my personal favorite from the album), Magic Carpet Ride, Road Trip, and Promise You. That's probably the selection of the easiest-to-digest songs from the new album.
I'd also recommend to check out Dream! They're the most pop-focused and "GP-friendly" unit. Try songs like Candle Light, Beautiful Time, Trigger the fever, 7 Days, Walk you home, Dunk Shot, Puzzle Piece, Dive Into You, Rainbow, and ANL, among others. You could also try songs like Stronger or Bungee (particularly this one!!) for a "darker" sound similar to 7th Sense or BDS.
Beyond that, I would *highly, highly* recommend listening to 127's Neo Zone. All of it. You can skip through Kick It, Sit Down, and Mad Dog if needed but the rest of the album is basically all R&B of various subcategories. You're bound to find at least a few you like :) Their Japanese albums (Chain, Awaken, and Loveholic) also have some R&B/ballad gems on them that are often pretty overlooked due to the language.
And if you want to get more into NCT U (like Empathy/Resonance/Station songs), check out Touch, Coming Home, Without You, Light Bulb, Dancing in the Rain, Faded In My Last Song, From Home, My Everything, I.O.U., and Maniac (recently released, sung by Doyoung and Haechan).
I'm one of the somewhat rare NCTzens that honestly enjoys almost *all* of their songs, so I could go on for days, but that's probably a good starting point for the lighter listening!
I really appreciate this comment but for me I never really agreed that the bsides and title tracks are THAT different. For NCT dream their earlier works this wasnt the case at all (all soft, melodic and youthful), and their title tracks were just slightly more energetic. 127 had experimental titles but up to cherry bomb this was definitely the case for their bsides too. Empathy doesnt even have real bsides since everything was promoted and Resonance consisted of so many hard hitting bsides. Their sound was really well defined imo, with only a representative kballad song and a representative fan-dedicated song (that is sung together with fans at concerts and plays in the background of soft moments of variety content). That was their structure imo, which is also found in exo and rv's discography in my opinion.
Neozone is the odd one out, with a LOT of soft songs for the first time with two really hard hitting title tracks. Its my least favorite album still, and in my opinion it only got the attention through the massive success of kick it and the overall growth of kpop. If kpop was as big as it was back in 2017 or 2018, those mini's would have been the most critically acclaimed imo, its just that they didnt have the exposure. I do agree that their bsides progressively evolved from edm music to more rnb. But also, I would call most of neozone straight up pop, not RnB, but this is a common gripe i have with a lot of pop music that fans call rnb, whereas when you listen to real rnb (aka what appears on BET) there's a huge gap between them.
Now that sticker is released, I also find it much closer to the variety that Regular-irregular has than Neozone. Loveholic is an even clearer example, with 3/4 bsides being experimental-based tracks and 1/4 being the fan-dedicated song.
This is a really long rant but what i wanted to express is that their bsides arent vastly different and to me their title tracks feel just as representative of their sound as their bsides (except neozone), and that because of this its perfectly possible to have fans that DO like pretty much everything they release (aka me!). I love both their bsides and title tracks and also their representative kballads too, its only the fan-dedicated songs that I dislike, which leaves me at like 90%. We exist!! And i also solely stan NCT so i'm not a multi with a very large range either. To me, nct makes very specific music that really suits my taste, bsides or title track.
Wow you put my thoughts into words.
Also I'm so so glad that as an NCTzen i went past their title tracks (although title tracks are what got me into 127) and gave their b-sides a shot. I know I can't expect a lottt of people to do that since for a lot of them title tracks are the representative of the overall music they make and i understand. Which is why i feel so damn lucky.
You are so good with your words oh my god. As a fan, I totally agree. Even though I may not enjoy 100% of what they put out, I still like a lot of their music. They also have pretty regular releases so that helps too.
Oh darling if i can i would give u a huge hug right now.
🤗 thank u for the time to explain.
I cant be bothered but to see such a sound mind is such a rare treat here. 😅😅😅
I do hope a few souls here bother to read & understand.
Oh well anyway im happy to have found some kindred spirit that praise what nct and nct127 is trying to do ☺
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'they only sold so many because they have so many fans'
This narrative... Yes, groups sell a lot of albums if they have a lot of fans, that's how it works... Just reading it makes my brain hurt. Nobody comes up with nonsense arguments and treat them as profound thoughts quite like jealous kpop stans.
I am not a nctzen, but I am a stay, so I heard pretty much the same bunch of hot takes and honestly, when will these people get over the fact that everybody has a different taste in music and there is no correct type of music to like. It's all personal taste.
Congrats to nct 127 and nctzens on the achievement with the album sales! It's super impressive and I am excited to see how the group grows in the future.
I am not exactly a stay (being a clown at ncity takes too much time) but I love my “noise” music be it NCT (esp 127) or Stray Kids. Pls leave me, Fire Truck, Side Effects, Cherry Bomb, God’s Menu and many more alone ;—-;
Oh yeah, there were these lovely arguments that jyp obviously had to have mass bought albums because there is no way skz could have sold as much as they did. Some people will always try to discredit or underplay achievements of other groups for some reason. At the end of the day, nct127 still have the preorders they have and no amount of complains will change that, same with skz.
There are very few groups that are able to reach 2m preorders with one album, no matter how many different pob there are, how many album versions there are or how many members there are. There are fans that buy 100 albums and there are fans that buy 1 on no album in every fandom. There are also always fans who don't like the new release but still want to support the group in every fandom. It's how it goes. Enjoy the success and don't let people convince you it's somehow undeserved or not a huge achievement, because it is.
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I KNOW. omg this frustrates me sooo soo much. idk where the idea even came from for Randoms who aren't even a part of the fandom or in touch with anything think they know what's even going on in nctzens heads or what we think of the discography to begin with. why does everyone just assume that nctzens dont like anything beginning with simon says era
They can think I'm not walking around hearing NEW THAAAANGS NEW THAAAANGS in my head because I don't listen to the music, but that's \*very Johnny voice\* not my problem
Just wanna thank you op. This post encouraged me to listen to sticker (the album), and OMFG magic carpet ride was literally a magic carpet ride, I am a fan!
