Spotlight - NCT
Hi guys! When I saw the Spotlight: Pristin post a while ago, I thought that I'd love to write a similar post about NCT so here it is. Idk if this is useful, but I had fun writing this up (except for adding the links, that was hell), so I'll even be happy if just a few people can make use of it :) Sorry that it turned out so long and that there are like a million links. Also sorry for basically copying the way this post is structured from the Pristin post haha...
Edit: Just so you know, this post is just facts (and a few subjective opinions of mine lol). I didn't include any speculation (or even plans that SM have actually talked about) like future units etc. because I feel I am not informed enough about it and it's a different discussion that would be too much for this post (but you can discuss it in the comments or make another thread about it or whatever).
#Intro
NCT is a 15 member group from SM Entertainment that debuted in 2016. The name NCT stands for Neo Culture Technology, which is a term coined by SM Entertainment to describe the concept of a group with unlimited members and subunits that are based in several cities in the world, which is why more subunits and member additions are expected in the future. The name can also be read as N City, which is why the fandom name is NCTzen (NCT + citizen). The group NCT as a whole does not promote or release music together. It's just the "pool" of members from which certain members can be picked to create a subunit. One member can be part of multiple subunits. So far, NCT has three subunits: NCT U, NCT 127, and NCT DREAM.
NCT U debuted in April 2016 and consists of Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun and Mark. They've released two songs, The 7th Sense and Without You. NCT U is supposedly a rotational unit, but there are no details known about that since they haven't had a comeback yet.
NCT 127 debuted in July 2016 and is a subunit based in Seoul, which is what the name stands for (127 is the longitude coordinate of Seoul). It consists of Taeil, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark and Haechan. They debuted as seven members and Johnny and Doyoung were added before their first comeback in January 2017. NCT 127 have released three mini albums with the title tracks Fire Truck, Limitless and Cherry Bomb.
NCT DREAM debuted in August 2016 and is a subunit for the underage members of NCT. It consists of Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung. They have released one single, Chewing Gum, one single album with the title track My First and Last, and one mini album with the title track We Young. They've been promoting as six since My First and Last because Jaemin is recovering from an injury. NCT DREAM is a graduation unit, meaning that once a member is no longer underage (most likely in Korean age), they are no longer a member.
#Members
The members do not have official positions in the group (lead vocalist, main dancer, etc.), so the positions assigned to them in this post are based on what they most often do and are best at. Sorry if this seems subjective. The ages are in international age. For every member, I've included an album with a photo from each promotion (debut/comeback), some other favorite photos of mine, and two predebut photos. :) Also sorry if some of the fun facts aren't that fun, I couldn't really think of anything else lol
Full name: Moon Taeil
DOB: June 14, 1994 (age 23)
POB: Seoul, South Korea
Languages: Korean
Siblings: One younger sister
Taeil is the oldest member and a vocalist of NCT. He auditioned for SM Entertainment and got into the company around the same time as he was accepted in university, but ultimately decided to become a trainee. He is a member of NCT U and NCT 127.
Fun facts: Taeil sleepwalks and is a Ravenclaw. He said he likes to match moods and other things with colors. According to him, he matches the color yellow and his voice matches the color blue.
Full name: John Suh (Korean name: Seo Youngho)
DOB: February 9, 1995 (age 22)
POB: Chicago, USA
Languages: English, Korean
Siblings: None
Johnny has been a trainee at SM Entertainment since 2008. He trained in Korea in the summers and permanently moved there in 2013. Because he was a trainee for so long, he trained with EXO and was originally considered for their member lineup, so there are many photos of him with pre-debut EXO. Johnny debuted in January 2017 as a new member of NCT 127, which is the only unit he's in.
Before his debut, Johnny appeared at Spectrum Festival as a DJ and was in two music videos (Ready for Your Love by J-Min and Nightmare by Yoon Dohyun). Along with Jaehyun, he's been a hosting the radio show NCT's Night Night on SBS Power FM which is broadcasted every day at 11 PM KST since March 2017.
