NCT (group)

NCT () is a South Korean boy group formed by SM Entertainment. NCT stands for Neo Culture Technology. The group is divided into multiple sub-units. Since the group's initial introduction by their native label's founder in January 2016, the group consists of 23 members as of April 2021, ranging from their late-teens to mid-twenties and participating in a total of four different sub-units.
The group introduced their first unit, the rotational NCT U, on April 9, 2016 with the double digital single "The 7th Sense" and "Without You". It was followed by the Seoul-based unit NCT 127 on July 7, 2016 with their eponymous extended play and later the then-teenage only unit NCT Dream on August 24, 2016 with the digital single "Chewing Gum". The group then introduced their first overseas localized sub-unit WayV, a seven-member unit based in China, on January 17, 2019 with the single album "The Vision". A fifth unit is set to debut in 2021, followed by their second overseas localized sub-unit NCT-Hollywood, a unit based in the United States, at a later date.
Along with separate activities of each group unit, the umbrella group NCT to date has united twice to promote full-length albums, the first time being the 2018 March release of "NCT 2018 Empathy" and the second was the 2020 October and November release of the two-part album "NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1" and "Pt. 2" which together sold over 2.6 million copies within two months, establishing itself as the highest-selling physical album ever released by an act from SM entertainment and earned the group their first Grand Daesang Award at the 2020 Asia Artist Awards.
Background.
In January 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man delivered a presentation at the SM Coex Artium, titled "SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016". The label's plan was to debut a new boy group to "fall in line" with their culture contents strategy, containing "unlimited" number of members within the group whom would go on to debut in subsequent units. Furthermore, the group would have "sub-unit teams" and "collaborations" among these units. The name of the group was revealed to be "NCT", an acronym from the presentation title. The group as a whole is SM Entertainment's first idol group in almost two years since the debut of fellow labelmate Red Velvet in August 2014 and subsequently the first boy group since the debut of South Korean–Chinese boy group Exo in 2012.
History.
2013–2016: Formation and pre-debut activities.
In December 2013, SM Entertainment introduced the first trainees from the pre-debut training team SM Rookies, with the first of NCT to be introduced, Taeyong and Jeno. The team went on to introduce a total of sixteen other members until early January 2016, eventually becoming the preparation for NCT. Members were cast through various auditions, with Johnny, Yuta, Ten, Mark and Renjun joining the company via SM Global Auditions, while the remaining members were discovered through street casting, personal recommendations and community entertainment shows.
In January 2016, SM founder Lee Soo-man held a presentation at the SM Coex Artium titled "SMTOWN: Neo Culture Technology 2016", speaking about the agency's plans for a new boy group in line with their "culture contents" strategy that would be debuting different teams based in different cities/countries around the world.
2016: Debuts of NCT U, NCT 127 and NCT Dream.
On April 4, 2016, SM Entertainment announced NCT's first unit, NCT U (the "U" standing for United), which at the time consisted of six members: Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, and Mark. NCT U released digital singles "The 7th Sense" (Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, and Mark) on April 9 and "Without You" in two versions on April 10 (a Korean version sung by Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun, and a Chinese version with the addition of SM Rookies' Kun).
On April 9, 2016, NCT U made their first broadcast appearance with "NCT On Air" on V Live, hosted by Super Junior's Kim Hee-chul. The same day, they had their first live performance in China at the 16th Music Feng Yun Bang Awards, with the addition of Chinese members Kun and Winwin. On April 15, the group made their debut in Korea on "Music Bank." They have since appeared in three seasons of their reality series "NCT Life", featuring other trainees from SM Rookies.
On July 1, SM announced NCT's second unit, NCT 127. The unit is based in Seoul, with the number "127" representing the longitude coordinate of Seoul. The unit debuted with seven members: Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan. On July 7, they had their official debut performance on the music program "M Countdown", performing debut single "Fire Truck" and "Once Again." Their debut EP "NCT #127" was released digitally on July 10 and physically on July 11. On July 29, the unit released the single "Taste the Feeling" for the project SM Station in collaboration with Coca-Cola, while continuing promotion for "Fire Truck" on television music shows like "Music Bank", "Show Champion", "Inkigayo."
