NCT 127 released their latest single Kick It from full album NCT #127 Neo Zone on Friday, March 6th 2020. This release has garnered a lot of anticipation since SM Entertainment approaches different promotional strategies that successfully showcase NCT 127 strengths; accessibilities and fun personalities. But in terms of music department, it still creates doubt. Entering four year of their career, both NCT 127 and SM Entertainment continue to struggle in finding the right formula between the group and company sound. There are always potentials, but they have not created a perfect balance yet.
Kick It might be a ‘make-it-or-break-it’ for NCT 127 and SM Entertainment. Will they finally pull a great combination between their signature styles and mark a hit? Check out my review for the title track of Neo Zone album below……………….
Kick It grabs your attention since the beginning by having its chorus as the opening. It combines loud instrumentals such as electric guitar and hip-hop beat, and a chant; emphasizing on NCT 127 signature style. Yes, it’s noisy like their previous title tracks, however it never sounds too messy due to the clever usage of Kick It hook. This song inputs some catchy phrases with similar rhymes on its chorus from ‘new thang’, ‘Bruce Lee’, to ‘shimmy shimmy’. All hooks are easy to remember, which will make you automatically focus on this rather than the loud music. It’s a nice callback to SM Entertainment’s style that helps launch most of their idols’ career.
NCT 127 then leaves most of the chorus’ noisy sounds on the first verse. They decide to focus on the vocal line, while adds an R&B inspired piano sound. Each vocalist sounds lovely here, even manage to do harmonization. It’s a great job for NCT 127 as a whole because they finally know how to unleash their vocal line potential. Moreover, it also shows their attempt to incorporate SM Entertainment’s sound that often underlines their idols’ powerful vocal. Yet, despite of its changing focus, Kick It verses do not sound out of place since it still carries the similar hip hop beat like the chorus.
For the second verse, Kick It focuses on the rappers to create another build up. Mark, Taeyong, and Johnny rap alongside a strong hip-hop beat and an electronic guitar addition that gives more edge to the whole song. The song continues to get exciting towards the end due to various twists. The first one, an electronic dance breakdown will remind you to NCT 127 previous title tracks, especially because of the humming part. While the latter will surprise you because it sounds unique and trendy.
In terms of lyrics, Kick It is full of Bruce Lee’s references which NCT 127 boasts about his strength and braveness then namedrops his legacy. The music video sticks to a similar theme by emphasizing on yellow and black color tone, much like the late actor’s iconic suit. It also has traditional houses as the setting and puts NCT 127 in a martial-art-inspired attires for dance scenes. All is eye-catching to look at despite the simple camerawork and limited scenes.
NCT 127 and SM Entertainment finally does their homework on Kick It. This song successfully mixes NCT 127’s noisy signatures, and SM Entertainment’s catchy hook while balances vocal and rap parts. It also has an exciting music video with a strong popular culture references to capture people’s interests. Kick It has a great potential as a single, in fact, if SM Entertainment plays their card right, this could be a viral hit.
Kick It is a great start to open the first quarter of 2020 in K-Pop music industry. What a bang for NCT 127 and cannot wait to see what they have in store for the rest of this year!
Rating: 4/5
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