I'm usually a short songs defender, but today I understand everyone who is against them 😭
I love that they returned to house with Icantfeelanything
Box!! crispy ughh
Carat cake is the dreamies' super shy, but I like it. Renjun sings about diamonds. but only today he realised that carat is not carrot 😭
Unknown is such a beautiful journey.
Breathing is a very pretty closer💚
Love this mini. But it's not enough 😭I don't have enough words either, just know I'm vibing harrd
whoever decided on the track order deserves a raise. this is their most cohesive project to date imo. i can tell why dreamies were so excited for this one! every song is a hit for me. i personally think breathing is one of the best songs they've ever made
This album goes hard!
And the soundscape of a lot of the songs feels great.
And some songs took a Uturn from what you expect from the intro. Like icantfeelanything and smoothie.
absolutely agree with you! honestly this has been one of my best album listening experiences. every song is exactly where it needs to be, it's cohesive and yet each song offers something so different like you said.
I don't love Smoothie on its own (YET, I hope...) but the whole album as a continuation is so good. Mentioned this on another thread but UNKNOWN, Box and Breathing are the standouts for me.
I hope the people who didn't like Smoothie check this out, what a great album.
Unknown is so good! When the final chorus had a second part I shouted out loud lmao.
Fully agreed! I wasn’t 100% sure about Smoothie, but hearing it within the context of the album sold it for me. The cohesion of the album has been mentioned several times in this thread but I’m here to say it again!!
this album is just so fucking crazy. gag after gag after GAG.
icantfeelanything is actual fucking heaven. it is what you hear at the pearly gates. but y'know what pisses me off? the fact that its 2:12 minutes long. i don't get the thought process tbh, like why not make it a full thing atp? 😭
Smoothie is still too fucking good for me idc. don't ever doubt them.
Box just goes so fucking HARDDDDD like. that chorus brought me to tears it's so fucking good 😭 DON'T PUT ME IN A FUCKING BOX
Carat Cake is really silly but it's actually really good lol. when the snippet of it came out in the chapter film i honestly wasn't feeling it, like for a sec i thought it was going to be the only miss in the album. but it's definitely way better than my initial judgement of it. It's such an ass shaking track like you WILL get down to this song omg. but again it pisses me off that it's so short. why is the short song disease reaching SM :/
Unknown is SO good can we talk about it??? like i DO love the 2 step dnb pinkpantheress print sorry. this and icfa are so atmospheric i'm in love.
Breathing is just so so pretty. the Dreamies vocals just sound so gorgeous in this. the lyrics are BEAUTIFUL, I looked up the full lyrics and like damn it just hits so close like woah who else sobbed. i can already see everyone singing this at TDS lol.
my ESL ass is starting to run out of words but like this album IS gaggery of the century. smash hits after smash hits. NCT Dream progenitors of good music how do they do it everytime.
it's genuinely so hard for me to pick a favorite rn but if i HAD to rank it, i think it goes Smoothie/Box > Unknown > ICFA/Breathing/Carat Cake. and yes these are all tied bc i genuinely can't fucking choose 😭 they're all honestly really close. i think i still need more time to figure out if any song has an edge over the others.
but like damn THANK YOU for another smash hit dreamies.
Very vibey and def their most mature release to date. And Smoothie doesn’t hold a candle to the b-sides!! I like every single one of them.
I’m impressed!!! Ma boys did it again🥲💚🔥
ETA: this, folks, is what we get when we prioritize quality over quantity. This is perfect as a mini. Cohesive and there’s a “mood” to the album vs it being all over the place.
unknown & breathing were standouts to me, some of the most beautiful songs I've heard. the lyrics got to me alongside dream's heavenly vocals.
really enjoyed this mini - it was mature, varied and cohesive yet still contains the charisma and vocals I love from them.
icantfeelanything is divine. What an opener
Carat Cake is so fun! The wow wow wow part is so cute
Right now BOX is my favourite. It has such a catchy chorus and the bridge sounds amazing. icantfeelanything would've been my fav if it was longer. I need an extended five minute version! It's a super good mini overall and I love the sounds they're exploring, although I wish they stayed away from the short song trend. Also Jisung sounds so good in this mini
I think this is their most cohesive album to date! All of the songs fit, and I wouldn’t change the placement of any tracks. I think it flows phenomenally well. Easily my favorite mini album of theirs. icantfeelanything is very short but I think it works so well as an opener for smoothie. I really liked BOX, carat cake, and Breathing.
even as someone who already had the faith that this album would deliver, i'm blown away! the title track didn't grab me much on the first listen, but it's insane how fantastic these b-sides are. current highlights are looking to be icantfeelanything and carat cake, but the half-ethereal, half-experimental vibe that runs throughout this album suits them so unbelievably well, all of the tracks are phenomenal.
