What a time to be alive, everyone! We were fed by NCT Dream again for the third time this year, and we can confidently say that 2022 has been a great year for us, thanks to the world’s sweetest boys. This year has been very successful for our 7Dream, starting from their comeback in March, Glitch Mode, which made them triple-million sellers for the second time. Right when we were thinking, “okay, we can’t be more proud of these boys,” they decided to pull a surprise for their fans and thank them for helping the boys achieve their dreams, by releasing a winter album, Candy. And honestly, we had to pay it back somehow, so we made ‘Candy’ the third boy group song to enter MelOn TOP100’s Top 2 in 2022, after BIGBANG’s ‘Still Life’ and BTS’s ‘Yet To Come.’ NCT Dream loves us so much in this house, but we might love them a little bit more.
Now, every track in this album needs its own spotlight, so we broke down the songs. But please be aware because there are a lot of emotions going on here. If you want to join us, start re-listening to Candy here with us, and just scroll down!
‘Candy’
‘Candy’ was originally a 1996 release by H.O.T., and when it was released, it went huge. NCT Dream decided to take the song altering it a little bit by adding the youthful and colorful “NCT Dream vibe” to it, and then they gave it to us. It was a brilliant idea because ‘Candy’ is absolutely a timeless song and remembering this iconic song again with NCT Dream elements was one of the best things that ever happened.
The music video, the choreography, the style, the vocals… Dreamies didn’t disappoint us once again. Covering such iconic songs is always about taking great risks, but they took the risk, and we are glad we did. The ‘Candy’ MV is like the festive sister of ‘Glitch Mode,’ and we loved seeing parallels between them because one started the year for NCT Dream while the other ended it. So, it was very clever and cute.
Our boys look adorable on the MV but let’s be honest, when don’t they, right? When the holiday spirit met the cuteness of our Dreamies, our hearts couldn’t get warmer than this. And those vocals and dance moves? We, indeed, stan ace kings.
‘Graduation’
Okay, did they really have to put this track right after ‘Candy’ because we were vibing, and we had no idea that we would end up in tears (well, we did actually the moment we saw the title) literally three seconds later? Because it hurt. OUCH. We all know that the word “graduation” holds a sad meaning for NCT Dream and NCTzens, but if you are new here and you are curious why millions of people out there are crying to a song called ‘Graduation,’ let us give you some answers.
NCT Dream, as a sub-unit of NCT, was originally designated with a graduation system. According to this system, every member who becomes an adult was going to graduate from NCT Dream and become a member of other sub-units of NCT. So, the idea was to make NCT Dream a “youthful” group like they are today, but for real. As the members graduate, the new young members would come in, and this circle would continue. Mark was the first one to graduate in 2018, and it was devastating for both the members and the fans. Like seeing NCT Dream without Mark wasn’t sad enough, we knew that the time 00 line of the Dream was close, and eventually, Chenle and Jisung, too. While Mark was graduating, the Dreamies gave us ‘Dear DREAM,’ a song about how they were heartbroken about Mark’s graduation. But luckily, our leader came back to us in 2020, NCT Dream became a fixed unit with seven people, ‘Dear DREAM’ became a song that they sing in current concerts as 7Dream to reminisce the old days, and the term “graduation” became a song in their sixth mini album.
So, as we all expected, ‘Graduation’ is about this system that hurt everyone. It is about fear of graduating and leaving your friends behind but letting them know how much they mean to you. We can say that ‘Dear DREAM’ walked so ‘Graduation’ could run. But even though the song made us cry on the floor for about five hours, we are glad that they can sing such a song, together, in 2022, the exact year the group’s maknae Jisung would graduate from the group if the system was still there. The song has a special meaning for NCT Dream and us, especially knowing they put a song like this in an album that they gifted to us, is so special. (And Mark Lee, why are you singing like this to our faces, have mercy.)
‘Tangerine Love (Favorite)’
After crying on our cold floors for like seven hours, 49 minutes, and 14 seconds, we are back to cute love songs. We believe this is Dream trying to make us forgive them for the emotional damage, and it is working. This song is insane because our boys slayed with their vocal skills. The song gives us 2000 funky pop vibes, and Dream absolutely served it. We are delighted that we didn’t stop listening to the Candy after ‘Graduation’ because there was ‘Tangerine Love’ at the end of the tunnel, and we vibed hard to it.
‘입김 (Take My Breath)’
And just when we thought ‘Tangerine Love’ was adorable, boom, an even cuter song comes a long in the form of ‘Take My Breath.’ We need to have a discussion with NCT Dream about this one though, because they were actually the ones who took our breath with this song. ‘Take My Breath’ became one of the fan favorites from the moment we listened to it. With its sweet lyrics, this exquisite song explores the similarities between confessing to someone that you love them and the frosty breaths you take in winter. Also, we adored the chill rapping parts in the song, to which Mark contributed to writing the lyrics.
‘문 (Moon)’
Uh oh, here comes the tears again, and can our rappers stop shoving their beautiful singing voices in our faces? THANK YOU? We are used to our vocal line, Haechan Renjun and Chenle, singing like they just ate CDs, but our rap line was putting on a show in this song. The song itself is a gorgeous ballad song that was definitely made to warm our hearts during cold winter days.
‘발자국 (Walk With You)’
Okay, it’s safe. We are back to vibing again. For this track, we got lots of spoilers from Dreamies before with a funny Instagram post/story series in which they posted themselves like they were waiting to meet someone. About this album, Mark shared how they tried to recreate some elements from their past works, and ‘Walk With You’ is basically a sequence of ‘Walk You Home’ from their first mini album, We Young, in which they promise their lovers that they will meet at 2 o’clock again tomorrow. And in ‘Walk With You,’ they are on their way to meet their lovers with the same excitement they reflected in ‘Walk You Home.’ They even mention the promise to meet at 2 o’clock again. We know. It is the sweetest thing ever.
See? We weren’t lying at all when we said it was the best holiday gift we’ve ever received. Candy is a well-made album that our NCT Dream was able to showcase their amazing talents once again. The holiday season is the time that you remember all the things you are grateful for, and we can safely say that we are grateful for Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung, individually and as 7Dream and the hard work they have been putting for us for years now.
It is your turn! What is your favorite song from NCT Dream’s Candy, and why? Let us know in the comments below or tweet @TheHoneyPOP, or talk to us on Facebook or Instagram! If you want to read more NCT content, we gotchu!
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