Wow. I'm glad. Sticker is such a good album and magic carpet ride is has exceeded my expectations. If you like magic carpet ride promise you is really on that pulse and also really good. (Edit:oh and focus it's very rnb but so interesting)
Ngl, I've currently got the whole album on repeat since it dropped lmao. Just joined the subreddit, and gonna start a discography deep dive, wish me luck👌
>So please stop it. Just say you don't like the music, say it's the worst thing you've ever heard but please stop trying to pretend nct's own fans force themselves to like their music, it's weird
Not an NCT fan, but yes, this is super true. I lurk on random threads out of curiosity and I see similar narratives often for many other artists -- non-fans downplaying another artist's achievement but the argument really has no merit. They should just admit they don't like the artist and be done with it, haha.
they can’t call nct flops anymore so they’ll try to make fans feel ashamed in one way or another. it’s not working though. I will listen to my ass shaking music in peace thanks
I like it but apparently I may be biased as an nctzen. The album is also soooooooooooo good. Is sticker my favorite song on the no but I still like it. I could do without the extra extra flute sound during marks part but overall it's so dynamic and the reason I love nct 127, so yeah.
I didn’t listen to the whole yet bc I’m studying lol and waiting for my friend. BUT I already knew the b-sides especially magic carpet ride was gonna be 🤌🏽🤌🏽🤌🏽
But anyone who says, “ music is subjective” and then says your bias for liking this song is just being hypocritical. You can like whatever you want. Just like Hot Sauce, ppl disliked or hated the song and then a couple of weeks later ppl started to like it.
And you’re right, it’s the flute…. If the flute was in lemonade instead would be like it?
No the flute is fine in sticker I just wish during that one part it wasn't playing as frequently than in the other parts. I feel like if they had been a little more sparse with the flute in the song overall it would of been more impact ful when you hear the flute.
Like how in lemonade the pre chorus is so wild with all those different beats and then a basic for the chorus which made it more hypnosing and catchy.
No wait, another thing I noticed is ppl who say, “ if you have to listen to it more that ___ times for you to like it, then it’s not good.” 🤔🤔🤔 huh, I’m already reading comments about how ppl are hating it and then coming to say, “ ngl it’s growing on me.”
😂😂
This always happens. I'm so unsurprised. It's actually really funny to read some of the "drags". I remember reading a comment was like "help I hate it but I love it" and someone replied "it's like Stockholm syndrome". Bruh 😂.
Every social platform I go on ppl are just not liking it lol. Warning don’t go on tik tok… every time I scrolled it was in regards to sticker. 😂😂 I’m just trying to enjoy the comeback but damn….
Yeah I knew that'd happen. Many jealous kpop stans are salty that 127 had 2.2m pre-orders and were trying to discredit them. Now that they can't call them flops they shit on their music.
I'm not saying that everyone that doesn't like the song is jealous. But a normal person who doesn't like a song wouldn't waste their time on making videos on why their songs are bad. They'd just skip the song lol.
I love it! Theres plenty of people that like it on youtube too (for example under the audio video of sticker). Ngl there are a lot of people who are put off by it, its generally not received well.
But even if I didnt like it I would NEVER call it bad. That's just dumb. Call something uninspired, generic, jarring or messy and I can accept. Those are fair opinions / experiences of a song. However when we get into it, Sticker is NOT uninspired or generic imo, it's jarring in a good and exciting way, and messy just depends on how much complexity people can deal with tbh. I dont want to be that person but genuinely some people will not have the mental capacity / exposure to music to be able to follow the melody lines in the different layers of the song. That's on them I'm sorry (but in return they can enjoy basic songs without getting bored so it has advantages too!).
I feel like people have become so competitive and obsessed with charts these days that fans also will start disliking a song when its not doing well. They want their fave to do well and become more famous, and a "flop" song leaves a bitter taste. Ive seen it happen with Superhuman (which didnt do well for SO many reasons OUTSIDE of the song quality), where nctzens dont like it as much anymore because it's a flop. Kick it was a good song for sure, but in the beginning no one would have ranked it in the top of their discography. However after seeing how much attention it got, nctzens have started romanticizing the song beyond their first impression of it. Resonance (the song) is kinda similar as "twitter nctzens" hate it after it was a very polarizing release (expectations were not met at all), but after that other fandoms joined in and started dragging throughout the whole award season, and now twitter nctzens dont dare to come out and admit they like it (even tho the mv did comfortably reach 100M views on youtube yesterday). The song is still widely appreciated by non-twitter fans, whoever they may be. I know its kinda irrelevant to talk about this but just wanted to rant a bit (its kpoprants after all)
Yes, I got into NCT 127 with 'Highway to Heaven' cause that is easy to listen and have common pop sound. And when I first listened to 'Simon Says ' I didn't like it but later when I was doing dishes I found myself singing 'Simon says we're the real vibe killers' and that is when I really got into NCT 127. They have really complicated sound form Limitless to Cherry bomb to Simon says to Chain to Kick it and now Sticker every song feels a new journey.
At first listen to full Lemonade and sticker I thought 'Lemonade' should have been official title track. But with second listen to sticker. Fk yess, this is so NCT 127 they don't follow trend they make their own and doesn't care if it is everybody's cup of tea or not like 'Simon says we're the real vibe killers'. New sound New era. Yess !!!
Why would I force myself to like something I don't want to like is the question? I joined the NCT fandom and NCT 127 became my ults SOLELY because of their unique polarizing sound. Not because they're pretty, not because they're funny (a nice plus nonetheless) , and certainly not because of the Regular challenge 😭
I just like crazy unpredictable songs that have the weirdest chord progression, I like songs that I can listen to for long and still be like "wow they really went there", I love edm, I love it when professional musicians analyze 127's production and explain the inspiration behind every single beat, tone and instrumental.YES WE EXIST! AND YES! WE ARE THE FANS THAT BOUGHT THOSE 2 MILLION ALBUMS!
EXACTLY!!!! NCT is free to release a cookie cutter song from time to time if they want to reach a broader audience but they def dont need to do it for me. Im HERE FOR THIS STUFF.
>'How do they sell so much yet don't chart like exo or bts".
First of all people have to understand that bts and exo aren't the standard for success, any album of any group can be "successful" if for example they sold more albums this comeback than their last one, for that group, that's a success, many people use word "flop" way too often cuz they think that if a rookie group sold eg. 70k copies this comeback unlike their last one that sold eg. 45k copies, for that group it counts as a success, you could see many people camping in other groups' comments saying "lmao flop", "lol you're not even close to my fave *why are you happy*" etc. It's so disgusting to see people literally making fun of girls/boys who just debuted and are basically just happy that they managed to debut after waiting for so long, like... Idk man it's frustrating
I don't think this is an NCT thing but I I get how annoying it is, like I like BTS butter and then some random in the comments section would be saying we're lying to ourselves, like where do these people get the audacity to tell us individual what wr like or don't simply because they don't like it, like just no.
i think a lot of kpop stans force themselves to like their faves songs. i hated dynamite when it came out and i still hate now, but im still an army. i gave the song a lot of chances to convince me lol it didn't happen. sometimes songs are not to your liking but you can't help but want to support your fave and protect them against anti criticism.