Fun fact: In high school, Johnny was in the volleyball team and in choir.
Full name: Lee Taeyong
DOB: July 1, 1995 (age 22)
POB: Seoul, South Korea
Languages: Korean
Siblings: One older sister
Taeyong was street casted by SM Entertainment. He is a member of NCT U and NCT 127. Besides being one of the main rappers and dancers of NCT, he is also the leader of NCT 127.
Taeyong participates a lot in songwriting for NCT's songs, having co-written The 7th Sense, 2/7 songs on NCT #127, 4/6 songs on Limitless, and 5/6 songs on Cherry Bomb.
Fun facts: Taeyong is a Hufflepuff and loves Studio Ghibli movies.
Full name: Nakamoto Yuta
DOB: October 26, 1995 (age 21)
POB: Osaka, Japan
Languages: Japanese, Korean
Siblings: One older sister and one younger sister
Yuta joined SM Entertainment through an audition. He is a vocalist and a member of NCT 127.
Fun facts: Yuta loves soccer. He used to play soccer himself and he's said that his favorite player is Neymar. He is a Slytherin.
Full name: Kim Dongyoung
DOB: February 1, 1996 (age 21)
POB: Guri, South Korea
Languages: Korean
Siblings: One older brother (actor Gong Myung)
Doyoung is a vocalist and a member of NCT U and was added to NCT 127 in January 2017. He is the younger brother of actor and 5urprise member Gong Myung.
Along with GOT7's Jinyoung and Blackpink's Jisoo, Doyoung has been an MC of SBS Inkigayo since February 2017.
Fun facts: Before joining SM, he was school president and the lead singer of a band. He is a Slytherin.
Full name: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul
DOB: February 27, 1996 (age 21)
POB: Bangkok, Thailand
Languages: Thai, English, Korean
Siblings: One younger sister
Ten is one of the main dancers and a member of NCT U. In 2011, he was a participant on the Thai casting show Teen Superstar, which he won and as a prize got to sign a contract with Starship Entertainment, but later he joined SM Entertainment after auditioning in Bangkok.
Ten was a contestant on the Mnet show Hit the Stage, where he won the Uniform concept round. He hasn't been very active since April 2017 due to a knee surgery.
Fun fact: Ten is really good at drawing. Here are some of his drawings.
Full name: Jung Yoonoh
DOB: February 14, 1997 (age 20)
POB: Seoul, South Korea
Languages: Korean, English
Siblings: None
Jaehyun is a vocalist and member of NCT U and NCT 127. He was born Jung Jaehyun but changed his name to Yoonoh a few years ago. He was street casted by SM Entertainment.
Along with Johnny, he's been a hosting the radio show NCT's Night Night on SBS Power FM which is broadcasted every day at 11 PM KST since March 2017. He co-wrote NCT 127's debut song, Fire Truck.
Fun facts: Jaehyun is a Gryffindor. He lived in Connecticut, USA from age 5 to 9.
Full name: Dong Sicheng
DOB: October 28, 1997 (age 19)
POB: Zhejiang, China
Languages: Chinese, Korean
Siblings: One older sister
Winwin is a dancer and member of NCT 127. He specializes in traditional Chinese dance and was cast by SM Entertainment near his school in China. He is only a member of NCT 127 but he also appeared in NCT's first teasers and NCT U's Without You MV.
Fun facts: When he was 12 years old, Winwin moved from his hometown Wenzhou to Beijing in order to learn Chinese dance. He's also a Gryffindor.
Full name: Mark Lee (Korean name: Lee Minhyung)
DOB: August 2, 1999 (age 18)
POB: Vancouver, Canada
Languages: English, Korean
Siblings: One older brother
Mark is a rapper and the only member of NCT who is a member of all three units. He is the leader of NCT DREAM. He auditioned for SM Entertainment in Canada. In early 2017, he participated in Mnet's survival show High School Rapper, where he made it to the final.