On August 18, SM announced that NCT's third unit would be called NCT Dream. The unit debuted with seven members: Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung. Their first single, "Chewing Gum", was released on August 24, and the group had their debut performance on "M Countdown" the next day.
On December 6, five members of NCT 127 (Yuta, Taeyong, Jaehyun, Mark, and Winwin) released a special dance music video for the song "Good Thing" in collaboration with W Korea. The track was eventually released on NCT 127's second EP, "Limitless". On December 20, NCT 127 released the music video for "Switch". The single was previously issued as a bonus track on NCT 127's debut EP, and features the SM trainee group SR15B.
2017: Promotions for NCT 127 and NCT Dream.
On December 27, 2016, NCT 127 announced they would be making a comeback with the addition of two members: NCT U's Doyoung and new member Johnny. On January 5, 2017, NCT 127 released two music videos for "Limitless" and performed the song on "M Countdown". Their second EP "Limitless" was released digitally on January 6 and physically on January 9. The release debuted at number one on "Billboard"s World Albums Chart, and the title track was later named one of the best K-pop songs of the year by "Dazed".
On February 1, 2017, NCT Dream revealed they would be releasing their first physical single "The First" on February 9. SM Entertainment announced that Jaemin would not be participating in this promotional cycle due to health problems. NCT Dream returned to the stage on "M Countdown", performing the single "My First and Last" and the B-side "Dunk Shot". On February 14, NCT Dream won first place on the 100th episode of SBS MTV's "The Show", marking the first-ever music show win for an NCT unit. NCT Dream was also unveiled to be the official ambassadors for the "2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup". They released the tournament's official theme song, "Trigger the Fever", on March 15.
On March 8, NCT 127 members Johnny and Jaehyun were announced to be the DJs for SBS Power FM's new program, "NCT's Night Night", which started to air on March 20. Doyoung also joined the duo as a special DJ every Saturday.
On June 14, NCT 127 released their third EP, "Cherry Bomb". They returned to the stage on "M Countdown", performing the new songs "Cherry Bomb" and "0 Mile." "Billboard" and "Idolator" both later declared "Cherry Bomb" one of the best K-pop songs of the year.
On August 17, NCT Dream released their first EP "We Young". They gave the title track its debut performance on "M Countdown". In December, NCT Dream released their first Christmas song, "Joy".
2018: New members, large-scale projects, "NCT 2018 Empathy".
In January 2018, NCT U (consisting of Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun) released the single "Timeless" as part of the SM Station project.
In mid-January, SM Entertainment unveiled NCT 2018, a project involving all 18 members of NCT. On January 30, SM released a video titled "NCT 2018 Yearbook #1", which featured all prior members and introduced new members Kun, Lucas, and Jungwoo. In February, NCT released a series of online documentary videos titled "NCTmentary" as part of the NCT 2018 project. 
On March 14, NCT released its first full-length album, "NCT 2018 Empathy". The album featured six singles, showcasing all current units of NCT: "Boss", "Baby Don't Stop", "Yestoday" (All NCT U), "Go" (NCT Dream), "Touch" (NCT 127), and "Black on Black" (NCT 2018).
On May 5, NCT topped "Billboard" Emerging Artists chart, marking the first time that a K-pop act had led the list.
On September 3, NCT Dream released their second EP, "We Go Up" with the lead single of the same name. SM confirmed that Mark would be graduating from NCT Dream after completing promotions for the release.
On September 11, Xiaojun was the first of the undebuted WayV members to be introduced as an SMROOKIE. With Hendery and Yangyang following on September 13 and September 15, respectedly.
On October 12, NCT 127 released their first full-length album, "Regular-Irregular", with the lead single, "Regular". With the addition of Jungwoo, the group was officially expanded to 10 members. NCT 127 focused on promotions in America for the album.
On November 23, NCT 127 released the repackaged edition of "Regular-Irregular", titled "Regulate", along with the lead single, "Simon Says". It was announced that Winwin would not be participating in the comeback activities in order to prepare for his debut with WayV.
On December 28, NCT Dream released the single "Candle Light" as part of the SM Station project.