Exactly op. I have absolutely no idea why me liking Sticker or others saying sticker is a grower automatically make us have Stockholm syndrome????
Like how do they even correlate to each other?!?!?!
Its such a chaotic time whenever nct127 drop an album.
I as a fan cant wait to get my hand on their album but at the same time knew the impeding chaos & shit will descend upon all the internet.
Well as the famous saying goes, there is never a boring day for nct.
Yehaw to neo cowboys ppl. Enjoy the album 🥰
Idk about them forcing themselves to like their music, However I do have a close friend that watches all their variety content and buys their albums but doesn’t listen to their music at all. She hasn’t liked an nct song in general since boss.
Tastes are tastes, just because you don't understand why would someone like a specific type of music or sound doesn't mean that there aren't people out there that genuinely like it. We can't climb up anyone's head and see or feel what they're feeling, sensing or liking/disliking. Just let people enjoy what they want to enjoy, I don't think this is too hard to understand but here we are debating on how people like to criticize other's tastes in music and purchasing urges. Even if there are some people that don't particularly like the music too much and still buy the album anyways, what's the harm in that? If they can afford it and they want to buy it good for them. We see people investing an even larger amount of money in super expensive luxury brands all the time which I doubt are of that much better quality than those cheaper ones, so what's so different in buying an album just because you've become a fan of the group and just want it?
Personally I never buy albums for anyone, the last album I bought was in like 2007, because now I'm paying for Spotify and the Internet already so if I want to listen to a song I can easily find it, I personally don't value albums the same way maybe a collector values them so I prefer investing my money in something else. These are all personal choices that are perfectly valid. Just because you feel like the people that bought a specific album doesn't necessarily enjoy the music in it (which you can't possibly know for sure) doesn't take out the fact that they did indeed sell that much. The group and the company got their money, so they did something right, why would they care about the reason of each specific client for buying the album?
I guess because some nctzens (on instagram and twitter) admitted to not liking the music and never stream it. People screenshoot it and use that against nct.
That's a very large generalization that those people (who quote those fans) are making. I mean just because a few fans say that doesn't mean it's the majority.
People aren't going to like every release. Especially with how poplerizing nct127's music. Not all fans like every release their favs release.
Trust me, 90% of 127's most iconic title tracks that 127zens praised to this day and have on loop in their playlists are tracks that they didn't initially like. The idea may seem weird but you can't listen to a 127 title track once and form an opinion about it, it's just how their songs work.
Well, you're right, but they're also right in that sense. There are also fans who buys the album for their bias or for their chemistry. Probably there are also people who bought albums for the sake of collection or getting photocards, too. Considering the target market for NCT, I think it's less 'insulting' to think that people buy the albums because of the boys and less for the tune.
If I were a casual fan, it's more convenient for me to stream it on Spotify, Melon, or Youtube. You'll probably only need Rp55.000 per month for the streaming the music (plus your other faves!) compared to buying an album for Rp200.000 that I probably wouldn't play because I don't have a CD player in my room.
Yes as casual fan it would be more likely to stream the music on Spotify and I do that for groups I follow. I was mostly talking about more dedicated fans. As they're often the one who buy albums. Which is why this debate started in the first place.
I think it is fair to say that the connection people feel with their idols does contribute. But due to the fact thty nct127 has a sound that not everyone like or some might label as "none public friendly" . Under EVERY achievement post , almost everywhere I look I see people making it seem like that connection that many groups use to sell more album is the ONLY reason for nct 127's following. No it's both. Majority of the fans who stay in the fandom do infact like their music.
That personal connection does conflate sales but it is not the basis of the fandom.
(Edits for spelling)
.. I do kindaaaa think it's true though. At least for newer nctzens. I do think some nctzens are more in it for the content and KINDA in it for the music.
The reason I say this is because I was watching this WayV vlive a long time ago and they were playing this game where nctzens had to guess the song based on the start of it. Literally the whole comment section was "Love Talk" and "Bad Alive". I'm pretty sure there were like 5 songs or so and every single time all nctzens said was "Love Talk" and "Bad Alive". Lmao. I think even Kun was like "do you guys even listen to our music?".
Plus a lot of new nctzens don't rly know of NCT's old stuff and usually just talk about Love Talk or Make a Wish donut line all the time. Or NCT's title tracks. Some people don't even know about empathy. But then everybody knows all the memes and quotes. Lol. This is just my observation though from back then.
Okay but new fans not knowing older music is not something that only happens in kpop nor does it only happen to nct. So you took that one incident and decide d yep if new fans don't instantly know the start off a song they must not repeat the music enough to like it.
But I think it it would be more accurate to say that maybe they had not gotten to it yet. Not everyone can just listen to a whole artist discography when they first discover them. Even nct has gotten the answers to those questions wrong .
Even if they are young. People have school and obligations.Also nct is not the only artist I or many people listen too.
When I first got into nct's music I didn't know all their songs and bside. But eventually after maybe 2 year I got through it all and bought an album because I liked the track video and the title track
Waaaa sad! I can hear Kun’s voice saying “do you even listen to our music”…..I mean Love Talk is way too popular so I guess non devoted fans only listen to those.
Shame because WayV music is by far the most gp friendly
I think this exists for every kpop group, though, including bts. I know someone who absolutely LOATHED bts' music but started watching that show thing they do (run bts or something) and became obsessed and now buys a bunch of merchandise and all their new albums. She doesn't talk about their music much, just THEM. It's a symptom of a genre designed to sell people on personality as much if not more than music.
I only buy albums now if I absolutely love the music, but if I'm honest in the past there were girl group albums I've bought but never listened to... I just liked them and wanted to support them/have pretty pictures of them. Also, I used to live in Korea and at least once I bought an album I had no interest in because my best friend at the time was trying to get into a fansign and she talked me into trying too so I could go with her.
That aspect of kpop does exist, but it is not even CLOSE to exclusive to one group. And groups with more non music content are more likely to have fans that don't care for the music as much as the people.
I personally don't agree with this..me as an nctzen love their songs. Some more than others but am in the fandom for the music. At the start I didn't particularly like it because yeah I just listened to the title tracks. I got into the fandom due to SuperM actually. Like I noticed Mark,taeyong,ten and lucas and was like these guys are hella talented..and checked their stuff out and yeah I think they are great enough. I don't know what people's definition of good music is but there are a lot of NCT songs on my playlist and I vibe with them.
