Album Review: NCT 2018 Empathy

I’m not going to lie, I have been waiting for the release of Empathy for weeks, cause NCT, mainly Taeyong has stolen my heart as well as my wallet, cause I pre-ordered this ish, as I knew they could not disappoint me. I was not wrong. They did not disappoint, and they even put tracks that were previously released in 2017 that didn’t make it into an album previously in here. So, if you actively stan NCT, you have probably heard about half of the tracks on this album already. If you have not, shame on you. This ish is fire.

I also do a lot of my album shopping on Music Plaza LA. Additionally, if you have never used Music Plaza before, this link will get you an extra 5% off of your first purchase!

You can also order a copy of the album from an eBay, as they typically have good prices. Plus, with eBay, you can save a little bit of money by using the E-Bates extension on your browser, as it will save you 2% on all album purchases, which definitely adds up.

What is E-Bates?

E-Bates is a cashback site that gives you money for purchases you may have already made. They even have an extension for multiple browsers so when you go to a website that uses Ebates, it will automatically pop up the cashback button to make sure you are saving money. I use this all the time, and I got over 80$ back from them for purchases I was going to make anyway. That’s about 3 more albums I can buy!

If you’ve never used EBates before, you can use this link to get $10 when making a qualified purchase of $25 when using EBates. You will also get whatever percent cashback is being offered from the site you are purchasing from.  Sephora, typically has 4% cashback, through here. Sokoglam typically has 3%. These percentages Many other major retailers are on there as well.

NCT 2018 Empathy, Track by Track:

