[CELEB] NCT Dream tops charts with new album 'Beatbox'

NCT is a boy band whose subunits have just as much of an impact as the group as a whole. One of these subunits, NCT Dream, dropped "Beatbox," the repackaged version of its second full-length album "Glitch Mode" (2022), on Monday and..

NCT Dream dropped "Beatbox," the repackaged version of its second full-length album "Glitch Mode" on Monday. [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

NCT is a boy band whose subunits have just as much of an impact as the group as a whole.

One of these subunits, NCT Dream, dropped “Beatbox,” the repackaged version of its second full-length album “Glitch Mode” (2022), on Monday. Unsurprisingly, it is topping charts and breaking records.

“Beatbox” landed at No.1 on the Daily Albums charts on local music streaming sites like Hanteo Chart and Yes24. The title track “Beatbox” is also No. 1 on music charts on streaming sites Bugs and Vibe.

The album received the Double Platinum Album status on major Chinese music platform QQ Music, which is given to albums that earn more than 2 million yuan ($300,000) in sales.

It also chalked up over 1.4 million orders ahead of its release.

A scene from the music video for ″Beatbox″ shows the members wearing jersey tops and baggy pants, reminiscent of the early 2000s hip-hop scene. [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

“Beatbox” has 15 songs — 11 from “Glitch Mode” and four new ones: “Beatbox,” “To My First,” “Sorry, Heart” and “On the way.”

On Tuesday, the band was featured on MBC’s radio show “Kim Shin-young’s Noon Song of Hope” (2013-), hosted by the comedian. All seven members — Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung (which are officially stylized with capital letters) — promoted the album and talked about some of the songs.

When Kim gushed over how she was instantly hooked to the album after one listen and “loved how it showed NCT Dream’s colors,” Mark agreed, saying that all the members were satisfied with the songs in the repackaged version as well.

“To My First” is a ballad, which according to Mark, is a new attempt for the band’s musical spectrum.

“It’s our first time singing a ballad about a breakup,” Chenle said. “The lyrics seemed sadder when we recorded the song. We tried to sing it as sentimentally as possible.”

On Tuesday, the band was featured on MBC’s radio show “Kim Shin-young’s Noon Song of Hope,″ hosted by the comedian. [MBC RADIO YOUTUBE]

As for the title track, Haechan hoped that it would help “cool off” the upcoming summer heat, with its old-school hip-hop sound and beatbox-inspired dance beat.

The music video for "Beatbox," which bursts with color and sees the members wearing baggy pants and jersey tops, is reminiscent of the early 2000s hip-hop scene, and also sees the members dance next to boomboxes.

NCT Dream, one of four subunits of NCT, debuted in 2016 with the single “Chewing Gum,” which was released in both Korean and Chinese. The other subunits are NCT U, NCT 127 and WayV.

NCT Dream [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

The band is considered to have made its commercial breakthrough with its first full-length album “Hot Sauce” (2021), which surpassed 1.7 million pre-orders and sold a further 2.04 million copies in just 16 days after its release. It went on to win Best Album at the Seoul Music Awards earlier this year.

The title track “Hot Sauce” topped local music charts like Genie, Bugs and Flo.

Some of the band’s other popular songs are “My First and Last” (2017), “Dunk Shot” (2017), “We Young” (2017), “We Go Up” (2018), “Hello Future” (2021) and “Glitch Mode” (2022).

MARK [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

MARK (Mark Lee)

Date of birth: Aug. 2, 1999 Zodiac sign: Leo Birthplace: Toronto, Canada Debut:April 2016 as a member of boy band NCT Agency: SM Entertainment

MARK started his singing career as a member of boy band NCT in April 2016 when he featured on the debut digital single “The 7th Sense” as part of subunit NCT U. NCT consists of 23 members. MARK is also part of NCT’s other subunits NCT 127 and NCT DREAM and supergroup SuperM. Before his debut, SM Entertainment revealed MARK back in 2013 as one of its SM Rookies, which was the agency’s pre-debut training team to promote its upcoming artists. MARK mainly raps on NCT’s songs and also competed in Mnet’s rap competition show for high schoolers “High School Rapper” (2017-21) in 2017. MARK ranked seventh in the final round. In February this year, MARK released his first solo single “Child.” This information was confirmed by SM Entertainment on May 31, 2022.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]