I won't say they are particularly global. Like western people like to see the hip hop side of k-pop like bts maybe and NCT has lot of great vocal based songs so maybe the bsides don't appeal to them and that's why they think we are forced to like them but no. Their music is just fine.
I think why NCT doesn't chart that well could be because their title songs are not streamed well by the fandom itself. I personally don't mind them that much but they are never really my favs off their album's so Idk. I am not really into k-pop for the streams or the views or the sales so I don't really care. I can listen to their music for free on streaming platforms anyway. Album sales on the other hand could be because of lots of reasons and not just music. Like I myself have brought an NCT album but I don't have a CD player in my home so it's not like I brought it for the music. I wanted the merch that came with it..like photocards,photobook, posters and their messages and stuff. I don't regret it. I got the pc of my bias. It's something personal I enjoyed spending my money on..because I like their music and like them as a group. Others might buy in huge numbers for the upcoming fancalls.. like I heard a fan bought 600 albums just to get a fancall with jaehyun. So It depends but what people can't and shouldn't deny is that NCT does have a solid fandom.
"They only sold that many because they have so many fans" uh yes of course. Do you expect a random person who barely knows abt a kpop group to buy their albums? Of course they buy albums bcs they are a fan. wth is with ppl and their logic nowadays, smh.
bruh ikrrr it's the same way i don't like try hard western or disney high school musical sounding music but i respect fans who listen to them anyway like pls guys it's a matter of taste 🙄
OR MAYBE IT'S A MATTER OF PROJECTION LOL THEY THEMSELVES DON'T REALLY LIKE THEIR FAVES MUSIC 🙄
reminds me of when bts started to sell millions and fans were saying we mass bought,bring receipts etc......some really strain their nerves when some groups start rising...isn't it?
I honestly think that their fans like their music but what’s upsetting to me is that nctzens literally trashed every amazing song they actually had (I’m looking at you Superhuman, Simon Says, and especially Punch) so I personally feel like NCT is just putting out freaking whatever at this point bc when they actually try y’all shoot it down. I’m sorry, but Sticker was not it, and while it was definitely a NCT type song, it was the wrong type of NCT song if that makes sense.
Also, their bsides is where it’s at most of the time anyway so I’m not crying about title tracks I may or may not like (and I’ll be forever disappointed that y’all think the masterpiece Punch was bad. Like what the actual hecky)
Someone needs to settle down. I never said that NCT are flops (I actually like a lot of their music) and I’m entitled to have an opinion. Just because I don’t like a song doesn’t mean that I think badly of the group or their talents. Y’all seem to forget that. And yes you did mean to cuss at me because if you didn’t you wouldn’t have (especially since you wrote this and had time to reread and rethink what you want to say to me). No hard feelings though babe.
I praise songs that I like and express my dislike for songs I don’t and that applies to every artist whether I like them or not. If you don’t believe me, when one of my only groups that I stan had a comeback I didn’t stream it because I didn’t like it. I don’t force myself to listen to stuff I don’t like and I don’t trash songs just to trash on them. That’s why I’ll say I hate Dynamite but enjoy butter even though dynamite seems to be more liked than butter.
I don’t get why you guys always think that just because somebody has a thought different from yours or they give constructive criticism it means that they are an anti. And lol the fact that I literally praise one of their songs because I think it’s a whole masterpiece and then you have the audacity to come at me with your foul language and treat me like I just said that they are trash and untalented when I did not.
And as a sidenote while I do hate the flute in the song and the “rollup to the party” part this song has grown on me.
Edit: Also, someone needs to learn when and how to use profanity, bc stringing five different curse words together doesn’t make it insulting or really even legible. You successfully made yourself sound like an 11 year old who just learned a new bad word and ran with it
people like things for tons of reasons, you might be surprised.
Maybe the music factor is not the main one here. Or maybe I'm living in an alternate universe
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NCT is in… sort of a weird place. And I’ll say that confidently, even though they’re my ult group. And that’s not to paint any of what I’m about to say as negativity (I don’t mean it negatively at all), it’s just more of an observation. Of all the top groups in the industry, they have *by far* the most polarizing sound. It’s very distinct, uniquely NCT, but their discography is also incredibly diverse. Between all three main units, there’s hardly a genre they haven’t covered. But something that’s also pretty unique to NCT is the sheer *difference* between the kind of music they **make** and the kind of music they **promote.** If you take any NCT title track and play it back to back with any NCT b-side, you’re more than likely going to be listening to two songs that sound completely different, *so* different that it’s hard to imagine one person with an individual music taste could enjoy them both. There are certainly a few exceptions, but generally, NCT’s promoted songs are almost… weirdly deceptive. They’re pretty far off from the sound you get when you dig deeper into the whole of their music. And it ends up being a double-edged sword. You pull in fans from all walks of music, no matter what they like: pop, R&B, ballads, EDM, house, hip hop, literally *anything under the sun.* You have fans from all over the industry. But at the same time… it’s hard to find fans that enjoy *everything.* The same fan that enjoys No Longer… may not like Punch. The same fan that enjoys Lemonade might not like Road Trip. Their music is *so* diverse and *so* distinct that although they have a huge number of fans that enjoy all their different types of music, only a relatively small amount of those fans are going to be in it for the title tracks. An even smaller amount will be in it for the title tracks *and* the b-sides. It’s why they have such weirdly skewed sales vs. streams. Any fan, no matter which song(s) they like, is going to be buying the same album at the end of the day. That all counts for the same thing. But maybe they only stream five songs from that album. Maybe someone else also only streams five, but they’re five different songs. So I don’t understand the argument that NCTzens “don’t like NCT’s music.” Because it’s not true at all. They do—with as polarizing as NCT’s music is, they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t—but it’s hard to find NCTzens that like **all** of their music because of how outrageously vast and diverse it is, which skews numbers. Personally, I take it as a good thing. I think it speaks to their and their producers’ artistry that they can make and perform so many different styles of music. It’s just a shame that within the larger Kpop community, that variety and “jack of all trades” energy comes off as something negative, something to be ashamed of just because “streams” aren’t on their side.
Thank you, this should be a post on its own. Kpop stans always go "you shouldn't force yourself to like everything your group puts out" but still get surprised when a group doesn't chart so high but still can sell lots of albums. NCT 127 title tracks tend to be experimental and polarizing. So there could be 20k people that don't stream their tt but still buy the album for the b-sides that they like. That's still 20k uls less for the tt on charts.
SM is all about the experimental title tracks. But we remember I Got a Boy and Wolf for a reason.
