tigerandbambi

2021 Is the Year of NCT Dream by Crystal Bell "Our dream is world peace," Mark Lee says with a smirk. While I'm fairly confident the 21-year-old rapper is being facetious, with NCT Dream you never really know. That's part of the K-pop septet's charm: the line between sincerity and absurdity is consistently blurry. Still, it's the kind of statement that's made to elicit one of two reactions: an exaggerated eye roll or outright laughter. The other members of NCT Dream, affectionately called "the Dreamies" by their fans, settle on the latter, erupting into cacophonous chaos as Mark continues his train of thought. "That is our ultimate goal," he tells PAPER from a beige conference room in Seoul. It's been a long afternoon of press for the group, and Mark's trying to maintain his leaderly composure, but it's a losing game. "Through our music," he smiles like a kid with a secret, "we will be the heroes of the universe!" Beside him, vocalists Haechan and Renjun deliver a hearty, harmonious "to the world!" in agreement — a playful nod to the NCT collective's global vision and Dream's wavering attention spans. This is generally the vibe when Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung are together. As Haechan describes it, in English, "We're so loud, so noisy and so happy." These days, they have a lot to be happy about. Their first studio album Hot Sauce has sold over two million units since it dropped in May, becoming the highest-selling K-pop album of the year so far and making history as their titanic label SM Entertainment's best-selling release ever. To seize the momentum, NCT Dream returned last week with a repackaged edition of their chart-topping hit titled Hello Future featuring three new tracks. It sold more than half a million copies in a single day, shattering previous records. It would be disingenuous to suggest that the Dreamies don't care about the numbers. They do, to an extent. Becoming double million-sellers by the age of 21 (oldest member Mark turns 22 in August, while youngest member Jisung is only 19) is certainly cause for celebration. "We'll show you our reaction [to the sales]," Mark prompts, silently communicating with the members around him. "Ready?" Within seconds everyone is screaming and cheering, their expressions hidden underneath masks and low-brimmed bucket hats. But even the most covert sartorial choices can't conceal their excitement. "One million!" Haechan, a honey-voiced showman, booms. Asked if they feel the weight of their success, they balk at the suggestion. "I wouldn't use the word pressure because that means we're scared," Mark says. "We're more like…" he drawls, searching for the right word to explain this surreal moment in time. "Thrilled? Yeah, thrilled." "Before we even heard about the sales we were just excited to come back as seven members with our first full-length album," he continues. "After hearing about all of the recognition and support we were receiving, that feeling doubled. We're more excited and determined to show our fans that they haven't waited in vain." And their fans, unofficially known as Dreamzens (a play on NCT's fandom name NCTzens), have been waiting. Their last release as a seven-member unit was the 2018 mini album We Go Up. The reason for the wait is… complicated. First, you need to understand the nebulous concept of NCT, or Neo Culture Technology. There are currently 23 members and four official units (NCT 127, NCT Dream, NCT U, and WayV) under NCT's fold, with the lingering promise to add more fresh faces from around the world. NCT Dream was originally conceived as a rotational unit for NCT's teenage performers. The idea was that the members would graduate once they turned 20, the legal age of adulthood in South Korea (19 internationally), opening the door for even younger idols to fill the ranks. NCT Dream would stay forever young and mercurial, the very essence of adolescence. But Mark's graduation in 2018 made it clear that nobody was prepared to say goodbye, not the fans or the Dreamies. They'd been together since their trainee days when they were just a crew of floppy-haired tweens chasing their shared dream of stardom. Jisung was in primary school when he began his training at SM, and he, along with Mark, Jeno, Haechan, and Jaemin, were part of the company's pre-debut team SM ROOKIES, as well as Korea's version of The Mickey Mouse Club. Renjun and Chenle were then recruited from China, and their bond as seven was forged over late nights spent in and out of practice rooms, vocal lessons, performance evaluations, entertainment showcases, and midnight snacks. They came of age together under extraordinary circumstances, and that endeared them to a loyal following. "We're very comfortable with each other," Mark says. "What we have is very genuine. There's a level of vulnerableness that we share when we're together. We're very aware of who we are individually, and that helps us keep things real. We don't have any layers between us." The K-pop training system is notoriously rigorous, and