Maps of Music

NCT 2018 Empathy (2018)

Where the lyrics of NCT 2018 Empathy take you, and where it was really made.

NCT's debut studio album has fourteen tracks, but five of them had already been released before it came out.

Key places

Recording location in Seoul (2018)

Recording site Big Hit Studios, Seoul — The album's recording is credited to Doobdoob in Seoul. The map point is placed at city-center level, so the exact building is not confirmed. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: Private company studio, not open to visitors.

Album story

Overview

• NCT 2018 Empathy: debut studio album by South Korean boy band NCT, an unlimited group project under SM Entertainment
• Fourteen tracks in total, including an instrumental intro and outro and one extended version of a new song
• Released March 14, 2018 by SM Entertainment and iriver Inc
• Lee Soo-man, the label founder, served as executive producer
• First group release with eighteen members from three units participating at the time
• First release to officially introduce new members Kun, Jungwoo and Lucas
• Twelve of its tracks had been released as singles between 2016 and 2018
• Includes the fourth single "Touch" by NCT 127 and "Black on Black", the first single featuring all eighteen members

Background

• Group introduced by founder Lee Soo-man in January 2016
• Three sub-units debuted in 2016: NCT U, NCT 127 and NCT Dream
• NCT U was a rotational sub-unit whose lineup changed with each release
• NCT 2018 was a single-year project involving all current members
• The "NCT 2018 Yearbook #1" video on January 30 officially introduced Kun, Lucas and Jungwoo
• Kun had appeared on the Chinese version of "Without You" in April 2016 while performing live with NCT U, before his official introduction

Recording

• Composition and production credits include Matt Schwartz, Tommy $trate, Yoo Young-jin, LDN Noise and others
• "Boss", the lead single, was co-written by Taeyong and Mark
• Seven members recorded "Boss": Taeyong, Doyoung, Winwin, Jaehyun, Jungwoo, Lucas and Mark
• The latter half of the album includes five previously released songs: "The 7th Sense", the Korean and Chinese versions of "Without You", and "Timeless" by NCT U
• "Dream in a Dream" is an English solo record by Ten, originally part of the SM Station project

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• NCT (Korean: 엔시티; an initialism for Neo Culture Technology) is a South Korean boy band formed and managed by SM Entertainment.
• Introduced in January 2016, the group was conceived with an unlimited number of members divided into separate sub-units.
• The name came from the presentation title "SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016" delivered by founder Lee Soo-man at the SM Coex Artium.
• NCT was SM Entertainment's first idol group debut in nearly two years and its first boy group debut since Exo in 2012.

Members

• The group consists of 23 members across seven sub-units: NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, WayV, NCT DoJaeJung, NCT Wish, and NCT JNJM.
• Members previously worked in the industry before joining, including as child actors, singers, and TV hosts.
• Five sub-units were fixed at 2023, and the group is known for its versatility in music, vocal and rap ability, and powerful performances.

Career

• NCT U debuted on April 9, 2016, followed by NCT 127 on July 7, 2016, and NCT Dream on August 24, 2016.
• WayV, a China-based sub-unit, debuted on January 17, 2019; NCT DoJaeJung on April 17, 2023; NCT Wish on February 28, 2024; and NCT JNJM on February 23, 2026.
• Four full-group albums were released: Empathy (2018), Resonance (2020), Universe (2021), and Golden Age (2023).
• As of June 2024, NCT had recorded more than 45 million album sales in Korea, making it the best-selling K-pop artist of all time.
• Resonance earned the group its first Daesang at the 2020 Asia Artist Awards.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Music critics gave mixed to positive reviews on release
• Praise centered on the compiled tracklist and the overall solidity of the album
• Released as the group's debut project with eighteen members from three units
• Lead single "Boss" was the most successful single from the album, though it peaked at number 97 on the Gaon Digital Chart

Records

• Gaon Album Chart: peaked at number two in the week of March 17, 2018, held off the top spot by Got7's Eyes on You
• Pre-orders reached 203,000 before release
• Topped several iTunes country charts after release
• Third best-selling album on the March 2018 monthly album chart
• Thirteenth best-selling album on the year-end album chart, with 330,335 physical copies sold
• Peaked at number five on the Billboard World Albums chart
• First NCT album to receive a KMCA Platinum certificate, which was granted for albums with cumulative sales over 250,000 copies
• Cumulative sales exceeded 636,055 physical copies as of 2022

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• "Black on Black" became the only single to feature all eighteen members, and the first to officially introduce Chinese member Kun.
• "Touch" won NCT 127 their first music show trophy at The Show on March 29, 2018, the only release from the album to do so.
• The digital release included an extended version of the fifth single "Yestoday" by NCT U.
• The physical release came in two versions, Reality and Dream, with different package designs and group photo booklets.
• "Dream in a Dream" is an English solo record by Ten, first released in 2017 through SM STATION.
• Before release, the album had already sold 203,000 pre-orders.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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