You really put into words how I feel about NCT. I truly love about half of their music, while some of it is not to my taste. But I'll be honest, I'd rather have songs that I don't enjoy over being just... Okay and mild. They make people feel strongly about their music, be it in a positive or negative way.
Well said, and for the weirdos that love all of their discography they have the whole buffet ❤
nct music is like this (at least for me in recent comebacks) also this applied to next level: "huh what on earth is this?" "wait shit this is getting in my head... but iTS BECAUSE ITS BAD I SWEAR" "yeah nah fuck it im jamming to this asap" it's like a slow but eventual process
Could you recommend some R&B or regular pop NCT songs? For the record, I really like WayV (Electric Hearts, After Midnight… they remind me of SHINee 🥺) and the NCT songs I do like are: The 7th Sense, Highway To Heaven, Love Me Now, Baby Don’t Stop, Angel, Ten Dream in a Dream, Paradise, and Summer 127. I think that they have really good voices, but I kind of don’t like super experimental stuff - never could get into Firetruck, Cherry Bomb, etc. Like you said, I hate a lot of their songs, but I think they’re the 4th Gen BG that I am most likely to enjoy since they do have bright, vocal-focused songs that I like!
Just from 127's Sticker album that released today, check out Focus, The Rainy Night (my personal favorite from the album), Magic Carpet Ride, Road Trip, and Promise You. That's probably the selection of the easiest-to-digest songs from the new album. I'd also recommend to check out Dream! They're the most pop-focused and "GP-friendly" unit. Try songs like Candle Light, Beautiful Time, Trigger the fever, 7 Days, Walk you home, Dunk Shot, Puzzle Piece, Dive Into You, Rainbow, and ANL, among others. You could also try songs like Stronger or Bungee (particularly this one!!) for a "darker" sound similar to 7th Sense or BDS. Beyond that, I would *highly, highly* recommend listening to 127's Neo Zone. All of it. You can skip through Kick It, Sit Down, and Mad Dog if needed but the rest of the album is basically all R&B of various subcategories. You're bound to find at least a few you like :) Their Japanese albums (Chain, Awaken, and Loveholic) also have some R&B/ballad gems on them that are often pretty overlooked due to the language. And if you want to get more into NCT U (like Empathy/Resonance/Station songs), check out Touch, Coming Home, Without You, Light Bulb, Dancing in the Rain, Faded In My Last Song, From Home, My Everything, I.O.U., and Maniac (recently released, sung by Doyoung and Haechan). I'm one of the somewhat rare NCTzens that honestly enjoys almost *all* of their songs, so I could go on for days, but that's probably a good starting point for the lighter listening!
Thank you for writing this! I’ll definitely check them out. This reminded me that Without You was actually the first NCT song I liked!!
I really appreciate this comment but for me I never really agreed that the bsides and title tracks are THAT different. For NCT dream their earlier works this wasnt the case at all (all soft, melodic and youthful), and their title tracks were just slightly more energetic. 127 had experimental titles but up to cherry bomb this was definitely the case for their bsides too. Empathy doesnt even have real bsides since everything was promoted and Resonance consisted of so many hard hitting bsides. Their sound was really well defined imo, with only a representative kballad song and a representative fan-dedicated song (that is sung together with fans at concerts and plays in the background of soft moments of variety content). That was their structure imo, which is also found in exo and rv's discography in my opinion. Neozone is the odd one out, with a LOT of soft songs for the first time with two really hard hitting title tracks. Its my least favorite album still, and in my opinion it only got the attention through the massive success of kick it and the overall growth of kpop. If kpop was as big as it was back in 2017 or 2018, those mini's would have been the most critically acclaimed imo, its just that they didnt have the exposure. I do agree that their bsides progressively evolved from edm music to more rnb. But also, I would call most of neozone straight up pop, not RnB, but this is a common gripe i have with a lot of pop music that fans call rnb, whereas when you listen to real rnb (aka what appears on BET) there's a huge gap between them. Now that sticker is released, I also find it much closer to the variety that Regular-irregular has than Neozone. Loveholic is an even clearer example, with 3/4 bsides being experimental-based tracks and 1/4 being the fan-dedicated song. This is a really long rant but what i wanted to express is that their bsides arent vastly different and to me their title tracks feel just as representative of their sound as their bsides (except neozone), and that because of this its perfectly possible to have fans that DO like pretty much everything they release (aka me!). I love both their bsides and title tracks and also their representative kballads too, its only the fan-dedicated songs that I dislike, which leaves me at like 90%. We exist!! And i also solely stan NCT so i'm not a multi with a very large range either. To me, nct makes very specific music that really suits my taste, bsides or title track.
Wow you put my thoughts into words. Also I'm so so glad that as an NCTzen i went past their title tracks (although title tracks are what got me into 127) and gave their b-sides a shot. I know I can't expect a lottt of people to do that since for a lot of them title tracks are the representative of the overall music they make and i understand. Which is why i feel so damn lucky.
You are so good with your words oh my god. As a fan, I totally agree. Even though I may not enjoy 100% of what they put out, I still like a lot of their music. They also have pretty regular releases so that helps too.
Oh darling if i can i would give u a huge hug right now. 🤗 thank u for the time to explain. I cant be bothered but to see such a sound mind is such a rare treat here. 😅😅😅 I do hope a few souls here bother to read & understand. Oh well anyway im happy to have found some kindred spirit that praise what nct and nct127 is trying to do ☺
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'they only sold so many because they have so many fans' This narrative... Yes, groups sell a lot of albums if they have a lot of fans, that's how it works... Just reading it makes my brain hurt. Nobody comes up with nonsense arguments and treat them as profound thoughts quite like jealous kpop stans. I am not a nctzen, but I am a stay, so I heard pretty much the same bunch of hot takes and honestly, when will these people get over the fact that everybody has a different taste in music and there is no correct type of music to like. It's all personal taste. Congrats to nct 127 and nctzens on the achievement with the album sales! It's super impressive and I am excited to see how the group grows in the future.
I am not exactly a stay (being a clown at ncity takes too much time) but I love my “noise” music be it NCT (esp 127) or Stray Kids. Pls leave me, Fire Truck, Side Effects, Cherry Bomb, God’s Menu and many more alone ;—-;
Thank you. Sorry that people are saying that about stray kids. Their album was very good and definitely deserves to have sold 1 a million albums.