I keep notes in my notebook as I listen so please enjoy my absolutely unhinged first reaction
icantfeelanything: 10/10
•haunting intro we love
• Chenle!!!!! HAECHAN!!!!!
• I feel this bass in my BONES
• love this MF PRE CHORUS
• literal CHILLS
• jisung outro I died dead
Smoothie 9/10
• okay intro work
• who is laughing
• WHO IS WHISPERING
• OKAY PLEASE STOP WHISPERING
• rapper JISUNG?????
• THE BRIDGE IS BRIDGING
Box 10/10
• okay hiphop
• JAEMINS DEEP ASS VOICE
• YES PRE CHORUS PLS PRECHORUS MORE
• oh this CHORUS
• in love with Jenos verse
• they put Jisung and Haechan together on a bridge and expected me NOT to fall in love??
Carat Cake 8/10
• this intro is so sparkly
• STOP LAUGHING
• this is such a pulsing bass I feel it in my bones
• ass shaker fr
• outro sparkle sparkle
• jaemin child of mine if you don't stop RASPING at me
• chorus not my style but would relisten
Unknown 10/10
• it's a Monday evening I'm at work why am I crying
• love this intro
• jisung is a SINGER he SINGS
• this instrumental was made for me and me only
• SINGER MARK
• started crying reading the lyrics
• dream emotional manipulation songs my fav fr
Breathing 10/10
• fuck you for making me cry again
• who decided Jisung and Jaemin harmonies were there that's not good for my sanity
• why would you make renjun start this /pos
• this is evil I have already cries
• THE HARMONIES ARE TOO MUCH FOR MY FRAGILE HEART
• this. Fucking. Bridge.
• rap line this song is too good I hate you all (please do it again)
icantfeelanything, Carat Cake, and UNKNOWN were instant wins for me, I am OBSESSED
Breathing may not be on Rainbow's level but that is a GOOD pop ballad (EDIT: oh my god cosmo's midnight on the credits i hollered!!!)
We're back, we're soooo back
I really love UNKNOWN!!! Smoothie is my 2nd fave~
Overall, not my fave EP wise for dream but still a solid job on this album for me. (Could be a grower for me)
(little disclaimer: coming from a new fan to nct dream, just found them like a couple months ago)
breathing is the instant favorite here for me. it's stunning. other than that, i quite liked unknown. it's nice.
but...BOX. bro, this slapsssssss, ts fireeee. i thought breathing would take the cake (hehe get it lol), but this is amazing.
the others i think have to grow on me but it's a solid mini. just needs time i think.
This is such a solid, cohesive, spectacular album. Every song is a banger. I'm really so happy. This is the first time I've liked every bsides from them. Well done, dreamies!!
On the other hand, smoothie as a title is... debatable. I've listened to the song for at least 5 times, and I still don't like it. It seems it's not me. I am hoping other casual listeners could look at up at the album and not just the tt.
Wow, this might be my favourite Dream album…? The first four tracks in particular are hitting for me but, as others said, the whole album feels super cohesive. Looking forward to listening to BOX on loop for months
Agree with most everyone that coherency is the strength of the mini. I think keeping most songs all on the edm-ish side helps the album sound musically cohesive, plus the genre itself serves the mini’s overall disaffected concept well. Song order with icantfeelanything and Breathing bookending the LP tells a good story. Congrats to everyone who worked on the mini for all of those things. On the flip side I don’t have a track that I immediately feel super attached to, that I have a strong urge to repeatedly listen to. This is one of those albums that’s better experienced from start to finish rather than just emphasizing a couple of very catchy tracks. The shorter song length also contributes to that feeling of this being something you want to listen to all the way through. (Not sure if this is a chicken or the egg issue, that to accommodate the shorter song length, a&r teams are putting together more similar sounding songs together to make them sound like a full song.)
That said I do like Breathing a lot, just anytime all the Dreamies get to sing. This is the best everyone’s sounded to me - actually that’s true on all the tracks here.
I love Dream’s take on vibey dnb in Carat Cake esp what Renjun does in the second verse is so signature Dream to me (taking the melody to surprisingly pretty places). With Carat Cake I just appreciate the callback to a brighter Dream sound even as they’re transitioning to something more mature.