only a handful of promising young hopefuls ever make it to the stage. The fact that they got to make their debut together is some kind of miracle. "I feel very lucky to be a part of NCT Dream with these members," Jisung says. The teen dancer's soft demeanor is a confusing contrast to his razor-sharp performance skills and deep voice. "We've been together for so long. I was in elementary school when I met [them] for the first time. We're all very different, but because we've spent so much time together we feel like family. These are my brothers." According to Mark, that's the key to their success. And it's this winning dynamic that forced SM to scrap the initial plan for NCT Dream and make the original lineup, dubbed "7Dream" by fans, a fixed unit. "We all wanted it as much as our fans did," Mark says. Now, he adds, they want to "focus on how we can seize this opportunity to the fullest." It starts with their teamwork. They're each other's biggest supporters and toughest critics. They know exactly which buttons to push — and, most importantly, when to stop. "We can't avoid each other," Mark says. From rehearsals to music show tapings to variety appearances to their shared living spaces, they're around one another 24/7. "We learn to respect each other's boundaries and respect each other's spaces, physically and mentally." For Renjun, it's all about trust. "Once you trust the other individual, you believe in them and they're able to open up to you," he says. Take his friendship with Haechan: the dynamic vocal duo never miss a chance to antagonize each other — Renjun's sarcasm is a natural foil to Haechan's witty charisma — but that's a testament to their closeness. "We may be different," Chenle adds. "But respecting that difference and being able to work together is very important." It helps that so much of their work is intrinsically tied to their IRL camaraderie through YouTube vlogs, TikToks, and digital shows that reinforce the notion that idols are just like us — they get competitive over beer pong, they grill their own meat, and they singalong to their favorite artists. They're your average Gen Z content creators. "We're always focusing on how we can highlight our chemistry through every creative outlet," Mark says. Even their discography tells the story of NCT Dream. They debuted in 2016 with "Chewing Gum," a sugary sweet pop confection with a sticky, repetitive hook and bright, quirky aesthetics. They performed on hoverboards in striped crew socks and Vans. But with an average age of 15, what truly separated NCT Dream from their K-pop contemporaries was their youthful panache. Follow-up singles "My First and Last" (a breakthrough hit) and "We Young" evoke the same cheerful spirit. "So what / We hot / We young," they sing on the 2017 trop-pop track. As the members matured, so did their music. 2018's "Go" was a rebellious anthem full of trap rhythms and bratty attitude, while "We Go Up" merged their pop dynamism with hip-hop for a fresh new sound. "NCT Dream in itself is a representation of growth," rapper Jeno explains. "If you listen to our songs, not only do we have lyrics that express our own stories, but they show our transition into adulthood — going from our teens to our 20s, and now from our 20s to our 30s. We're coming of age along with our music." Their Mark-less releases "Boom" and "Ridin'" not only solidified them as heartthrobs but also as artists with real selling power. Trading hoverboards for fast cars and motorcycles, they embraced a sleeker image without abandoning their signature verve. "We're growing with every album," Haechan says. "Not only have we matured, but the quality [of our music] gets better, too." NCT Dream's expanding musicality culminated in Hot Sauce and its tangy title track, which rapper Jaemin admits was a "new try" for the group. Anchored by a hypnotic afrobeat sample, "Hot Sauce" is a flavorful mix of genres and ideas. "It's very different for us," Jaemin says, citing the track's chant-like hook and "easy" point choreography (like whipping meringue). "A lot of people can follow along. It's very catchy." "With this one, especially, it's very special to us," Haechan adds. "We're back together as seven." This sentimentality is best captured on album closer "Rainbow," a soaring pop ballad that finds NCT Dream reflecting on the halcyon days of their youth. "Through the memories we made together," they sing, "we walk the same road, laugh the same way / Dream the same dream." Now, with "Hello Future," they're charting the next stage of their careers. Vibrant and carefree, the song is a welcome return to Dream's prismatic pop roots while embracing the futurism of their newer work. "Big dreams and big thrills," Mark raps. "Flying high, imagine the absurd." Five years in, and NCT Dream have reached a crucial moment of clarity: the awareness that growing up doesn't mean losing yourself. "We try to keep it dreamy," Mark laughs. Yet, at that moment, I think he's being completely serious. Photos courtesy of SM Entertainment source: Paper Magazine

