[Asianjunkie] SM Entertainment seems intent on making it as hard as possible to love NCT

[My Everything]

 

As a casual fan of NCT, I honestly almost have no idea what’s going on with the group anymore, and at this point I’m afraid to put the effort in to find out. From what I understand, NCT U has a rotational lineup, NCT Dream is basically all the fetuses in NCT, and NCT 127 has a fixed lineup … except not quite because there’s already been member changes. It’s to the point where it feels like work to keep up with the member changes and general direction of the collective.

 

 

That netizen about sums up my feelings on NCT.

 

Since the beginning, K-pop has relied heavily on unfair exchange relationships in order to move product and keep fans from getting bored and leaving their favorite groups behind. In short, they want you to fall in love with their products (idols) and use that bond to motivate the consumer (you) into buying stuff. As we see daily in the K-pop fandom, that formula is potent and it really, really works.

 

With NCT, it’s much harder for fans to foster that kind of relationship with the group because everything changes too quickly or too much, and it begins to feel like a job to just keep track of what’s going on with the group at any given moment. It’s rather tiring, and it’s no wonder many potential fans are turned off by the prospect of trying to understand NCT’s scattershot system. Stans of the group would argue that it’s not actually that complicated, and I would tend to agree, but it definitely puts up an additional barrier or three to getting invested. That’s significant, because their competition in the idol market doesn’t have those barriers, and the majority of fans tend to take the path of least resistance.

 

People want what feels easy and familiar, and they want to feel comfortable with the group they stan as if they know them. Having a group dynamic that fans are familiar with is important to all the most successful groups, but NCT doesn’t quite have that, and not through any fault of their own but because there’s been so much shuffling in their short time in K-pop that it’s been impossible to get truly comfortable with them all. Truthfully, NCT have so far mainly given off the vibe like someone set a timer in the SME building and ordered them to debut all their trainees or else, so they threw them into NCT, and it all comes across as rushed and unstructured. The NCT project might be ambitious and innovative, but it doesn’t seem to be actually working because of that.

 

Perhaps this upcoming NCT release will be the breakthrough SME have been waiting for, but for now it definitely seems like the company doesn’t have much direction when it comes to the group, and that lingering feeling has been having an adverse impact on their popularity. It’s a shame, because there’s a lot of musical and variety potential in NCT just waiting to be discovered by the masses, but SME appears intent on making it as difficult as ever for people to do so.

 

http://www.asianjunkie.com/2018/03/15/sm-entertainment-seems-intent-on-making-it-as-hard-as-possible-to-love-nct/

[1Q98]

at least the songs they release now are good  it will be tragic when SM decided to stop wasting money on them

[damagingcalm]

How many times do we have to discuss about this again??? Their fandom has improved steadily. SM knows better than we all do. Let's just enjoy NCT's comeback..

[KAI PARKER]

honestly they need to stop making NCT abt two or three members .... there are so many talented entertaining kids in that group , it's a waist of potentiel

[Mister Dove]

kpop has always been built around making people invested personally into idols and willing to support and spend endlessly. if anything, NCT is the opposite of that it is basically erasing the identity of the members as individuals in favor of the group as a brand and all i see that doing is support akagae culture and hinder the group's growth. that's why i don't see NCT hitting it as big as previous SM groups unless SM split them into permanent sub-groups with fixed members and a distinct style each.

i hope they'll prove me wrong though since i have nothing against them.   

[geminimoon]

kpop has always been built around making people invested personally into idols and willing to support and spend endlessly. if anything, NCT is the opposite of that it is basically erasing the identity of the members as individuals in favor of the group as a brand and all i see that doing is support akagae culture and hinder the group's growth. that's why i don't see NCT hitting it as big as previous SM groups unless SM split them into permanent sub-groups with fixed members and a distinct style each.

i hope they'll prove me wrong though since i have nothing against them.

SM will most likely do this. SM likes to bite off more than they can chew, and then they tend to realize their mistake.

 

BUT, on the other hand, Lee Soo Man is not the one in control of NCT at the moment. Lee Soo Man is the one that was in charge of the other groups, and he is in charge of Red Velvet right now (see how RV is getting better and better with each comeback?) but the woman in charge of NCT is making bad mistake after bad mistake.

[SungSoo]

It's the bad title songs and focus on only a few members that puts me off.

[RiseLikeACrowTit]

If they'r not washing money with NCT then i dont know what they are doing

[Deâ„“phina]

And yet the fandom keeps growing bigger and bigger...

 

Why is it so hard for people to accept that not everything is catered to them? 

[geminimoon]

I do agree with the comments, but there is also a side to NCT that can be fun. The different concepts between each unit makes it so that you are never truly bored of NCT. And for me, the units aren’t as complicated as people make it seem. I think people think it is complicated so therefore they don’t open up their mind to it, but it’s really simple when you allow it to be. People over think the concept of the units way too much.