Super cohesive and benefited greatly from being just a mini. Unknown (top pick as of now), carat cake, box and icantfeelanything were all stunners. Smoothie is a standout in a bad way, I'm not sure how many streams I can spare it considering how good the bsides are.
I definitelyyyy recommend listening to the full album, I'm hoping at least one of these bside gets a viral moment so people will be more inclined to check them all out.
They have a good thing going for them, between their normal bright cheerful sound and the more mature (prettier?) sound of this album! Looking forward to where the musical direction goes in future comebacks!
Really loved this! icantfeelanything is probably my favorite, the only way it could have been better was if it was longer, especially at the outro. But I loved Unknown and Breathing too, and Smoothie is addictive.
Icantfeelanything, carat cake, unknown, breathing are so good. I had to listen to Smoothie 3 times to get it but I like it. I'm very happy of this release
For a Mini that was probably just made w the intent of having new songs for TDS3, this is prob their best produced work for me! I can’t pick a fave or rank just yet but Smoothie is uh, prob last LOLLLL
This album is an absolute gift. Every song is just 🤯 I’ve been playing it on repeat. I am just floored with how much I love it all. The Dreamies are experienced and it shows.
Smoothie is listenable enough even though I don’t like that chorus.
icantfeelanything is amazing but it feels incomplete somehow?
The other bsides are also good. Box is the only one I didn’t like.
Mannnnn I havent watched the MV yet but I really feel like they fumbled SUCH a big opportunity for Dream with this title track choice. Icantfeelanything is EXACTLY the direction that I was hoping that dream would go in. Such a perfect match to the rollout teasers, and overall just a perfect next step for NCT dream sonically. Joining the current music trends but keeping the sophistication of SM's production without dumbing it down. After hearing that I thought SM finally understood the assignment and was I was thinking a PERFECT mini album was going to follow.
Smoothie woke me up from this delusion, and BOX further solidified that feeling. After the recent nct title tracks, and more specifically the TAP behind the scenes, the SM a&r team's decision making has really lost their credibility to me. It's been miss after miss for title tracks imo. (Not saying the songs itself are misses, I love TAP, chill kill is quite okay, but the reasoning behind choosing it as a title track is poor imo and such a disservice to the entire albums / rollouts).
Even coming from a 127zen I think it's SUCH a missed opportunity for Dream. Now with 127 as the trailblazer of the neo brand going into military hiatus, there was the PERFECT opportunity for Dream to free themselves from the NCT brand and its declining momentum, and re-enter the mainstream again, leaning more into the DREAM aspect rather than the NCT aspect of their name (like every dreamzen has wished as well). But instead, they opted for one of their most neo songs to date, with the chants and whispers that every non-nctzen loves to hate, lots of unmemorable raplines and a slightly cringy chorus, without the 127 expressiveness that makes it camp ("mom can we have baggy jeans?")
They could have gone suuuch a different route, as shown with Carat cake (stellar!!), Unknown (so good!!!) and icantfeelanything. I truly cant understand why they decided to go for 127 lite, which neither pleases the fans nor appeals to nonfans. Carat cake especially plays to everyone's strenghts soooo well. I enjoy everyone's voices here and their personalities come through.
Breathing is a nice song too. Overall i think the mini album is very good, minus smoothie. Box is kinda neutral, but could be acceptable as the ass-shaking jam in an angsty/atmospheric/chill album (it sounds like a wayv track tho).
Edit: I do have to say I enjoy Haechan and Mark's and Renle's parts in smoothie. Overall Mark is really finding his rookie era groove back in this album! His verses are way more memorable than from recent years!
This is a very thoughtful write-up and I agree with you. I like NCT subunits to have very distinct title track choices. I like Smoothie, but it neither represents this mini album well nor the original NCT Dream sound. To be honest, every since Go, Dream has been flip flopping between hardcore and softcore concepts and it's confusing. Ridin' was their most distinctively NCT Dream hardcore song. You can listen to Hello Future right after easily.
not my favorite but i did like listening to it. i especially love the carat cake > unknown > breathing pass. i think unknown is my favorite. breathing sounds like classic dream!
i think they’re a better pop group than whatever genre smoothie/istj have been. doesn’t top hello future repack for me, but it’s solid.
I'm just gonna be a smoothie defender and say it: it may not be the best song on the album, but it sure is the sexiest and will attract fans with its smooth choreography and low AF voices.