Top 6 Best selling albums worldwide for the first half of 2021 (in shipments + weighted China DLs) @NCTsmtown_DREAM Hot Sauce + Hello Future 3 million CaiXukun 迷 1.5 million Seventeen Your Choice 1.4 million EXO DFTF 1.4 million BTS The Best 1.1 million Baekhyun Bambi 1.1 million

Pro dancers said Naughty was insane, so MaW choreo is probably a fun snack for her

Chenji look amazing! Hello Future seems to go for a fresh and cute summer concept

Hot Sauce is here to stay It's performing very well digitally for a bg album, it's been 39 days and it's still on the charts

Boom is the other Dream MV with 100+ million views, it's a hit but took awhile and now Hot Sauce reached that in only a fraction of the time

SHINee and DREAM all up in the digital charts and still charting, even their B-sides! By the way, DREAM is going to release a repack of 'Hot Sauce' (youngest double million selling group in kpop history!) and idk if anyone's seen it yet but the pre-orders for the repack are also shaping up to be insane. If their sales continue to break records, you heard it here first

NCT Dreams "Hot Sauce" ranks #1 best-selling album on United World Chart for 2 straight weeks with 1,668,000 total copies sold The Hot Sauce reign won't let up

“Baby Shark” creator Pinkfong has joined forces with NCT DREAM for adorable new animated versions of “Hot Sauce“! The children’s entertainment company, which recently collaborated with NCT DREAM for a cute new song called “Dinosaurs A to Z,” has now released two animated sing-along music videos for their latest hit “Hot Sauce.” The two new videos, which star Pinkfong character Red Rex and an animated version of NCT DREAM, tell the story of the NCT DREAM members winning over Red Rex and his intimidating dinosaur friends with their addictive “Hot Sauce.” Notably, while one of the videos features the original Korean version of the song, the other features an English-language version that has not yet been released anywhere else. Meanwhile, NCT DREAM recently managed to sell over 2 million copies of their new full-length album “Hot Sauce” in just 16 days. NCT Dream's "Dino ABC"

#HotSauce5thWin on KBS Music Bank is the highest score there in 2021! NCT Dream adds this record to their perfect score on Music Core with 10000 points and the 2nd highest score on MCountdown after SHINee this year

Dream's first album Hot Sauce is sweeping up the charts in Japan

could be several reasons, examples: Dream's sales have continuously grown since their debut, Hot Sauce is their first (!) full album, their releases are the most gp friendly out of all NCT units (Boom really put them on the map), Mark got back with them and it was announced that they'll be a permanent group which fans wanted for a long time, their first tour and all of their concerts were hits, same with their reality shows on youtube and Vlives, they've already won several year end awards and they're closely monitored by Billboard and Time Magazine as the potential next biggest group in pop. There's a lot of potential which they haven't even explored yet (they've done minimal promotions in asia and haven't seriously even started in markets like China, Japan or the US), they're very young and their fans are growing up with them and also growing in numbers, especially in Korea, they're already Korea's youngest million-selling group in history. And they haven't even been to any big korean TV show yet (not even SM produced or affiliated shows like Knowin Bros, etc.). Nice synergy effect of working under the NCT umbrella: sometimes different NCT units are put together on shows and there's almost always a yearly "NCT album" including all of them (the last one Resonance sold 2,8+ million physical albums) so let's say you're a big fan of NCT 127 or Wavy you'll automatically get to know about Dream as well.

Update: NCT Dream achieved 5 crowns on GAON weekly chart with Hot Sauce!

Hot Sauce scored 10,800 points on M Countdown which is 2nd highest this year (1st place holder is Don't Call Me by SHINee with a score of 10,990 points)

in just 24hrs: Album: 4,3M streams Titletrack Hot Sauce: 747K streams btw the Hot Sauce MV is clocking in 50M views soon and it hasn't been 2 days yet since it's release

Kpop Charts auf Twitter: ".@NCTsmtown_DREAM joins @BTS_twt as the only boygroups to reach #1 on Flo since the chart reform." / Twitter Kpop Charts auf Twitter: "“Hot Sauce” by @NCTsmtown_DREAM is the first and only boygroup song to reach #1 on Flo in 2021." / Twitter #HotSauce is crashing into MELON's top 50 at the speed of light and the MV has gained 12M views in just 12 hrs

Javier Fernández, congratulations He is an excellent skater, a great man and a true friend. He brought joy and heart to the ice skating world, Spain can be proud of him. He'll be dearly missed. May he live happy and reach all his dreams!