1. Intro: Neo Got My Back: NCT broke me from the first few measures of the album. This song has me feeling hella ratchet, and I’m 100% obsessed with it and pray to the K-Pop Gods that NCT keeps this up. This song has a serious trap vibe to it, and I honestly love it, from the deep base to whatever those noises are that Taeyong is making (not gonna say what they sound like to me, cause that’s dirty). It’s a short track, but they slew from the start and have me feeling all the things.
2. Boss: So this song broke me when the music video was released a few weeks ago (you can watch it here), and the music video made it in my playlist, as I decided that I cannot live without it. Did I expect NCT to slap me over and over again within the first to tracks? No. Am I okay with it? Yes. I will be slapped over and over again by this album. Overall, this track has a serious electronic vibe to it,  but not like it could be played in a club. I mean, I’d jam to this in a club, but others might be like… what? Side note: I am not an authority on clubbing. I prefer to stay home and eat nachos while watching a movie on a Friday night and yelling at the film. That’s my idea of a fun night. Sweating with strangers who might attempt to touch my butt is not a good idea. Either way, it’s a great track, and yet again, when Taeyong raps, I die. When Taeyong does anything I die.
3. Baby Don’t Stop: Taeyong and Ten just need to stop. Like… come on… how can you rip fire 3 tracks in a row, and this one has ASMR in it too! Taeyong can whisper for me to stop all day, and I will never stop, just because he told me not to. Also, the music video for this, as well as JREKML’s reaction to this… ML gets me. This song, and the choreography. They get me. They just get me. If you haven’t figured this out yet, this song is also in my playlist. Don’t ask me to describe the sound of this song, other than Taeyong whispers to us that we should not stop. Just know that it is fire. If you like K-Pop, you will love this song.
4. Go: Okay, so NCT Dream was my least favorite sub-unit of NCT until they brought this out. This song has made me question everything. They finally gave NCT Dream a grown-up vibe! YAY! I mean they are all approaching legal age now, so it is about time. This is not my favorite track on the album, but I still really enjoy it. The part where they are all just yelling “Go” in unison had me weirded out for a bit. But I am okay with it because the backtrack is super electronic, and sounds like it should be in a futuristic motorcycle video game.
5. Touch: So this is not what I anticipated from NCT127, as I typically associate them with killer dance tracks, and this is not that. The song is cute, and still pretty jazzy. In comparison to all of the tracks that came before this, it is not my favorite, as my favorite will always be “Baby Don’t Stop”. I do enjoy the track though, and it did make it into my playlist. Honestly, this track sounds like something that should have been performed by NCT Dream, as this fits into their realm of music. Still like it, but, there are a few members of NCT who will only be on this track, and not on the rest of the album, like Johnny. As the rest of the album focuses more on NCT U. So boo, SM. Give everyone a fair share
6. Yestoday: Any track that has Taeyong and Mark rapping through half of it is 100% okay with me. This song has a little bit more of a blues, jazz, R&B vibe to it than the previous tracks. They use sax and jazz chords through the whole thing, and I enjoy it. Also, the previous track is the perfect transition into this song, so you can tell that SM put a lot of thought into the track order when putting the album out. I appreciate it, cause sometimes albums sound awkward when listening to them from start to finish. This one does not. So thank you SM. Note: the end of the album does have an extended version of this track on it at the very end after the outro.
7. Black on Black: This is the main NCT 2018 track, and it is a hardcore dance track, as even more of a dance track than the previous ones. I think that you could make a killer dance routine to this. Also, this is the point when I realized that SM seems to favor the original five from NCT U when it comes to line distribution. I mean, I’m OK with that, cause it means I get a lot of Taeyong. What I want to see with this track is the choreography that was made for it because it would probably be epic. Insert me finding it from MAMA Hong Kong, which means that they almost silently released this track without me noticing… I’m mad at myself now.
8. Timeless: Taking it down for a ballad. This song was also released early as a single by NCT U, but I’m happy that it is being put on a physical album, as it is about time. The contrast between this song and the previous one is drastic, but I feel like they phase together seamlessly, for some unknown reason. I think it is because the previous track had a very finite ending, and it wasn’t like they did a fade-out on it. Overall, this song is pretty dang cute, and the members of NCT U that are singing it are pretty dang on point, so I approve. It is what I would describe as a typical ballad, but in more of like a Super Junior KRY style, as they build some great harmonies that I greatly approve of. This track isn’t making it into my playlist, but I’m not going to rip the ballad apart like I have done for other artists, because this one was quite well done.
9. The 7th Sense: I’m not going to go too much into this track, as it has been out for a year or more at this point. I think this was one of the very first songs that were put out by NCT since their conception. This track is magical, and as the tempo of it is slower, even though it is a different style from the previous track, it flows seamlessly from the previous track to this track. This song has been in my K-Pop playlist since it came out. So that should tell you the track is good.
10. Without You: This song has also been out for ages, and this has been in my playlist for ages. In contrast to the last NCT U song, I feel like this song highlights the singers of the group instead of the rappers. It is a decent track. I, yet again, greatly enjoy the harmonies that they are putting out. I will point out though, and this is just a personal preference, if I had to choose between this song and the 7th Sense, The 7th Sense would win every time. Note: the album also has the Chinese version of this track on it.
11. Dream in a Dream: This song was also previously released last year. It is Ten’s solo track, and instead of focusing on singing for this track, he focused on his dancing. I love how this song has a very classical Asian music sound to it, but with a modern twist to it. Musically, it is a good track that focuses more on building a song without vocals in it. It feels like a track that a group like Far East Movement may have put out. I dig it. It shows a new side of the group. Since this was previously released I’m not going to talk about it for too long. Good talk.
12. Outro: Vision: This track is only like a minute and a half long max, I love how they use the strings in the track, and give them a much more modern vibe by contrasting them with the heavy percussion and brass. It’s a fun track. In the end though, when he yells “I see the vision” I was like… what the… the first time I listened to it. It doesn’t phase me now. Since this track is so short, I don’t have much else to say about it.

K-Points: 814/5

So, I know a lot of these songs were released previously, but I think it is great that NCT has finally brought all of these singles that they produced and put out previously on an actual album, as a lot of these individual tracks are my favorite tracks that NCT has put out, and I want to be able to touch them. I also feel that since this was the approach that they took, they established a good balance between the old and new tracks. The downside to this though, when listening to it, as a music lover, there were less surprises. But that is OK, as I feel like they were making a solid movement. Overall there is not a bad song on this album. When I first saw the credits on it, and which sub-unit got the most love, I was initial disappointed that NCT U got the most love, but then I realized that Dream and 127 have previously released their own EPs with their own tracks on it. NCT U was the only sub-unit that had not done this. Insert the end of my disappointment here.

Do you need this album? Yes, because well, Taeyong can rap to me all day. On top of that, all of the music on this album is solid. there is not a bad track on it, and that is the main reason that I’m okay with them putting singles on here. I would rather have them add songs that were released without being put on an album that are great on here over brand new, lackluster songs. I do hope that NCT puts out a bunch of brand spanking new stuff later this year though, as I think it is about time.  Drop an album of all brand spanking new stuff on me, boys!

What is your favorite track on the album? Is it one of the new tracks, or one of the old one? Let me know in the comments below!

사랑합니다!

–Rachel