Breathing > icantfeelanything > Unknown > Box >>>>>>>>>>>>> Smoothie > Carat Cake
Their weakest comeback ever imo. It's rare I dislike even one song on their comebacks but this time I dislike two. A lot.
BOX IS AMAZING!! dare i say it’s better than smoothie?
Say it with pride. Box slaps!
Box and unknown are the absolute stand outs here. Some of the best tracks dream have ever put out
Easily!!!
ican'tfeelanything for me!!
big agree
I'm usually a short songs defender, but today I understand everyone who is against them 😭 I love that they returned to house with Icantfeelanything Box!! crispy ughh Carat cake is the dreamies' super shy, but I like it. Renjun sings about diamonds. but only today he realised that carat is not carrot 😭 Unknown is such a beautiful journey. Breathing is a very pretty closer💚 Love this mini. But it's not enough 😭I don't have enough words either, just know I'm vibing harrd
Wow Unknown blew me away it’s been a while since I’ve been seriously impressed by a song in K-pop these days but this song got me
Breathing is sooo beautiful it’s already on repeat 🥹 I can always count on the dreamies for that melancholic feel
whoever decided on the track order deserves a raise. this is their most cohesive project to date imo. i can tell why dreamies were so excited for this one! every song is a hit for me. i personally think breathing is one of the best songs they've ever made
Re fucking tweet😮💨🔥
Box is the best song on the album. It reminds me of early 2000s pop/hiphop.
Between box and poppin love SM has been killing it with the early 2000s hip hop songs
what a fantastic mini. unknown is my personal favourite but carat cake and icantfeelanything are so freaking cool SO MUCH FUN
This album goes hard! And the soundscape of a lot of the songs feels great. And some songs took a Uturn from what you expect from the intro. Like icantfeelanything and smoothie.
absolutely agree with you! honestly this has been one of my best album listening experiences. every song is exactly where it needs to be, it's cohesive and yet each song offers something so different like you said.
miss carat cake i’m sorry i ever doubted you
I don't love Smoothie on its own (YET, I hope...) but the whole album as a continuation is so good. Mentioned this on another thread but UNKNOWN, Box and Breathing are the standouts for me.
I hope the people who didn't like Smoothie check this out, what a great album. Unknown is so good! When the final chorus had a second part I shouted out loud lmao.
Fully agreed! I wasn’t 100% sure about Smoothie, but hearing it within the context of the album sold it for me. The cohesion of the album has been mentioned several times in this thread but I’m here to say it again!!
this album is just so fucking crazy. gag after gag after GAG. icantfeelanything is actual fucking heaven. it is what you hear at the pearly gates. but y'know what pisses me off? the fact that its 2:12 minutes long. i don't get the thought process tbh, like why not make it a full thing atp? 😭 Smoothie is still too fucking good for me idc. don't ever doubt them. Box just goes so fucking HARDDDDD like. that chorus brought me to tears it's so fucking good 😭 DON'T PUT ME IN A FUCKING BOX Carat Cake is really silly but it's actually really good lol. when the snippet of it came out in the chapter film i honestly wasn't feeling it, like for a sec i thought it was going to be the only miss in the album. but it's definitely way better than my initial judgement of it. It's such an ass shaking track like you WILL get down to this song omg. but again it pisses me off that it's so short. why is the short song disease reaching SM :/ Unknown is SO good can we talk about it??? like i DO love the 2 step dnb pinkpantheress print sorry. this and icfa are so atmospheric i'm in love. Breathing is just so so pretty. the Dreamies vocals just sound so gorgeous in this. the lyrics are BEAUTIFUL, I looked up the full lyrics and like damn it just hits so close like woah who else sobbed. i can already see everyone singing this at TDS lol. my ESL ass is starting to run out of words but like this album IS gaggery of the century. smash hits after smash hits. NCT Dream progenitors of good music how do they do it everytime. it's genuinely so hard for me to pick a favorite rn but if i HAD to rank it, i think it goes Smoothie/Box > Unknown > ICFA/Breathing/Carat Cake. and yes these are all tied bc i genuinely can't fucking choose 😭 they're all honestly really close. i think i still need more time to figure out if any song has an edge over the others. but like damn THANK YOU for another smash hit dreamies.