Mark participates a lot in the songwriting of NCT's songs, having co-written The 7th Sense, 2/7 songs on NCT #127, 3/6 songs on Limitless, 5/6 songs on Cherry Bomb, 2/3 songs on The First and 4/5 on We Young. Fun facts: Mark talks in his sleep. When he was younger, he wanted to become a writer.
Full Name: Huang Renjun
DOB: March 23, 2000 (age 17)
POB: Jilin, China
Languages: Chinese, Korean
Siblings: One older sister
Renjun is a vocalist and a member of NCT DREAM. He grew up speaking both Chinese and Korean.
Fun fact: Renjun likes to draw. One of his favorite things to draw is Moomin.
Full name: Lee Jeno
DOB: April 23, 2000 (age 17)
POB: Seoul, South Korea
Languages: Korean
Siblings: One older sister
Jeno is a dancer and a member of NCT DREAM.
Fun fact: As a child, Jeno appeared in several CFs.
Full name: Lee Donghyuck
DOB: June 6, 2000 (age 17)
POB: Jeju, South Korea
Languages: Korean
Siblings: One twin sister, two younger brothers
Haechan is a vocal and a member of NCT 127, where he is the youngest, and NCT DREAM. He got the stage name Haechan when he debuted, but as an SM Rookies member (pre-debut) he was known as Donghyuck.
Fun facts: Haechan is a huge fan of Michael Jackson and considers him and SHINee's Taemin as his role models. He first wanted to become an idol after seeing SHINee's Replay on television.
Full name: Na Jaemin
DOB: August 13, 2000 (age 17)
POB: Seoul, South Korea
Languages: Korean
Siblings: None
Jaemin is a dancer and a member of NCT DREAM. He has been inactive since November 2016 because of a herniated disc.
Fun fact: Jaemin is considered to be the best in NCT DREAM at riding the hoverboard. He can do cool stuff like this.
Full name: Zhong Chenle
DOB: November 22, 2001 (age 15)
POB: Shanghai, China
Languages: Korean, Chinese
Siblings: One older brother
Chenle is a vocal and a member of NCT DREAM. Before joining SM, he was already active as a contestant on a talent show and singer, and even held a small solo concert.
Fun fact: Chenle comes from a wealthy family which is evident in these pre-debut photos of him.
Full Name: Park Jisung
DOB: February 5, 2002 (age 15)
POB: Seoul, South Korea
Languages: Korean
Siblings: One older brother
Jisung is the youngest member of NCT. He is a dancer and a member of NCT DREAM.
In 2015, he appeared in TVXQ's Yunho's music video for Champagne.
Fun fact: Jisung was in a movie as a child.
Other members (SM Rookies that were SM Rookies along with the debuted NCT members)
Full name: Ji Hansol
DOB: November 21, 1994
POB: Busan, South Korea
Languages: Korean
Siblings: One older sister and one older brother
Hansol is a dancer and part of SM Rookies (more info in the "Pre-debut" paragraph) and has not yet debuted. He has an Instagram account and there has been no information about him from SM's side in months, so there was a lot of speculation whether he even is still at SM or not, but apparently he was a backup dancer at Taemin's recent concert.
Fun fact: Hansol got into SM Entertainment through a friend of his who is friends with SHINee's Jonghyun.
Full name: Qian Kun
DOB: January 1, 1996
POB: Fujian, China
Languages: Chinese, Korean
Siblings: None
Kun is a vocalist and part of SM Rookies. He was featured in the Chinese Ver. of NCT U's Without You and in the second season of NCT LIFE (more info in the "Reality shows" paragraph). He now trains, hangs out and occasionally posts pictures with the SM Rookies members who were introduced this year, Lucas and Jungwoo.
Fun fact: Kun's hobbies are magic and playing the piano. When he was young, he wanted to become an astronaut.
