On April 14, fans were given the joy of waking up to a new NCT Wish mini-album called “poppop.” This group consists of 6 members: Jaehee, Sion, Riku, Sakuya and Yushi. The group itself is the sixth subunit of NCT, which just means it’s another branch that serves its purpose. NCT and its subunits do tend to get a bit confusing, and it’s pretty intricate. But NCT Wish focuses on a youthful and energetic tone when it comes to their concept and music.
The album itself focuses on love with a very bright and colorful feeling. It contains six songs with pretty creative names: “poppop,” “Melt Inside My Pocket,” “Design,” “1000,”“Silly Dance,” and “Still 3PM.”
The title track, “poppop,” is nice vocally, and I especially like the verses and pre-choruses a lot. Throughout this song, the chorus can get a little repetitive, but it doesn’t affect the overall enjoyment that it brings. “Melt Inside My Pocket” is one of the songs I like the most, and to me it sounds more like a title track. I enjoyed the song immensely, and once again, each part shows their amazing vocals. The quick ascent in their voice is so heavenly, truly one of the best moments in the album. Very similarly, “Design” is something I love listening to, especially the chorus. There’s not much that can be put into words other than the fact that the lyrics just have such a nice fluidity to them.
Slowing down the vibe a little bit with ”1000,” the song is more relaxed than the previous few, but still has a more upbeat chorus. I like how easy it is to listen to, even when it has a good number of switch-ups in the sound. Out of the album, the song I found most confusing was “Silly Dance.” This is due to the backtrack sounding unnatural with the vocals. But a positive factor would be that it is truly a nice vibe, and I could see myself listening to it when in a good mood.
Lastly, “Still 3PM” keeps the same vibe throughout the album, going from dreamy to upbeat in an instant. The backtrack in the verses reminds me of other K-pop groups like NewJeans and Twice, which is really interesting. The combo of a little more old school to the very classic girl group buildup is something I would never expect as a pairing.
This group is overall not one I previously focused on or really knew anything about, but the songs within this mini-album really surprised me. Being both very young and a new group truly contributes to the way all of their tracks sound nostalgically youthful.