Music Rewind 2022: NCT Got Our Backs Once Again This Year

Whew, we made it, fam. NCT did a great job and we survived another chaotic year as NCTzen, despite many tears on the floor and many screams into our pillows. You know we’re the tough ones. There is always a lot going on in NCity, whether you stan all units and members or you’re just a unit stan. Too much stuff happens in a year, and towards the end of it, you question yourself again, “What have I been through this year?” But even though a lot of NCTzens are running around in NCity, not knowing what to do with their lives, at least they are proud of their boys while doing it.

That’s correct. It can be challenging to keep up with NCT at times, but we’re always confident that whatever they do, they will do it in the best way possible and make us proud. And 2022 was no different. This year, NCT boys made us happier than ever before, transforming us into mothers who point to their children and start shouting, “Look, they’re my children!” NCT was everywhere this year, from comebacks to tours, solo songs to collaborations, TV shows/movies to magazine covers. We’d love to relive every moment they left us speechless, but that would take far too long, so let’s focus on NCT’s music and what they’ve been up to this year. Get ready because we are taking off! 

Comebacks

NCT 127 — 2 Baddies

“Two baddies… two baddies… one Porsche,” a wise man named Jeong Jaehyun once said, and we couldn’t agree more. NCT 127 returned to us with their fourth full-length album, 2 Baddies, after their huge success with Sticker and Favorite, and they couldn’t get more NEO than this. NCT 127 knows what they’re doing and does it well. Only a powerful group like this could claim the sound they’re most criticized for and turn it into an entire album. “Oh, so our “machine sounds” annoy you?” they said. “So, here’s an album full of mechanic sounds, and the best part is, it actually sounds good.” This Fast And Furious-inspired concept is one of our fave concepts by NCT 127 so far, and we can’t wait for the repackage of the album that will be released in January 2023. We are pretty sure that our 31st Seoul Music Awards Daesang winner group will have an amazing year in 2023, too.

NCT Dream — Glitch Mode, Beatbox, and Candy

Since March, our tireless 7Dream has been giving us new music, and we are not complaining. This year, we saw NCT Dream develop a more mature sound while maintaining the youthful vibes in their music. They released their second full-length studio album, Glitch Mode, in March, which won Album Of The Year at the Genie Music Awards and was nominated for the same award at other important music awards; then they released the repackage, Beatbox. Finally, on December 16, they gave us a mini album, Candy, as a holiday gift to NCTzens. We said we were being blessed.

WayV — Phantom

It’s time to scream from the top of THP HQ because WAYV. IS. BACK!!! We’ve been waiting for a WayV comeback since Kick Back, which was released as a mini album in early 2021, and now we have it. Phantom, their fourth mini-album, will be released on December 28. So far, we’ve gotten some teaser images that have us even more excited to hear our boys’ new music. So we’re not sure how we’ll make it until December 28, but you know what? Our boys are well worth it. Even if we had to wait longer, we would, because we know they will give us their all in the best way.

P.S.: Our fingers are crossed for Shotaro/Sungchan unit in 2023.

Tours

Neo City – The Link

The Link, NCT 127’s second world tour, continued with new dates in 2022 and, as far as we know, will continue in early 2023. This year, 127 boys visited Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, the United States, Indonesia, and Thailand, in addition to their legendary two-day show at Seoul Olympic Stadium, and linked with fans from all over the world. Despite their hectic schedules, they put on incredible shows with incredible setlists, and they left us with wonderful memories. The new leg of the tour will begin on January 9, with new US dates beginning in Chicago (Johnny’s hometown), and continuing to Houston and Atlanta before heading to Latin America.

The Dream Show 2

2022 was also the year we got to see 7Dream on tour, and the best part that made us the most proud was that they kicked off the tour by performing at Seoul Olympic Stadium, South Korea’s largest stadium. Our Dreamies became the seventh group in history to perform in a venue where only six idol groups had previously performed. The two-night concert at Seoul Olympic Stadium was the first time 7Dream performed a concert since their debut, and NCT Dream even made a concert film, NCT Dream The Movie: In A Dream, to celebrate the event. After performing at the stadium, the Dreamies also had five concerts in Japan, and in 2023, they will hit the road again to continue their tour. 