#Pre-debut
Before NCT debuted, all members except Renjun and Chenle were part of SM's pre-debut team, SM Rookies. Hansol and Kun were also part of SM Rookies and did activities with the members that are now in NCT, but the two of them have not debuted yet. (That means the "original" male SM Rookies consisted of Taeil, Hansol, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Kun, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin and Jisung. (Lucas and Jungwoo, who have been part of SM Rookies since spring 2017, were not part of SM Rookies with the NCT members)
SM Rookies mostly released YouTube videos of them practicing, playing games, celebrating their birthdays, promoting their concerts, celebrating Halloween, behind-the-scenes of photoshoots, etc. If you look for SM Rookies on YouTube there's a lot more stuff. Here and here are some photoshoot pictures they've released.
In 2014, some SM Rookies members took part in EXO's show EXO 90:2014 where each EXO member filmed a music video for some popular K-Pop songs of the 90s. SM Rookies performed on the show a few times and some members appeared in some of the MVs that were filmed:
Chanyeol (Hope by H.O.T.): Jaehyun and Yuta are in the video while Doyoung and Jaehyun sing/rap some parts of the song
Suho (To Mother by G.O.D.): Ten is in the video (at 1:26 and 1:42)
Sehun (Yo! by Shinhwa): Johnny and Taeyong are in the video
Tao (Do You Know by Jo Sungmo): Yuta is in the video (and Red Velvet's Wendy sings the song!)
Lay (Missing You by Fly to the Sky): Taeyong is in the video
D.O (I'm Your Girl by S.E.S.): Mark and Haechan rap in the beginning
Luhan (The Last Game by Kim Min Kyo): Jaehyun is in the video and Taeil sings the song
In 2015, the NCT DREAM members that were in SM Rookies (Mark, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Jisung) were part of the cast of Mickey Mouse Club with the female SM Rookies. They and a few other SM Rookies members performed some nice covers there, for example: Under the Sea, A Whole New World (Jaehyun & SM Rookies Herin), You'll Be In My Heart (Haechan), Beauty and the Beast (Doyoung & SM Rookies Koeun)
Before debut, SM Rookies had a few live shows in Seoul and in Bangkok where they performed mainly cover songs and dances, but also a few self-written songs. Some examples: Hide & Freak (only dance), Can I Kick It (only dance), View, Mirotic, Switch, How Deep Is Your Love (only vocals), Open The Door, Under the Sea, It Won't Stop (only dance)
In February 2016, Lee Soo Man gave a presentation about future SM projects such as the concept of Neo Culture Technology, SM Station etc. Here is a super dramatic and somewhat creepy 3 mintute long introduction of NCT with some SM Rookies/NCT members, here is a performance by them, and here Lee Soo Man starts introducing the group NCT and its future plans.
In between the stuff going on in the New Culture Technology video with Lee Soo Man, there are three NCT teasers shown that were also separetely uploaded to YouTube: The Origin, Synchronization of Your Dreams (which features Taeyong, Hansol, Ten, Mark and Jaehyun dancing to an earlier version of The 7th Sense with additional vocals by Haechan), and 7th Sense (Winwin showing traditional Chinese dance).
#Discography
These are all links for lyric and live videos, the music videos are in the "Music videos" section
NCT U
The 7th Sense (lyrics, live performance) (Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, Mark)
Without You (Korean Ver. lyrics, Chinese Ver. lyrics, live performance) (Taeil, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Kun (only Chinese Ver.))
NCT 127
NCT #127
Fire Truck (lyrics, live performance)
Once Again (lyrics, live performance)
Mad City (lyrics, live performance)
Switch (Switch was already performed at SM Rookies live shows, and the MV was released in December 2016), this is credited as NCT 127 feat. SR15B (which stands for SM Rookies 2015 Boys), but it's actually just Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun and Haechan singing.