Tbh I can watch Yuzuru skate 24/7 and still be mesmerized. He's not only the most complete and well-rounded skater I've ever seen but also an admireable human being, sincere, focused, extremely hardworking, passionate, amazing speaker and very ambitious. All of his programs are incredible and chosing faves is almost impossible, but these I probably like best: Seimei Hope and Legacy Notte Stellata Parisienne Walkways He's gone through so much in life and put his body through a lot. I believe him when he says he'll do the 4A (or probably die trying). However, I didn't believe him for a second when he said he doesn't have to prove anything anymore to himself after his 2nd Olympic gold, because here we are, 7 months later and him saying 'It's meaningless if I don't win'. lol this guy's fire will never be quenched. From his new programs, so far I like Otonal a bit more than Origin but that could be because Origin still seems like a work-in-progress, a bit unpolished and still in the early stages of growing into its skin.

Ice skating is one of the most graceful, emotional and impressive sports. Brian Orser is my favorite coach, he's trained some of the best skaters of the last 10 years. His current student roster is amazing! Cha Jun-hwan, I'm watching you, you can make it bb Some of my favorite skaters and their performances: Yuna Kim, the queen (FS Olympics 2014) Carolina Kostner, age truly doesnt matter (SP Worlds 2018) Shen and Zhao, partners on the ice and for life <3 ( )Javier Fernandez, proving that dreams do come true ( )Davis and White, in-real-life Disney prince and princess (OD Olympics 2010 and ) ... and Yuzuru Hanyu, the reigning king of ice, biggest skater in history ( ) I'm a bit of a skating nerd, so if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask Thank you for coming to my TED talk

I don't condone violence in any shape or form and hope this was a singular case a lot of years ago and that Min has learned to handle situations like these differently. I also don't condone stalking and don't believe for a second that stalkers should get a free pass, no matter their gender or age, it is a criminal offense and should be persecuted and punished. These stalker taxis have caused accidents and people have almost died, so it's not even the artist they put into danger but the drivers and their own lives as well. Changmin had horrible experiences with TVXQ fans as well as anti-fans, including being physically and verbally abused, being surrounded by stalkers while he was a minor, getting stalked publically and privately, getting harrassed, getting his personal information stolen and sold, getting death threats. Not only himself but his family too. Almost 15 years long, half his life. There is a reason he publically admitted to having gotten psychological treatment. Anway, the poster had a clear agenda posting this super old video and baiting with it on several sites Topic change: I've been a TVXQ fan for 1000 years and while their album 'New Chapter' is smooth, sexy, mature and very cohesive with the jazzy vibe they've been going with, it was not as big as their former albums (they're usually moving at least 300k+ physical records). There could be several reasons: fandom changes their 4-year hiatus in Korea since Spellbound / military service not public friendly singles (this is my opinion but both singles are waaay weaker than former releases. Like KYHD, Catch Me, Something) the mess with the Love Line MV they could barely spell the album on shows (which was cute, but I mean like if you have trouble saying the name of your album how are others going to do it???). I'm pretty sure there is a repack since the album was promoted as 'part 1' implying there are follow-up(s) planned but with the very lackluster response they might re-think about releasing it :( I also think that the MV looked classy and chic but was a bit too convulted, there wasn't a clear story but still too much was going on? On the other hand I love how they opened up a lot: going on many shows, starting SNS, trying to be more digitally interactive The reactions were very positive and people love their different but funny personalities. I hope this will help boost their confidence to try out different things and challenge themselves

it's been a long while coming, they'll make history again I'm so proud of them

to bring this place back to life: [photo] 170619 Yunho, Yoona and Kim Minjong with Jeju Governor Won Heeryong promoting Electric Cars at 2017 SM Workshop in Jeju arriving together in the same car [photo] 170619 Lee Soo Man, Kim Young Min, Yunho and Yoona at Tree Planting Ceremony & presenting gift for Children of Single-Parents Multicultural Family at 2017 SM Workshop in Jeju same day, another event

congrats, stay impartial and keep the trolls away please

Happy Lunar New Year

omg the last pic