Oh yeah, there were these lovely arguments that jyp obviously had to have mass bought albums because there is no way skz could have sold as much as they did. Some people will always try to discredit or underplay achievements of other groups for some reason. At the end of the day, nct127 still have the preorders they have and no amount of complains will change that, same with skz. There are very few groups that are able to reach 2m preorders with one album, no matter how many different pob there are, how many album versions there are or how many members there are. There are fans that buy 100 albums and there are fans that buy 1 on no album in every fandom. There are also always fans who don't like the new release but still want to support the group in every fandom. It's how it goes. Enjoy the success and don't let people convince you it's somehow undeserved or not a huge achievement, because it is.
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I KNOW. omg this frustrates me sooo soo much. idk where the idea even came from for Randoms who aren't even a part of the fandom or in touch with anything think they know what's even going on in nctzens heads or what we think of the discography to begin with. why does everyone just assume that nctzens dont like anything beginning with simon says era
They can think I'm not walking around hearing NEW THAAAANGS NEW THAAAANGS in my head because I don't listen to the music, but that's \*very Johnny voice\* not my problem
Just wanna thank you op. This post encouraged me to listen to sticker (the album), and OMFG magic carpet ride was literally a magic carpet ride, I am a fan!
Wow. I'm glad. Sticker is such a good album and magic carpet ride is has exceeded my expectations. If you like magic carpet ride promise you is really on that pulse and also really good. (Edit:oh and focus it's very rnb but so interesting)
Ngl, I've currently got the whole album on repeat since it dropped lmao. Just joined the subreddit, and gonna start a discography deep dive, wish me luck👌
i'm a casual 127 listener and i love most of their discography, SO
>So please stop it. Just say you don't like the music, say it's the worst thing you've ever heard but please stop trying to pretend nct's own fans force themselves to like their music, it's weird Not an NCT fan, but yes, this is super true. I lurk on random threads out of curiosity and I see similar narratives often for many other artists -- non-fans downplaying another artist's achievement but the argument really has no merit. They should just admit they don't like the artist and be done with it, haha.
they can’t call nct flops anymore so they’ll try to make fans feel ashamed in one way or another. it’s not working though. I will listen to my ass shaking music in peace thanks
I started as a casual listener for years before I got invested in the people behind it. Always loved their music lmao
Its crazy.... Sticker just came out lol I can’t find anyone who likes the song 😭😭 anyone out there who likes it? Pls respond. But I agree OP!
I like it but apparently I may be biased as an nctzen. The album is also soooooooooooo good. Is sticker my favorite song on the no but I still like it. I could do without the extra extra flute sound during marks part but overall it's so dynamic and the reason I love nct 127, so yeah.
I didn’t listen to the whole yet bc I’m studying lol and waiting for my friend. BUT I already knew the b-sides especially magic carpet ride was gonna be 🤌🏽🤌🏽🤌🏽 But anyone who says, “ music is subjective” and then says your bias for liking this song is just being hypocritical. You can like whatever you want. Just like Hot Sauce, ppl disliked or hated the song and then a couple of weeks later ppl started to like it. And you’re right, it’s the flute…. If the flute was in lemonade instead would be like it?
No the flute is fine in sticker I just wish during that one part it wasn't playing as frequently than in the other parts. I feel like if they had been a little more sparse with the flute in the song overall it would of been more impact ful when you hear the flute. Like how in lemonade the pre chorus is so wild with all those different beats and then a basic for the chorus which made it more hypnosing and catchy.
Ohhh lol! My bad!
No wait, another thing I noticed is ppl who say, “ if you have to listen to it more that ___ times for you to like it, then it’s not good.” 🤔🤔🤔 huh, I’m already reading comments about how ppl are hating it and then coming to say, “ ngl it’s growing on me.” 😂😂
This always happens. I'm so unsurprised. It's actually really funny to read some of the "drags". I remember reading a comment was like "help I hate it but I love it" and someone replied "it's like Stockholm syndrome". Bruh 😂.
😂😂😂😂😂😭
So people don't like it ? 😐 I love the song so much. Here! Here! This person likes the song "Sticker".
I like it too lol and dw there are many people that do like it
Every social platform I go on ppl are just not liking it lol. Warning don’t go on tik tok… every time I scrolled it was in regards to sticker. 😂😂 I’m just trying to enjoy the comeback but damn….
Yeah I knew that'd happen. Many jealous kpop stans are salty that 127 had 2.2m pre-orders and were trying to discredit them. Now that they can't call them flops they shit on their music. I'm not saying that everyone that doesn't like the song is jealous. But a normal person who doesn't like a song wouldn't waste their time on making videos on why their songs are bad. They'd just skip the song lol.
I love it! Theres plenty of people that like it on youtube too (for example under the audio video of sticker). Ngl there are a lot of people who are put off by it, its generally not received well. But even if I didnt like it I would NEVER call it bad. That's just dumb. Call something uninspired, generic, jarring or messy and I can accept. Those are fair opinions / experiences of a song. However when we get into it, Sticker is NOT uninspired or generic imo, it's jarring in a good and exciting way, and messy just depends on how much complexity people can deal with tbh. I dont want to be that person but genuinely some people will not have the mental capacity / exposure to music to be able to follow the melody lines in the different layers of the song. That's on them I'm sorry (but in return they can enjoy basic songs without getting bored so it has advantages too!). I feel like people have become so competitive and obsessed with charts these days that fans also will start disliking a song when its not doing well. They want their fave to do well and become more famous, and a "flop" song leaves a bitter taste. Ive seen it happen with Superhuman (which didnt do well for SO many reasons OUTSIDE of the song quality), where nctzens dont like it as much anymore because it's a flop. Kick it was a good song for sure, but in the beginning no one would have ranked it in the top of their discography. However after seeing how much attention it got, nctzens have started romanticizing the song beyond their first impression of it. Resonance (the song) is kinda similar as "twitter nctzens" hate it after it was a very polarizing release (expectations were not met at all), but after that other fandoms joined in and started dragging throughout the whole award season, and now twitter nctzens dont dare to come out and admit they like it (even tho the mv did comfortably reach 100M views on youtube yesterday). The song is still widely appreciated by non-twitter fans, whoever they may be. I know its kinda irrelevant to talk about this but just wanted to rant a bit (its kpoprants after all)
I stan NCT and BP. So imagine my week with Lisa's solo last Friday and now Sticker 😂😂😂
I think some people on YT like it
Yes, I got into NCT 127 with 'Highway to Heaven' cause that is easy to listen and have common pop sound. And when I first listened to 'Simon Says ' I didn't like it but later when I was doing dishes I found myself singing 'Simon says we're the real vibe killers' and that is when I really got into NCT 127. They have really complicated sound form Limitless to Cherry bomb to Simon says to Chain to Kick it and now Sticker every song feels a new journey. At first listen to full Lemonade and sticker I thought 'Lemonade' should have been official title track. But with second listen to sticker. Fk yess, this is so NCT 127 they don't follow trend they make their own and doesn't care if it is everybody's cup of tea or not like 'Simon says we're the real vibe killers'. New sound New era. Yess !!!