Limitless
Limitless (lyrics, live performance)
Good Thing (lyrics, live performance)
Cherry Bomb
Cherry Bomb [sorry that I'm saying this here but the performance version is better so listen to that one instead]
0 Mile (lyrics, live performance)
Cherry Bomb (Performance Ver.) (lyrics, live performance)
No album
Taste the Feeling (SM Station)
NCT DREAM
Chewing Gum (Korean Ver. lyrics, Chinese Ver. lyrics, live performance)
The First
My First and Last (Korean Ver. lyrics, Chinese Ver. lyrics, live performance)
Dunk Shot (lyrics, live performance)
We Young
We Young (Korean Ver. lyrics, Chinese Ver. lyrics, live performance)
Trigger the Fever (lyrics, live performance)
Other
Be Natural (Taeyong and Red Velvet)
Cool (Doyoung and SHINee's Key)
I Want to Enter Your Heart (Mark and Super Junior-M's Henry)
First Christmas (Doyoung and Red Velvet's Joy) (lyrics, live performance)
Sound of Your Heart (Taeil and Doyoung as part of SMTOWN)
Drop (Mark and Red Velvet's Seulgi) (lyrics, live performance)
Around (Taeyong and Hitchhiker)
Young and Free (Mark and EXO's Xiumin)
Lemonade Love (Mark and Parc Jae Jung)
Cure (Taeyong and Yoo Young Jin)
Stay In My Life (Taeil, Taeyong and Doyoung)
#Music videos
NCT U
The 7th Sense (MV, performance MV)
NCT 127
Fire Truck (MV, performance MV, dance practice)
Limitless (Rough Ver., Performance Ver.)
Cherry Bomb (MV, dance practice Cherry ver., dance practice Bomb ver.)
NCT DREAM
Chewing Gum (Korean Ver., Chinese Ver., Hoverboard Performance Ver.)
My First and Last (Korean Ver., Chinese Ver., Korean performance Ver., Chinese performance Ver.)
We Young (Korean Ver., Chinese Ver., dance practice, dance practice moving ver.)
Other
Be Natural (Taeyong and Red Velvet)
Sound of Your Heart (Taeil and Doyoung as part of SMTOWN)
Dream In A Dream (Ten) (MV, dance practice)
Around (Taeyong and Hitchhiker)
Young and Free (Mark and EXO's Xiumin)
Lemonade Love (Mark and Parc Jae Jung)
Cure (Taeyong and Yoo Young Jin)
#Reality Shows
NCT LIFE
NCT LIFE is NCT's own reality show that has 7 seasons so far. All seasons (except for the last one) are available with subs on VLIVE and YouTube. Each season has either a unique location or a concept, but the majority of this show is the members eating, playing games and goofing around, which is probably why my descriptions of the season sound so boring (also because I haven't watched some of these in months and can't remember the details), but I promise they are not.
NCT LIFE in Bangkok: Johnny, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten and Jaehyun visit Bangkok, where they give some interviews, photoshoots and visit Ten's old school. Then the other SM Rookies members (except Winwin and Kun) arrive to have their SM Rookies live show (concert) together. At some point they all sit together and watch video messages that they recorded for each other.
NCT Life in Seoul: Taeyong, Yuta, Kun, Doyoung, Jaehyun and Winwin split into two teams (Team Aigoo: Taeyong, Yuta, Winwin and Team Hanwoo: Kun, Doyoung, Jaehyun) and get missions that they have to win against each other. At the same time, they tour Seoul a little and stay the night in a traditional Korean house.
NCT Life단합대회 (in English referred to as NCT LIFE in Paju): Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark and Haechan (= NCT 127 before Johnny and Doyoung joined) spend two days and a night at a traditional Korean house. They get to plan how they want to spend the day and go grocery shopping together. The rest is really just eating and playing games.
NCT LIFE한식왕 도전기 (in English referred to as NCT LIFE K-Food Challenge): Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun and Winwin are taught how to cook certain meals by a professional chef. After cooking their own meals, the chef rates each of them and ranks them according to how good their meal was. Ranks 6 and 7 are eliminated and become the assistants of Ranks 1 and 2 in the next round. This goes on until the final is just two teams with a leader each competing against each other.
