Posts by kpopnewbie32

The album is nice. Calm and relaxing. No2 is my favourite track on first listen.

He should first manage the existing units properly before adding more.

She's not better than her team mates in Kepler though... so I don't see how she "belongs in a better group".

Not terrible but not good either. Certainly not title track worthy. Not sure what is going on at SM but their releases for the back end of this year have been mostly lacklustre (seulgi's excellent mini aside).

Very interesting. If true in poor taste. Love dive was the bigger hit and the better song too.

Feel my rhythm

Love dive

Girls

Big fan of soyeon but have to disagree. Her English raps ain't it. I wish she wouldn't.

Antifragile, generation, panorama and 28 reasons

Aespa is at the top in my opinion. A perfect combination of power, interesting tones and good technique.

Nmixx is also good but I like aespa as a whole better (also find their tones both more interesting and pleasant).

Purple kiss is also good.

LSRF is decent.

The bottom is itzy (they really needed another competent vocalist after somi dropped out).

Quote from Blue2012

No they don't.

I'll reiterate the point again.

Kpop labels focus on global and fandoms because they make more money.

In the long run, the 10 boomers that still use Melon don't matter.

No.

Nowadays labels don't care about Korea. I'm actually happy to see it.

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The vibe of some of these comments are weird - why wouldn’t they care about their home country and why are you as a foreign fan “happy to see it”. Some of us kpop fans/enjoyers need to watch it. People be getting a little too comfortable…

This is sad. I really liked yedam's voice and knew treasure because of him.
I hope he left voluntarily (which sounds like it was the case).

He is very talented and I'll look forward to his future work as a solo artist or producer.

Red velvet will win in my heart and ears

It’s not flopping in my house. I’m still thoroughly enjoying it. One of the best kpop albums of the year for me.

Anywhere but home, bad boy sad girl are great b sides.

Taeyong/Mark

Quote from the101

Hmm. I mean certainly we all like what we like and there's enough room in the disco and the units if the current sound isn't working for you. For me personally, I don't see the current sound as being very far removed from the chant-oriented choruses and random noise quirks of Cherry Bomb or Simon Says. All of these recent songs still feel very much in the same lane.

It still feels very much like the type of random bed-squeaking, if you're happy and you know it woop woop woop woop woop it's always been. If anything, the b-sides are the biggest shift IMO in that they are now much more fully R&B, rather than a potpourri of different styles. A discussion on the shift in the b-sides has merit for me, because I do see the shift there.

There's a little less glorious pre-chorus in 2 Baddies to be sure, but we still get our SM bridge and money notes. I don't think it's their strongest tt, but I don't think it's their worst either, in a world with Wakey Wakey. (Let's Play Ball is a mess tho, I agree.)

But the narrative that recent songs are only chanted completely skips Sticker and Favorite? Neither Favorite nor Sticker have chant choruses, but are sung in their choruses.

I also think there seems to be an ongoing gap in what people think the fandom "likes" and what the fandom is actually doing and feeling and thus, I'd argue, liking. Because the streaming numbers don't match these ideas about which songs they like.

(Note here: I need to finish updating my Melon and Spotify numbers from last month but I did a quick check just on these songs while I'm talking about it.)

Sticker, Favorite and 2 Baddies charted longer in Korea than any other song other than Kick It for 127. Sticker and Favorite are also more popular in streams than Superhuman on Spotify (not counting Melon's Superhuman streams because of the boycott), which seems to show that many within the fandom like these songs.

Favorite, in fact, is tremendously popular within the fandom and on Spotify, has already passed Touch and Superhuman and about to lap Limitless soon enough. It has moved very quickly and continues to add a constant steady amount of streams. In addition to the streams, you can see how well liked it is by Czennies from the way audiences sing it passionately and loudly in concerts, with the same enthusiasm usually reserved for staples like Cherry Bomb or Limitless.

Sticker is certainly more divisive within the fandom, yet paradoxically also highly streamed and sung along loudly to at concerts. I thought the streams were artificially inflated on Sticker by people checking it out in the early days but it has maintained its growth and momentum, showing it is streamed. People do like it, in addition to me.

In contrast, a song fans actually don't like very much, like Punch, moves very very slowly. This isn't an age thing on songs either because God knows Punch has been limping towards these 30M streams for most of this year at the slowest possible pace and that's a fairly recent song.

