is the beat boxing? — an nct dream review

Oh.. the beat is definitely boxing. There's always something in the air whenever NCT Dream decide to do a repackage of a full album. Armed with a tonic, bright funk-pop beatbox-oriented track with the same name, these 7 dudes are ready to rip the k-pop scene apart. This was definitely the spotlight moment that I was manifesting for them. Did you like it?

This moment.. feels familiar. Yes, that's right. We had a similar redemption moment from our first full album --> repackage moment with Hello Future. While Hot Sauce was.. well.. let's just say it was a bad attempt at a moderately mood-setting EDM track, Dream dropped Hello Future as a repackage title track and it blew everyone over, making it into everyone's top 5 songs of 2021.

Now, while Glitch Mode isn't half as awful as Hot Sauce was, the paradigm shift from subtly dimmed to brightened, from an enclosure to out in the open.. it was definitely apparent with Beatbox. Taking the traditional beatboxing style and genre, and circumferencing a whole sound castle around it under the guise of a title track... genius. The whole idea of the apparent embedding of the 'beatbox' concept throughout the lyrics of the song is also such a power move. Like.. "my voice is the music in itself"? NCT Dream's overall concept just generally being about enjoying their youth and making music together is such a refresher! The pop-synths throughout the song add a distinct kick to the well-infused beatbox and notice how the synths get louder and more melodic towards the post-bridge/outro section?? It reminds me of the cathartic hello future outro with the extended runoff lines and just.. how it sustained the synths to keep the momentum until the very end.. well done, dream.

The music video is everything I could ever ask of NCT Dream honestly. a bright and fun-loving filmography to accompany an equally sunny song! The warm tones throughout the MV without making it look like a saturated heat yellow adds to the overall vibe of it as well! The cutscenes of them in the broadcasting studio and in the school hallways are definitely my favourites, and in general, they really went all out with the music video.

An interesting thing to note is how the three new b-sides in this repackage are all vastly different, both to each other and to the other songs that were previously in the album before the repackage. We have To My First, which would be my takeaway song from this album, previous songs combines. At first listen, it sounded like a particular EXO b-side I couldn't get my head wrapped around. The melancholy presented in this song alone is more significant than a LOT of NCT songs holistically. The overall tonality stays minor, adding to a sad vibe, like the feeling of a reminiscent first love, which is exactly what I think is attempting to be portrayed through this song. Sorry, heart reignited my fire for softer, sadder acoustic ballads. I'm sorry, if you're a person who can't listen to acoustic ballads, you're high-key missing out on this one. For sure. The lyrics honestly hit so close to home and it really does add to the listening experience. Lastly, On My May, NCT dream's boygroup-esque take on a synthy/sparkly track reciprocating a starry night with the help of a couple of electric pianos and a soft percussive beat. Literal midnight drive song, no denials.

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MY OBJECTIVE TAKE:

Hook: 9.8/10

Replayability: 10/10

Production: 9.2/10

Structure: 9.5/10

B-Sides: 10/10

MY SUBJECTIVE TAKE [OVERALL]:

10/10

B-SIDE OF THE DAY:

listen here!