Tuesday, April 26, 2016

[MV Review] NCT U - "The 7th Sense"


Most people don't really get into nugus do to a number of reasons. Marketing is one major factor because the more chances you get to market your idols the better the chance they have at gaining traction in the industry. Most nugus don't get that chance, unless they're in the big 3 where the hype that builds their groups is almost unavoidable. SM has been teasing this new boy group and all of it's units for the past few months to the point that like iKON, they have a fanbase already built (not the extent of iKON but similar.) So does SM's mass marketing and teasing live up to the hype of the debut?

TL;DR: No.


This is the kind of song I listen to K-pop to get away from. Sure I enjoy some of these slower trap-infused "under-the-influence" songs that I hear on my local radio (a good example is Bryson Tiller's "Don't.") However k-pop just rarely does this style of music "right" and instead of having any sort of groove in the songs they just wind up being a boring, overly spacious and bare under-produced tracks with little to no appeal to them.

And that's the problem with "The 7th Sense." It's just one big lifeless snore-fest that slightly overstays it's welcome.The beginning makes it sound like it's going to be some good and weird f(x) sound before the stiff trap snares comes in with the a bass that's trying to be hypnotic but ultimately just doesn't do it's job and this is pretty much how the song sounds for the next couple of minutes. It doesn't make me want to slice my ears off but I don't see myself listening to this more than twice. The song has some interesting sounding moments and some interesting sounding instruments however it's not utilized to it's advantage and winds up falling flat.

As for how the members contribute themselves to the song, it's actually a decent performance. The rappers try and the vocalist actually manage to sound pretty good over this song and none of them come off as jarring or out-of-place in the song which can be pretty easy to do. However most people here don't really care about the contributing voices, so I highly doubt anyone to let the song when them over because the members don't sound bad.




So I've bitched on and on about the song, how about the video? It's awesome, and matches the feel the song was trying to accomplish. It's SM so a lot of sensory details and high production value sets are used to make this sort of ethereal traphouse come to life and it works 100%. Even the choreography shots with just the members dancing in a room draped in red work surprisingly well. Hell, even the choreography is pretty damn cool looking. I recommend checking this out once just for the visual experience because, the only thing that doesn't work with this release is the actual song.

I don't think NCT U will be a failure. It's SM and their hype machine, they're bound to get public recognition as long as SM doesn't fuck it up. Plus this song is getting very well received by fans so I don't see them evaporating into thin air or anything. However if this were any other rookie I'd have a hard time seeing a future for them.

Question - If they have a 7th sense, that implies that they have a 6th sense however neither of those are even discussed in the song or video. I tried looking the lyrics up however it's not discussed there either. What the hell are those two extra senses?

26 comments:

  1. The thing with nugus is, 95% are worthless, boring and generic trash.

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  2. do they have any Chinese members who will inevitably get poached by a Chinese agency after claiming they have an unfair contract because the fangirls always fall for it hook line & sinker?

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  3. I will only write TEN
    that's enough

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  4. Check the nct debut theory thread on OH, they discussed the 7th sense.

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    1. I'll check it out and see if it'll add up.

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  5. I'm just here for Jaehyun's glorious presence. If SM gets one thing right, it's the visuals
    http://45.media.tumblr.com/700fb1999975ed3158baccadc97df2d4/tumblr_o5c42zosLZ1qg7ro1o5_250.gif

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    1. I'm not really hypee about anyone in the group. The main visual treat for me was the mv.

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    2. I think Jaehyun and Jaehyo have a similar feel tbh :') But hey, let's be real! Suho didn't catch my eye until later in Exo's promotion cycles so there's always hope.

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    3. I think Jaehyun and Jaehyo have a similar feel tbh :') But hey, let's be real! Suho didn't catch my eye until later in Exo's promotion cycles so there's always hope.

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  6. "This is the kind of song I listen to K-pop to get away from." Exactly. I think the song is kinda catchy, but I guess hearing songs that sound like it ALL THE TIME in the US is why I don't love it. I do go to k-pop for unique music, and I guess I'll watch them in the future to see where they go.

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    1. They'll probably get a better song in the future. However their debut was just unimpressive.

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  7. It hurts me inside that I like this song to the point I want to listen to it. But it just lasts forever with like no change at all so I want to listen to it, but I can only get through like 2 minutes of it max.

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    1. I might have actually liked this song if it was condensed to 3 minutes or below but it just overstays in welcome :/

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  8. I'm actually obsessed with the Bryson Tiller-esque music trend happening in the US. But you're right, Kpop never seems to get this concept right which is probably why as much as I want to like this song, I don't.

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    1. I don't mind it in fact ''Don't'' is one ot my favorite non-kpop songs of 2015. But that's just one genere the West does better in a general sense.

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  9. I like the song. I don't listen to American music so I didn't know this was a thing that was commonly done. Taeyong needs to leave though....

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    1. Most mainstream American radio stations beat you over the head with this type of music, however majority of it is done more effectively than "The 7th Sense."

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    2. *Mainstream hip-hop radio stations.

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  10. I actually like this song. The members are good-looking, and the singing and rapping was decent. What did you think of their other song, "Without You", though?

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    1. "Without You" is good, it makes me wish "The 7th Sense" was better so that way they could have two good songs backing their debut.
      None of the members are unattractive that's for sure! They deliver very promising performances. It's not really the members that's the "problem" it's everything that's being done to them-if that's worded correctly.

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  11. I actually like this song. The members are good-looking, and the singing and rapping was decent. What did you think of their other song, "Without You", though?

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  12. Ten, Doyoung, and Mark are the highlights of this group. Ten's a really awesome dancer, Doyoung has really good vocals, and Mark is probably SM's best rapper even though he's so young. The other two are okay, but Jaehyun just sounds like another Baekhyun and Taeyong's voice is really not that interesting, but maybe he'll sound better when they make a comeback. They're all handsome. This group has potential.

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  13. This song is shit. My opinion.

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