Ten - Birthday (SM Station: NCT Lab)

I. Introduction

"Birthday" is a digital single from Ten of the boy group WayV, a permanent sub-unit of the boy group NCT . It is the fifth single of SM Station NCT Lab and was released on October 26, 2022.

II. Background

SM announced a new project under SM Station to focus around the boy group NCT on January 30, 2022. NCT is unique among K-Pop groups due to the fact that the concept of NCT is an ever expanding group with "unlimited" members and is comprised of several individual sub-units. There are currently four sub-units: NCT 127, NCT Dream, WayV and NCT U.

NCT Lab will include solo songs, self-composed tracks and sub-unit work outside of the group's albums. This song is the fourth song of the season and features Ten, one of the main vocalists of WayV. Ten has three previous SM Station solo songs, the highest amount of any NCT member.

This song debuted originally during the TV show Great Dance Crew in April 2022, where he featured as a team mentor and showcased a solo dance to the song. It was announced as a part of NCT Lab with release on streaming platforms a week before its release.

The song was described as a "R&B dance genre song that allows you to fully feel Ten's delicate vocals, and the minimal repetition of marimba sounds and dynamic drops in the bridge section create a dreamy atmosphere. The English lyrics describe days with a lover as a happy birthday is romantically expressed."

This is Ten's fourth solo single. Like all of his previous singles, the song is entirely in English. The video was choreographed by Bada Lee and J Rick Baek.

III. Tracklist

IV. Spotify

V. Videos

MV:

Teaser:

VI. Reception

The song debuted at #1 in 13 regions in iTunes, trending in 40. It also debuted at #4 on the worldwide iTunes chart.