It is frustrating to never know who will be promoting next, and to me that is the only con of NCT. Especially if you have a bias, it kind of sucks to not know if your bias will be promoting in the next unit. But fortunately with NCT 2018, all of them aside from Kun we’re promoting.

 

I think it would be best to make NCT 2018 the permanent group. If not, they should just make 127 and Dream the final units. Of course they should put Mark in dream, and Haechan as well. Then they could add in Lucas, Jungwoo and Kun into 127. I see this being the decision they make because it doesn’t seem SM can handle it.

 

OR, they give back control to Lee Soo Man. The idea of NCT to me is really interesting and amazing, but they’re making the wrong choices too much. They need someone who can properly handle this concept.

[Kami]

I've listened to their new album and their songs are as messy as this group. It makes GOT7's music sound like a masterpiece.

[alienizers]

There's literally nothing hard to understand about the group and anyone who does say there is lazy and probably not even a fan.

 

 

Asianjunkie is the worst, as always.

[alienizers]

It's the bad title songs and focus on only a few members that puts me off.

Then don't listen lol

[Sataengist]

kpop has always been built around making people invested personally into idols and willing to support and spend endlessly. if anything, NCT is the opposite of that it is basically erasing the identity of the members as individuals in favor of the group as a brand and all i see that doing is support akagae culture and hinder the group's growth. that's why i don't see NCT hitting it as big as previous SM groups unless SM split them into permanent sub-groups with fixed members and a distinct style each.

i hope they'll prove me wrong though since i have nothing against them.   

 

Pretty much ^ 

I also feel really bad for the members , they must feel great pressure and uncertainty .

 

Just drop the rotating concept and make two or three sub-units with fixated members . 

[BOB666]

Just make NCT U a permanent group and disband the rest to make room for another group. Done

[aliviadam]

it's funny when non fans are more concern and obsessed with nct..stop worrying about our idol,they do fine..slow but steady..most of us loves their unique concept and songs...

[Daria~]

SM will most likely do this. SM likes to bite off more than they can chew, and then they tend to realize their mistake.

BUT, on the other hand, Lee Soo Man is not the one in control of NCT at the moment. Lee Soo Man is the one that was in charge of the other groups, and he is in charge of Red Velvet right now (see how RV is getting better and better with each comeback?) but the woman in charge of NCT is making bad mistake after bad mistake.

Why will lee soo man leave a pet project he’s wanted for more than 10 years in the hands of someone else? Nct is literally his baby and he’s been trying to push the concept for years through exo and sj and now nct.

[minhoe]

maybe SM should disband NCT at this point

[la vie est belle]

Why will lee soo man leave a pet project he’s wanted for more than 10 years in the hands of someone else? Nct is literally his baby and he’s been trying to push the concept for years through exo and sj and now nct.

 

I just feel like the whole reason behind it is shady.

 

He wants to make NCT's brand name more important than the members so that if a member leaves, they can be expendable. 

 

I mean that's what this all boils down to and there is a part of me that hopes that this wont work and he makes them fixed.

 

I mean I had resigned myself to accept the uncertainty of the concept but when I thought about its true purpose I changed my mind

[minhoe]

LSM got pissed off with people fucking up member line ups so it makes sense for him to make such a loose group full of replaceable members. No one stands out as a star but maybe that's the down fall.

[Pied Piper]

Honestly I like some of their songs but yeah, the uncertainy of which members that will included in next promotions and not makes it hard to stan them. I hope SM knows what they're doing because if NCT don't hit big then it's just waste of money.

[Meeks]

I actually enjoy what NCT has to offer from music to performance and the like. The members of each subunit are really cool too, but I do think that their system is somewhat too difficult to work under korean fandom culture. Such as obtaining a bias in the group but constantly having to wonder if he’s going to be present for a comeback (unless it’s mark or taeyong). And even with the general public, it’s probably hard for them to even recognize the group with so many member changes.

[Daria~]

I just feel like the whole reason behind it is shady.

 

He wants to make NCT's brand name more important than the members so that if a member leaves, they can be expendable.

 

I mean that's what this all boils down to and there is a part of me that hopes that this wont work and he makes them fixed.

 

I mean I had resigned myself to accept the uncertainty of the concept but when I thought about its true purpose I changed my mind

I agree that part of it is to help SME cover their assess and reduce their liabilities by making the members dispensable and easy to replace but SME has also been known to take risks and try new things, so they could also just be killing two birds with one stone : create a boygroup whose members won’t be able to sue them when they leave and also introduce something new to kpop. The members are definitely worried about the concept, even though some of them seem to like it a bit too much ( cough** Doyoung ** cough), but I think they’re also really excited to be part of something that could be groundbreaking if successful.

[Royale]

AJ, a T-ARA stan, coming for another group because of lineup changes? lol

[Caridee]

LMAO