(Limitless is actually a slow mover on Spotify too, even compared to other older songs like Cherry Bomb).

I also kind of disagree with the idea that the fandom "loves" Superhuman. Superhuman is one of my faves, but I remember many arguments with Czennies then and now who felt it wasn't 'Neo' enough and was too Shinee/EXO-ish, so I certainly wouldn't call that the last universally loved 127 tt. Even Favorite, which is very well liked, has detractors that think it's not 'Neo' enough.

NCT music has to walk this constant line of people who love the NCT noise and people who love the softer side.

And yet Czennies tend to stream that NCT noise more across platforms with a few specific exceptions. Spotify and Melon streams show that fans like Hot Sauce way more than Hello Future, which I've always found a curious phenonenom since I feel like I've heard Dreamzens say they dislike Hot Sauce (maybe it's other Czennies that aren't Dreamies who are streaming?) But HS also continues to top the streaming (behind Kick It ) in Korea, which is more heavily Dream-focused in its streaming. In fact, Glitch Mode has more streams and ULs in Korea than HF. (Korea prefers Glimo, Spotify prefers Beatbox.) Sticker even has more streams and ULs than HF in Korea.

Both sets of fans love the hell out of Life is Still Going On and Dive Into You tho, which are certainly softer, so there is room for both noise and soft.

One more note, many WayZenNis don't like Kick Back. And I feel like a lot of people don't like Let's Play Ball for NCT U. Judging by the streams, they don't like Beautiful and Work It the most for NCT U. I've seen people complain about Work It or argue for it. I don't feel like anyone even talks about Beautiful.

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I don't have a problem with NCT "noise"/neo sound - Sticker is one of my favourite nct tracks, I like hot sauce, let's play ball, wakey wakey. I also liked favourite and touch. So both sides of their sound is fine for me although I do agree that superhuman is rather generic and has never been a favourite of mine (mostly indifferent) .

I guess ultimately - I just think 2 baddies is bad song and even worse a lazy one. 4 weeks post release my impression has not changed. Glitch mode is just ok but also not great so I think this year the quality of NCT title tracks is diminishing.

An additional point re: the higher streams for hot sauce/sticker than HF/Favorite in SK - title tracks are always streamed more than repackages because there is more of a focus on getting music show wins/more engagement - I don't think a conclusion can be made that these songs were necessarily more liked.... (although I did like hot sauce more than HF).

Quote from JJBaker

I feel like all the songs are slowly just turning into the members just shouting random lines over and over again..

I do listen to full tracks but i hated 2 badies so much i haven't got around too it yet xD

2 baddies: Two baddies, two baddies, one Porsche... is repeated 15 times in the whole song...

beatbox: Everywhere I go, bring the beatbox... repeated 14 times in the song

Universe: What you got... is repeated 24 times

I wouldn't mind if it was a song like chewing gum where it meant to be a ear worm for one random song...

but it becoming every single nct song is becoming super lazy made

repeat one line... add a random noise in the background.. like a whistle.. sticker

I feel nct sound is becoming "annoying" music you have to learn to love...

nothing has come out in a while what majority of the fandom has liked instantly..

The last song per unit what i think all fans liked:

Superhuman - NCT 127 - 2019 {no repeated words}

Hello Future - NCT Dream - 2021 {no repeated words}

WayV.. I don't think have has any "disliked" songs..

NCT U.. also I don't think have has any "disliked" songs..

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Unfortunately have to agree re: 2 Baddies. SM seems to have developed a formula with NCT title tracks but it is law of diminishing returns at this point because the chanting chorus while palatable the first few times (kick it, hot sauce) is now stale and obnoxious on this song.

One title track is not enough to make me lose interest in the project but I fear the future if this was the song they thought was "the one" given how much the members hyped it up.

I also wonder if SM's zeal to push the boundaries of kpop with NCT's sound is pushing them further into unlistenable territory. Like they are so keen on topping the last song in terms of uniqueness that they forget to just make a straight up good pop song.

I couldn't sit through the Thai version as I got bored.

The Korean version is the best in my opinion

Very wise words and I'm surprised he's of the first idols to address fan behaviour this directly.

Kudos to him. He seems like a decent guy.

Quote from the101

what are your favorite tracks?

1,2,7 (Time stops)

Black clouds