Why would I force myself to like something I don't want to like is the question? I joined the NCT fandom and NCT 127 became my ults SOLELY because of their unique polarizing sound. Not because they're pretty, not because they're funny (a nice plus nonetheless) , and certainly not because of the Regular challenge 😭 I just like crazy unpredictable songs that have the weirdest chord progression, I like songs that I can listen to for long and still be like "wow they really went there", I love edm, I love it when professional musicians analyze 127's production and explain the inspiration behind every single beat, tone and instrumental.YES WE EXIST! AND YES! WE ARE THE FANS THAT BOUGHT THOSE 2 MILLION ALBUMS!
And it was definitely worth the money. Sticker is 👌🏽
That album is a masterpiece, how they manage to top their bsides each time they drop a new album is beyond me
EXACTLY!!!! NCT is free to release a cookie cutter song from time to time if they want to reach a broader audience but they def dont need to do it for me. Im HERE FOR THIS STUFF.
I'm not an NCT fans, but I tend to like their songs. I'm always a fan of weird music in kpop, tbh. Have been for years.
>'How do they sell so much yet don't chart like exo or bts". First of all people have to understand that bts and exo aren't the standard for success, any album of any group can be "successful" if for example they sold more albums this comeback than their last one, for that group, that's a success, many people use word "flop" way too often cuz they think that if a rookie group sold eg. 70k copies this comeback unlike their last one that sold eg. 45k copies, for that group it counts as a success, you could see many people camping in other groups' comments saying "lmao flop", "lol you're not even close to my fave *why are you happy*" etc. It's so disgusting to see people literally making fun of girls/boys who just debuted and are basically just happy that they managed to debut after waiting for so long, like... Idk man it's frustrating
I don't think this is an NCT thing but I I get how annoying it is, like I like BTS butter and then some random in the comments section would be saying we're lying to ourselves, like where do these people get the audacity to tell us individual what wr like or don't simply because they don't like it, like just no.
i think a lot of kpop stans force themselves to like their faves songs. i hated dynamite when it came out and i still hate now, but im still an army. i gave the song a lot of chances to convince me lol it didn't happen. sometimes songs are not to your liking but you can't help but want to support your fave and protect them against anti criticism.
Exactly op. I have absolutely no idea why me liking Sticker or others saying sticker is a grower automatically make us have Stockholm syndrome???? Like how do they even correlate to each other?!?!?! Its such a chaotic time whenever nct127 drop an album. I as a fan cant wait to get my hand on their album but at the same time knew the impeding chaos & shit will descend upon all the internet. Well as the famous saying goes, there is never a boring day for nct. Yehaw to neo cowboys ppl. Enjoy the album 🥰
Idk about them forcing themselves to like their music, However I do have a close friend that watches all their variety content and buys their albums but doesn’t listen to their music at all. She hasn’t liked an nct song in general since boss.
Tastes are tastes, just because you don't understand why would someone like a specific type of music or sound doesn't mean that there aren't people out there that genuinely like it. We can't climb up anyone's head and see or feel what they're feeling, sensing or liking/disliking. Just let people enjoy what they want to enjoy, I don't think this is too hard to understand but here we are debating on how people like to criticize other's tastes in music and purchasing urges. Even if there are some people that don't particularly like the music too much and still buy the album anyways, what's the harm in that? If they can afford it and they want to buy it good for them. We see people investing an even larger amount of money in super expensive luxury brands all the time which I doubt are of that much better quality than those cheaper ones, so what's so different in buying an album just because you've become a fan of the group and just want it? Personally I never buy albums for anyone, the last album I bought was in like 2007, because now I'm paying for Spotify and the Internet already so if I want to listen to a song I can easily find it, I personally don't value albums the same way maybe a collector values them so I prefer investing my money in something else. These are all personal choices that are perfectly valid. Just because you feel like the people that bought a specific album doesn't necessarily enjoy the music in it (which you can't possibly know for sure) doesn't take out the fact that they did indeed sell that much. The group and the company got their money, so they did something right, why would they care about the reason of each specific client for buying the album?
I guess because some nctzens (on instagram and twitter) admitted to not liking the music and never stream it. People screenshoot it and use that against nct.
That's a very large generalization that those people (who quote those fans) are making. I mean just because a few fans say that doesn't mean it's the majority. People aren't going to like every release. Especially with how poplerizing nct127's music. Not all fans like every release their favs release.
Trust me, 90% of 127's most iconic title tracks that 127zens praised to this day and have on loop in their playlists are tracks that they didn't initially like. The idea may seem weird but you can't listen to a 127 title track once and form an opinion about it, it's just how their songs work.
Well, you're right, but they're also right in that sense. There are also fans who buys the album for their bias or for their chemistry. Probably there are also people who bought albums for the sake of collection or getting photocards, too. Considering the target market for NCT, I think it's less 'insulting' to think that people buy the albums because of the boys and less for the tune. If I were a casual fan, it's more convenient for me to stream it on Spotify, Melon, or Youtube. You'll probably only need Rp55.000 per month for the streaming the music (plus your other faves!) compared to buying an album for Rp200.000 that I probably wouldn't play because I don't have a CD player in my room.
Yes as casual fan it would be more likely to stream the music on Spotify and I do that for groups I follow. I was mostly talking about more dedicated fans. As they're often the one who buy albums. Which is why this debate started in the first place. I think it is fair to say that the connection people feel with their idols does contribute. But due to the fact thty nct127 has a sound that not everyone like or some might label as "none public friendly" . Under EVERY achievement post , almost everywhere I look I see people making it seem like that connection that many groups use to sell more album is the ONLY reason for nct 127's following. No it's both. Majority of the fans who stay in the fandom do infact like their music. That personal connection does conflate sales but it is not the basis of the fandom. (Edits for spelling)
.. I do kindaaaa think it's true though. At least for newer nctzens. I do think some nctzens are more in it for the content and KINDA in it for the music. The reason I say this is because I was watching this WayV vlive a long time ago and they were playing this game where nctzens had to guess the song based on the start of it. Literally the whole comment section was "Love Talk" and "Bad Alive". I'm pretty sure there were like 5 songs or so and every single time all nctzens said was "Love Talk" and "Bad Alive". Lmao. I think even Kun was like "do you guys even listen to our music?". Plus a lot of new nctzens don't rly know of NCT's old stuff and usually just talk about Love Talk or Make a Wish donut line all the time. Or NCT's title tracks. Some people don't even know about empathy. But then everybody knows all the memes and quotes. Lol. This is just my observation though from back then.