SM Town Live 2022

And of course, we can’t have a year without SM Town Live concerts, in which all SM artists participate and put on a great show for the fans. The first being an online concert to celebrate the new year with the fans on January 1, SM Town Live 2022: SMCU Express at Kwangya, SM treated us also with a mini SM Town tour with SM Town Live 2022: SMCU Express. The first show of SMCU Express was held in Suwon on August 20, which was the first face-to-face SM Town concert after three years due to COVID-19. After the Suwon concert, the SM family flew to Japan to have a three-night Tokyo Dome show between August 27 and 29. And as NCTzens, we had too much fun experiencing this year’s SM Town Live because we didn’t only get to see NCT 127, NCT Dream, and WAYV perform, but also we were so happy to see Shotaro and Sungchan on stage putting up a great show with SM Rookies. We will be biased on this, but we really hope SM Rookies are new NEOs. We can’t lie.

NCT Lab, Soundtracks, And Collaborations

NCT Lab

We have been blessed not only by comebacks this year but also with NCT Lab. To sum it up, NCT Lab is a project that gives a creative space to NCT members to present their own self-made work. NCT Lab‘s first work, ‘Child,’ came from no one other than our talented Mark Lee at the beginning of 2022, and with a great start, the project excited us. The second was ‘coNEXTion (Age of Light),’ sung by Doyoung, Haechan, and Mark and performed with outstanding choreography performed by Shotaro. Then, we got ‘Rain Day,’ written, composed, and arranged by Kun, and Taeil and Yangyang joined him to complete this beautiful, well-made song. As the fourth release, we got a Jaehyun solo, ‘Forever Only.’ And lastly, ‘Birthday‘ by Ten. This project was an excellent opportunity for us to realize again how talented our boys are, and we really hope that we can get more in 2023.

Soundtracks

We love a good soundtrack sound while watching a K-Drama, but we especially love it when we hear the sweet voices of our boys as we enjoy what we are watching. ‘Starlight,’ sung by our Moon Taeil, was the first OST song of Twenty Five, Twenty One, and this song totally reflects the emotions the drama makes us feel. We also got Haechan’s very first OST to release this year with ‘Good Person,’ made for PLY FRIENDS: Seo Yeon University Class of 22, and even though it was an OST, the song entered iTunes charts all over the world. And our OST king Doyoung contributed to the OST of a K-Drama called Soundtrack #1 with ‘A Little More,’ as well as Dear X Who Doesn’t Love Me OST, which is a K-Drama that he played the lead role in, with ‘Unable To Love.’ Surely we need to mention Mark and Taeyong’s ‘Lit’ made for the survival dance program Street Man Fighter. Well done, boys! 

Collaborations 

A year isn’t a year without at least one collab that NCT members contribute to, but this year’s collaboration was on another level, we need to be honest. Suran’s ‘Diamonds’ featuring Taeyong, Key’s ‘Villian’ featuring Jeno, Kangta’s ‘Skip’ featuring Taeyong, Xiumin’s ‘How We Do’ featuring Mark, and Doyoung and Mina Kim’s ‘Falling.’ Taeyong also released a collab with Wonstein, ‘Love Theory,’ under SM Lab. See? We got an amazing year. 

Just like we’ve said, NCT turned us into proud parents this year with their works not only in music, but also in other fields such as magazine features, dramas, movies, shows, and fashion events they have participated in this year. Ever since they debuted, they have been putting great work into leveling themselves up, whether as a whole group, sub-units, or individuals, and we are so happy to witness their journey as they are making their mark on the industry. Again in 2023, we will keep giving them our full support. We are so excited to see what 2023 NCT will bring to us!

We want to hear from you! What is your favorite NCT 2022 memory? 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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