NCT Primer Part I: Groups & Units
NCT currently consists of 3 units: NCT U, NCT 127, and NCT Dream. You can treat each like their own group. They each have different releases, different vibes and styles, Let's dive in, with the easiest group first!
1. NCT 127
# of members:
9
Explanation:
The main group, with 127 being the location of Seoul. The idea is they start in Seoul and expand to the world. 127 is a fixed unit and is not going anywhere.
Members:
Taeyong (leader), Taeil, Johnny, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, Haechan
Title Tracks:
Fire Truck (no Johnny or Doyoung), Limitless, Cherry Bomb, Touch, Jpn releases Limitless and Chain
Spotify links:
1st Mini Album, Limitless Mini, Cherry Bomb Mini (my favorite), Chain Mini (Jpn)
Subjective Best Tracks:
Limitless, Once Again, Back 2 U (AM 01:27), and the entire Cherry Bomb mini album. I can't choose between Summer 127, 0 Mile, and hoe anthem Whiplash.
Stan if you like
good choreography and execution, bass-heavy songs, bad styling, awkward people.
The gist:
They're the main NCT unit. Like the important NCT children that get the most activities and stuff. Treat them like any other boy group that has many schedules and comebacks together, because they're here to stay. 127 is not confusing and is completely stan-able.
Fun facts:
Mark and Haechan live with 127, not dream. which means 127 is more important
Subjective opinions:
Song and dance-wise, Cherry Bomb is one of the best performances out there, and Limitless was one of the most slept on tracks of 2017. People-wise, I find 127 so refreshing. They're openly awkward with each other. None of that family bullshit. But they're still close and know each other well. Think of 9 strong personalities thrown together, but they can all dance insanely well.
MUST-WATCH MATERIAL:
The Nimdle series (cushion quiz and rolling paper to start), second anniversary vlive #2, NCT night night during touch promo, all their NBA vlives give me life because they're a mess
2. NCT Dream
# of members:
7 currently note: the gif is misleading. i would like to apologize to jaemin and everyone
Explanation:
All members are underage. Mark is the oldest and is aging out this year RIP OT7
Members:
Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, Jisung
Yes, Mark and Haechan are in both NCT 127 and NCT Dream.
Note: Jaemin was not a part of two eras (MFAL and We Young) because of an injury
Title Tracks:
Chewing Gum, My First and Last, We Young, Go, Go Up (release date 9/3)
Subjective Best Tracks:
My First and Last, My Page
Stan if you like
people who are so comfortable with each other they're like family. also if you like people who just roast each other at every opportunity. they seem to love what they do and love being around each other.
Subjective opinions:
This unit is so talented performance-wise and have the best vlives. They're all around the best subunit. They're really hard to get into because their music is kidz bop and they're young enough to be your child, but they're really great. They have so much fun being idols and living their best life. They're so close to each other, having grown up with each other and in front of the camera. There's no reason not to love them.
3. NCT U
^ this is my gif representing nct u. this is not an actual gif of nct u.
# of members:
uhhhh do you count Kun?
Explanation:
NCT U members are NOT fixed. They vary by song. See this list right below, with different members for each release? That's the concept. That's it. Not so hard, right?
NCT U units by song (in chronological order):
1. NCT U - The 7th Sense: Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, Mark
probably the unit with the most performances. and ten is the most amazing person alive. must watch video for this unit.
2. NCT U - Without You: Taeil, Doyoung, Jaehyun bonus station song Timeless
There is also a Chinese version of Without You with Taeil, Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Kun. It wasn't fully promoted so most people don't count this, and don't count Kun as debuting with this song.
This unit does a lot of vlives talking about music recommendations. They like to show their musical passion
3. NCT U - Boss: Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, Jungwoo, Lucas, Mark i love boss unit and i have sad thoughts every day thinking about how boss is over
4. NCT U - Baby Don't Stop: Taeyong, Ten
also released a thai version and had a thai fanmeet where taeyong performed the legendary Around
this unit has a lot of vlives together
5. NCT U - Yestoday: Taeyong, Doyoung, Lucas, Mark
not promoted but has an awesome music video and is just an amazing song
has one vlive together that feels forced and obligatory
Sometimes it's easier to just be like here are the members who have not been in NCT U --- Haechan, Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle, Jisung, Yuta, Johnny. if you're counting, 9/18 have been in U at some point
Stan if
--- just kidding, you can't really stan NCT U unless you hate yourself because they're never going to comeback the same!!! sobs about boss
Subjective opinions:
NCT U is actually really great because we get more quality production and content and don't have to stick strictly to a set amount of members. It makes things very flexible, and it's cool to see different combinations of members.
BONUS MINI SECTION: BOSS UNIT
I fucking love Boss unit of NCT U. Looking at the member list I didn't expect them to be this fun, but they bring it both in performances and in random videos. I HIGHLY recommend their videos including first vlive / Jungwoo's birthday, NCT in Ukraine series one two three, second vlive (my LADYYYYYYY), NCT Empathy Behind (apple juiceeeee)
NCT - assemble!
Pre-2018 they didn't do too much cross-unit things (save for 1. this legendary teach-old-people-how-to-hoverboard vlive, a victory episode where they revealed NCTzens, and some short nct life behind content they posted on social like this and other cute 127 x Dream things). But in 2018 they decided to kick it into high gear by:
1. Releasing the Yearbook Videos one & two two is a production marvel i 20/10 recommend especially in 4k
2. Doing random vlives of random combinations of members, some combos making sense, some not. We get to see their chemistry outside of their set unit or just with a couple people, who's awkward with each other, who's not, who's learning tap dancing currently (Ten, Jisung, Jeno, Jaemin), who makes the best succulent, etc
3. Releasing Black on Black as 18 people. There's a music video. I don't care for the song so I'm not going to link it, but it highlights all the good dancers (Ten, Yuta, Jeno, Jisung) so it could be worth watching.
4. Releasing NCT 2018 Empathy with all 18. Think of it like a compilation album with songs from each unit plus some tracks from debut to now that never got a physical release (DREAM IN A DREAM).
5. Promoting as 18. Including Weekly Idol, an ot18 fansign gl getting into that, an ot18 showcase, and an ot18 fanmeet.
We don't know if they're going to keep up this promote-everyone-at-once thing every year, but it sounds like they at least want to continue the yearbooks. We'll see.
tl;dr: here's a venn diagram
Does this make sense now?Since we're done with the hard part, ONTO THE PEOPLE!