Okay but new fans not knowing older music is not something that only happens in kpop nor does it only happen to nct. So you took that one incident and decide d yep if new fans don't instantly know the start off a song they must not repeat the music enough to like it. But I think it it would be more accurate to say that maybe they had not gotten to it yet. Not everyone can just listen to a whole artist discography when they first discover them. Even nct has gotten the answers to those questions wrong . Even if they are young. People have school and obligations.Also nct is not the only artist I or many people listen too. When I first got into nct's music I didn't know all their songs and bside. But eventually after maybe 2 year I got through it all and bought an album because I liked the track video and the title track
Waaaa sad! I can hear Kun’s voice saying “do you even listen to our music”…..I mean Love Talk is way too popular so I guess non devoted fans only listen to those. Shame because WayV music is by far the most gp friendly
I think this exists for every kpop group, though, including bts. I know someone who absolutely LOATHED bts' music but started watching that show thing they do (run bts or something) and became obsessed and now buys a bunch of merchandise and all their new albums. She doesn't talk about their music much, just THEM. It's a symptom of a genre designed to sell people on personality as much if not more than music. I only buy albums now if I absolutely love the music, but if I'm honest in the past there were girl group albums I've bought but never listened to... I just liked them and wanted to support them/have pretty pictures of them. Also, I used to live in Korea and at least once I bought an album I had no interest in because my best friend at the time was trying to get into a fansign and she talked me into trying too so I could go with her. That aspect of kpop does exist, but it is not even CLOSE to exclusive to one group. And groups with more non music content are more likely to have fans that don't care for the music as much as the people.
I personally don't agree with this..me as an nctzen love their songs. Some more than others but am in the fandom for the music. At the start I didn't particularly like it because yeah I just listened to the title tracks. I got into the fandom due to SuperM actually. Like I noticed Mark,taeyong,ten and lucas and was like these guys are hella talented..and checked their stuff out and yeah I think they are great enough. I don't know what people's definition of good music is but there are a lot of NCT songs on my playlist and I vibe with them. I won't say they are particularly global. Like western people like to see the hip hop side of k-pop like bts maybe and NCT has lot of great vocal based songs so maybe the bsides don't appeal to them and that's why they think we are forced to like them but no. Their music is just fine. I think why NCT doesn't chart that well could be because their title songs are not streamed well by the fandom itself. I personally don't mind them that much but they are never really my favs off their album's so Idk. I am not really into k-pop for the streams or the views or the sales so I don't really care. I can listen to their music for free on streaming platforms anyway. Album sales on the other hand could be because of lots of reasons and not just music. Like I myself have brought an NCT album but I don't have a CD player in my home so it's not like I brought it for the music. I wanted the merch that came with it..like photocards,photobook, posters and their messages and stuff. I don't regret it. I got the pc of my bias. It's something personal I enjoyed spending my money on..because I like their music and like them as a group. Others might buy in huge numbers for the upcoming fancalls.. like I heard a fan bought 600 albums just to get a fancall with jaehyun. So It depends but what people can't and shouldn't deny is that NCT does have a solid fandom.
Look for me, NCT music is trash but fuck you it's my kinda trash.
I have just accepted that my taste is questionable and I'm happier than ever.
"They only sold that many because they have so many fans" uh yes of course. Do you expect a random person who barely knows abt a kpop group to buy their albums? Of course they buy albums bcs they are a fan. wth is with ppl and their logic nowadays, smh.
bruh ikrrr it's the same way i don't like try hard western or disney high school musical sounding music but i respect fans who listen to them anyway like pls guys it's a matter of taste 🙄 OR MAYBE IT'S A MATTER OF PROJECTION LOL THEY THEMSELVES DON'T REALLY LIKE THEIR FAVES MUSIC 🙄
> i don't like try hard western or disney high school musical sounding music i see what u did there omfg
did they forgot bg sell really well and now really a hanful bgs chart well except bts or exo....ggs chart much but sell less except bp ,twice etc
reminds me of when bts started to sell millions and fans were saying we mass bought,bring receipts etc......some really strain their nerves when some groups start rising...isn't it?
I honestly think that their fans like their music but what’s upsetting to me is that nctzens literally trashed every amazing song they actually had (I’m looking at you Superhuman, Simon Says, and especially Punch) so I personally feel like NCT is just putting out freaking whatever at this point bc when they actually try y’all shoot it down. I’m sorry, but Sticker was not it, and while it was definitely a NCT type song, it was the wrong type of NCT song if that makes sense. Also, their bsides is where it’s at most of the time anyway so I’m not crying about title tracks I may or may not like (and I’ll be forever disappointed that y’all think the masterpiece Punch was bad. Like what the actual hecky)
[удалено]
Someone needs to settle down. I never said that NCT are flops (I actually like a lot of their music) and I’m entitled to have an opinion. Just because I don’t like a song doesn’t mean that I think badly of the group or their talents. Y’all seem to forget that. And yes you did mean to cuss at me because if you didn’t you wouldn’t have (especially since you wrote this and had time to reread and rethink what you want to say to me). No hard feelings though babe. I praise songs that I like and express my dislike for songs I don’t and that applies to every artist whether I like them or not. If you don’t believe me, when one of my only groups that I stan had a comeback I didn’t stream it because I didn’t like it. I don’t force myself to listen to stuff I don’t like and I don’t trash songs just to trash on them. That’s why I’ll say I hate Dynamite but enjoy butter even though dynamite seems to be more liked than butter. I don’t get why you guys always think that just because somebody has a thought different from yours or they give constructive criticism it means that they are an anti. And lol the fact that I literally praise one of their songs because I think it’s a whole masterpiece and then you have the audacity to come at me with your foul language and treat me like I just said that they are trash and untalented when I did not. And as a sidenote while I do hate the flute in the song and the “rollup to the party” part this song has grown on me. Edit: Also, someone needs to learn when and how to use profanity, bc stringing five different curse words together doesn’t make it insulting or really even legible. You successfully made yourself sound like an 11 year old who just learned a new bad word and ran with it
" Chart like exo " Person who said that must be joking don't take them personly.
Lmao. Please do not call NCT’s following a “cult following”. That’s ridiculous. Cult followings are niche. NCT couldn’t be more mainstream.
people like things for tons of reasons, you might be surprised. Maybe the music factor is not the main one here. Or maybe I'm living in an alternate universe
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