2019: Debut of WayV, NCT 127's concert tour and new projects for NCT Dream and NCT U.
On December 31, 2018, SM Entertainment announced NCT's fourth unit, WayV (). The unit is based in China and consists of 7 members: Kun, Winwin, Ten, Lucas, Hendery, Xiaojun, and Yangyang. WayV is managed under Label V, a Chinese label collaborating with SM's production. The unit officially debuted on January 17, 2019 with a Chinese version of NCT 127's "Regular". Their debut single album, "The Vision", was released digitally and also included a Chinese version of NCT 127's "Come Back" and an original song titled "Dream Launch".
On January 26, 2019, NCT 127 embarked on their first concert tour, Neo City – The Origin, with tour dates in Korea, Japan, North America and Europe. During the tour, they released the single, "Wakey-Wakey" on March 18 which would later be included on their first Japanese full studio album, "Awaken", released on April 17. Their fourth EP, "We Are Superhuman", was released on May 24 with the title track, "Superhuman".
On May 9, WayV released their first EP, "Take Off", along with its eponymous title track, "Take Off".
On June 6, NCT Dream released "Don't Need Your Love," a collaboration with HRVY on "SM Station Season 3."
On July 26, NCT Dream released their third EP, "We Boom", and its title track, "Boom".
On October 29, WayV released their second EP, "Take Over the Moon", with the title track "Moonwalk".
On December 13, NCT U (consisting of Taeil, Doyoung, Jaehyun and Haechan) released "Coming Home" as part of the SM Station X project.
2020: Projects for NCT 127, restructure of NCT Dream, new members, and "NCT 2020 Resonance".
On January 27, NCT 127 released a music video for a gift song titled "Dreams Come True", followed by the release of their second studio album "Neo Zone" on March 6, with the title track "Kick It", being their third release not to feature Winwin who is currently promoting with WayV. This also officially marked Jungwoo's return, who was on a hiatus for health reasons. On May 19 the repackaged version of the album, "Neo Zone: The Final Round", with the title track "Punch" was released.
On April 29, NCT Dream released their fourth EP "Reload", with "Ridin'" as the title track, with the members Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung. Following the album's promotions, they removed their original concept in which members graduate when they reach 20 in Korean age (19 internationally) and will continue as seven members with originally graduated member Mark returning.
In May 2020, three NCT units held live online concerts, in a series of concerts jointly organised by SM Entertainment and Naver on the world's first technology-aided live concert streaming service "Beyond LIVE". The live concerts of WayV, NCT Dream and NCT 127 took place on May 3, May 10 and May 17 respectively.
On June 9, WayV released their first full album "Awaken the World", with the title track "Turn Back Time".
In September, NCT announced they would have a new project, NCT 2020, similar to their NCT 2018 project, which combined members of the various subunits on one album, which would be released in October 2020. Their second album, "NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1" was released on October 12, featuring all 4 units, and 2 new members, Shotaro and Sungchan, who are set to join a future NCT unit. Before the album's release, it was announced the "NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1" had garnered more than 1.1 million pre-orders, making it NCT's first million-seller album without counting repackages. NCT released the second part of their second album "NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2" on November 23.
On December 4, NCT released a new single titled "Resonance" which marks the finale of their second full album. The single combines "Make a Wish (Birthday Song)," "90's Love," "Work It," and "Raise the Roof" from their second full-length album into one song. The single features all 23 members of the NCT 2020 project.
2021: Debut of new unit and NCT-Hollywood.
In an interview with Star News on January 13, Sungchan announced that a new unit would debut during the year.
On February 17, NCT 127 released their second Japanese EP, "Loveholic".
On March 10, WayV released their third EP, "Kick Back", with the title track of the same name.
On May 6, it was announced that SM would partner with MGM Worldwide Television Group to recruit boys from age 13 to 25 from America to form a US-based NCT unit, called NCT-Hollywood, via a competition series.
On May 10, NCT Dream released their first studio album, "Hot Sauce", which marked the group's first full comeback as a 7 member group since 2018. The album exceeded more than 1.7 million copies in pre-orders.
Members.
Adapted from the group's profile on SM Entertainment's official website.
Notes
Filmography.
TV series
Radio show