NCT 127's "Chain" is super loud, annoying, and precisely represents why NCT keeps on disappointing me

When I first got into kpop, NCT (and especially NCT 127) was my favorite kpop group. I was obsessed
with these boys and their music was so good. I swear, I was playing Fire Truck for days on end.

However, I got into NCT back in early 2017, which was right after their debut. Meaning that SM
Entertainment (aka Beelzebub) didn’t have enough time to fuck NCT up yet.
SM Entertainment is tragically bad at managing their artists well, yet their artists are still successful
because SM was one of the first kpop companies that managed idol groups.
Their OG status is the only thing keeping them afloat (other than their $$$ allowing them to recruit the
best producers from around the world, but that can also be attributed to their OG status); they’d most
likely be unable to get away with half of the shit they do now if they didn’t create such classic groups.
But alas, that’s a rant for another day. Today, I’m gonna be talking about NCT specifically.

NCT is not one group. Rather, it’s kind of like a hub for different groups that bear the NCT name.

There’s NCT U (a group that doesn’t have a fixed lineup and can include any members from any NCT
group when called for), NCT Dream (honestly, the best unit. It’s aimed at teens, so the members’ ages
range from 16-18, but this is my favorite configuration of members. The vocalists and dancers are
fantastic and the concepts are so refreshing. But they’re gonna lose that lineup soon because NCT
Dream needs to have younger members. RIP), and finally there’s NCT 127. NCT 127 is the
Seoul-based unit, so, as you guessed it, it’s the unit SM seems to pimp out the most, as well as the
most popular. They’re the least experimental NCT group, but their discography is super solid
regardless. Or at least, it used to be. We’ll get to that when I actually talk about the song in the title of
this post.

First, I’m gonna highlight why I’m starting to get annoyed with NCT (specifically how SM manages NCT).

Unfortunately, that mismanagement causes me to get annoyed when I see certain members even
though it’s not their fault and they’re just doing what they’re told). SM only seems to focus on Mark

the classic ramen noodle hair. I miss it

and Taeyong.

it's kinda understandable why SM focuses on him so much, he's a pussy DESTROYER, fam

SM is intent on making NCT (127 and U specifically) a hiphop group, so it’s understandable that

they’d focus on rappers a lot. But the thing is, why are there so many vocalists in NCT 127 if it’s a
hip hop group? Why not pull a Stray Kids (aka the proper way to manage a rap group, take notes SM)
and make more than half of the group rappers? However, SM is still using their old formula for their
previous groups (1-2 rappers and like 4-7 vocalists per group) and it’s not working out at all.
Since SM is so reluctant to sign rappers, this leads to Mark and Taeyong getting pretty much all the
lines in NCT 127 songs and it’s ANNOYING. I honestly can’t stand Taeyong’s voice anymore and
he used to be one of my favorite members. The rest of the members tend to be back up dancers for
Taeyong and Mark and it’s so disheartening. These are insanely talented guys, yet they’re being
wasted because SM is terrible. If they do get to sing, it’s like 1-2 lines (and that’s at most; there are
some members who get no lines at all).

So when the announcement of Chain, NCT 127’s debut Japanese MV, rolled around, I was not too

excited. Japanese kpop releases tend to be ass, and, what do you know, my prediction was right.
Chain is pretty bad.

The song starts off with Taeyong screaming in your fucking face. No intro, no build up, you just get
some crudely autotuned Taeyong. H-hurray.

To add to this song’s loudness, the beat is horrendous. It’s made by the sounds of chains clinking

together (get it, because the song’s called Chain? ROFLMAO). Points for originality I guess? Or at
least, there would be some points for originality, but the beat is so loud and annoying that I’d prefer
some shitty EDM, a la Got7’s recent releases, over this shit. I like being able to hear, thanks.

Because the beat’s so shitty and loud, I can’t appreciate the few decent things about this song.

The vocalists outperform, as always, and Winwin actually got some lines!
He’s only been used for adlibbing in their Korean singles, so it’s nice to finally hear this boy’s voice.

Johnny got a couple of more lines than usual, so good for him. He was also the center in the
choreography for some parts, and that was very much appreciated.

Mark’s first verse was pretty hype. It was kinda cringy due to the forced inclusion of some English,
but the energy and hype is there. After the first verse, though, his other verses felt unnecessary. Well,
at least we got to see his arm muscles.

Mark having multiple verses also felt unnecessary because Yuta, the group’s Japanese member, had
NO LINES. IN THEIR DEBUT JAPANESE SONG. If this isn’t the dumbest shit ever, I don’t know what
is. At least he looks like Kihyun in the teaser for The Connect when he’s in glasses. For a second, it
made me think I was watching a video from a group that was managed decently and had good
Japanese singles.

Taeyong’s rap at the 1:50 mark is so bad. It sounds like this man is running from the beat.
Rapping fast =/= rapping well.

And that’s really all I can say about this. I hope that SM gets their act together, but I highly doubt it.
We all know that NCT will be successful even if SM just released mixtapes of them farting for the rest
of their careers because they have the SM pedigree. Ah well, if worst comes to worse, at least Super
Junior is finally making good music. It took them almost 10 years, but they’re finally away from that
irritating sound SM forced on them (probably because they founded their own label. oops). TVXQ has
been dropping some great stuff recently, and Exo’s discography is still perfect (except for Boomerang,
but that song doesn’t exist anyways. The Power repackage was just a hallucination). Those 3 groups
doing well gives me hope. Maybe SM will give NCT good music. They hopefully just need to figure out
how to manage NCT. But until then, I’m hesitant and also very disappointed. Touch was decent, but
not fitting for 127 at all, and Black on Black was complete ass with a somehow even worse MV. So
until SM gets their act together, I’m gonna continue being a pessimist when it comes to NCT.

Hopefully they can prove me wrong.