NCT LIFE 예능 수련회 (in English referred to as NCT LIFE Entertainment Retreat): Renjun, Jeno, Chenle and Jisung are split into teams and each team has a Super Junior member as a "team manager" (Chenle, Jisung and Super Junior's Shindong vs. Renjun, Jeno and Super Junior's Leeteuk). The point of this season is that Shindong and Leeteuk teach the guys stuff about entertainment and variety but it's pretty much also just playing games and eating.
NCT LIFE in Chiang Mai: Johnny, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten and Jaehyun travel to Chiang Mai and do some tourist-y stuff like riding on elephants and visiting a temple.
NCT Life in Osaka: Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung and Winwin go on a trip to Osaka, Yuta's hometown. Yuta planned the trip and plays the tour guide, so this season also has a lot of tourist activities.
Other (this isn't everything obviously)
VLIVE Channel with a LOT more stuff
EXO 90:2014 (see "Pre-debut")
On Air NCT Show (NCT U with Super Junior's Heechul) (Day 1, Day 2)
Nimdle (videos, behind-the-scenes (it's in the drive folder link))
Victory (Ep. 1 with Red Velvet, Ep. 2 with Red Velvet, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 7-8, Ep. 9 with all of NCT except Jaemin)
NCT School Dream Mate (NCT DREAM)
LieV (Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin)
Eating Show (NCT 127, NCT DREAM)
#Variety appearances
NCT 127: Weekly Idol (August 2016, February 2017)
My SMT with NCT DREAM and Doyoung as MC
Yuta: Japanese representative on Abnormal Summit in 2015 (Ep. 53-78), sadly only a few episodes with him are fully subbed but there are some subbed Yuta cuts on YouTube; Idol Party (with CLC's Sorn)
Mark, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Jisung: Mickey Mouse Club in 2015 (with the female SM Rookies members)
Ten: Contestant on Hit The Stage; Elementary School Teacher (with f(x)'s Amber, Super Junior-M's Henry, Twice's Momo and Kangnam)
Doyoung: Lipstick Prince (Season 1), co-host of My SMT with Super Junior's Leeteuk in 2016
Johnny: Replaced Doyoung on Lipstick Prince in Season 2 and as co-host of My SMT in 2016
Mark: Contestant on High School Rapper; Snowball Project
Jaehyun: Law of the Jungle in Fiji (hasn't aired yet)
#Subs
A few examples of good subbers are: NEO Subs for NCT, NChina-lineT, NCT lover2, and shbup. They're all very yood but especially shbup subs short videos (like the Boy Videos) in lightning speed. Their YouTube channel has been suspended before so they have uploaded some subbed videos elsewhere, here is a link for those and here is shbup's Tumblr with their subbed videos.
Many more subbed videos can be found on nctsub.tumblr.com.
#Social Media
NCT usually don't make most their own social media posts themselves
Twitter: NCT in general, NCT 127, NCT DREAM, NCT Japan, SMROOKIES
Instagram: NCT 127, NCT DREAM, SMROOKIES, NCT's Night Night (Johnny and Jaehyun's radio show)
#Other stuff that I wanted to mention but didn't know in which section
Legendary 0701 Dance Practice (in the beginning from left to right it's Johnny, Yuta, Ten, Taeyong, Jaehyun, Hansol) Bassbot (same six members as in 0701)
Open The Door (Taeyong)
Super Moon (Hansol, Johnny, Taeyong)
The closest we've come to a full NCT performance: Black on Black at MAMA 2016 (it's everyone except Jaemin (injured) and Johnny (hadn't debuted yet))
Sorry Sorry cover (NCT U + NCT 127 (minus Johnny, because he hadn't debuted yet))
That's it, I hope it's useful, if you have any questions you're welcome to ask, also please let me know if you discover any wrong links or mistakes or anything like that.
Posted Aug 29, 2017, 2:55 AM UTC · edited