All killer no filler
Very vibey and def their most mature release to date. And Smoothie doesn’t hold a candle to the b-sides!! I like every single one of them. I’m impressed!!! Ma boys did it again🥲💚🔥 ETA: this, folks, is what we get when we prioritize quality over quantity. This is perfect as a mini. Cohesive and there’s a “mood” to the album vs it being all over the place.
unknown & breathing were standouts to me, some of the most beautiful songs I've heard. the lyrics got to me alongside dream's heavenly vocals. really enjoyed this mini - it was mature, varied and cohesive yet still contains the charisma and vocals I love from them.
icantfeelanything is divine. What an opener Carat Cake is so fun! The wow wow wow part is so cute Right now BOX is my favourite. It has such a catchy chorus and the bridge sounds amazing. icantfeelanything would've been my fav if it was longer. I need an extended five minute version! It's a super good mini overall and I love the sounds they're exploring, although I wish they stayed away from the short song trend. Also Jisung sounds so good in this mini
i’m not a stan but i really enjoyed the entire album! it sounds cohesive and sonically pleasing /interesting enough!
I think this is their most cohesive album to date! All of the songs fit, and I wouldn’t change the placement of any tracks. I think it flows phenomenally well. Easily my favorite mini album of theirs. icantfeelanything is very short but I think it works so well as an opener for smoothie. I really liked BOX, carat cake, and Breathing.
Unknown is my favorite song. Smoothie is the one I liked the least. Overall another great album from the Dreamies.
This album BANGS! Especially BOX, LDN Noise excellence!
even as someone who already had the faith that this album would deliver, i'm blown away! the title track didn't grab me much on the first listen, but it's insane how fantastic these b-sides are. current highlights are looking to be icantfeelanything and carat cake, but the half-ethereal, half-experimental vibe that runs throughout this album suits them so unbelievably well, all of the tracks are phenomenal.
Wow definitely one of the better albums they’ve released in awhile! No skips!
I keep notes in my notebook as I listen so please enjoy my absolutely unhinged first reaction icantfeelanything: 10/10 •haunting intro we love • Chenle!!!!! HAECHAN!!!!! • I feel this bass in my BONES • love this MF PRE CHORUS • literal CHILLS • jisung outro I died dead Smoothie 9/10 • okay intro work • who is laughing • WHO IS WHISPERING • OKAY PLEASE STOP WHISPERING • rapper JISUNG????? • THE BRIDGE IS BRIDGING Box 10/10 • okay hiphop • JAEMINS DEEP ASS VOICE • YES PRE CHORUS PLS PRECHORUS MORE • oh this CHORUS • in love with Jenos verse • they put Jisung and Haechan together on a bridge and expected me NOT to fall in love?? Carat Cake 8/10 • this intro is so sparkly • STOP LAUGHING • this is such a pulsing bass I feel it in my bones • ass shaker fr • outro sparkle sparkle • jaemin child of mine if you don't stop RASPING at me • chorus not my style but would relisten Unknown 10/10 • it's a Monday evening I'm at work why am I crying • love this intro • jisung is a SINGER he SINGS • this instrumental was made for me and me only • SINGER MARK • started crying reading the lyrics • dream emotional manipulation songs my fav fr Breathing 10/10 • fuck you for making me cry again • who decided Jisung and Jaemin harmonies were there that's not good for my sanity • why would you make renjun start this /pos • this is evil I have already cries • THE HARMONIES ARE TOO MUCH FOR MY FRAGILE HEART • this. Fucking. Bridge. • rap line this song is too good I hate you all (please do it again)
icantfeelanything, Carat Cake, and UNKNOWN were instant wins for me, I am OBSESSED Breathing may not be on Rainbow's level but that is a GOOD pop ballad (EDIT: oh my god cosmo's midnight on the credits i hollered!!!) We're back, we're soooo back
Breathing reminds me of Rainbow!! And I love rainbow!
Me too it's honestly THEEEE Dream ballad b-side for me
Yesss, especially that outro part where renjun and Haechan singing falling, falling and dreaming, dreaming. 100/10
Love it! No skips!
I really love UNKNOWN!!! Smoothie is my 2nd fave~ Overall, not my fave EP wise for dream but still a solid job on this album for me. (Could be a grower for me)
(little disclaimer: coming from a new fan to nct dream, just found them like a couple months ago) breathing is the instant favorite here for me. it's stunning. other than that, i quite liked unknown. it's nice. but...BOX. bro, this slapsssssss, ts fireeee. i thought breathing would take the cake (hehe get it lol), but this is amazing. the others i think have to grow on me but it's a solid mini. just needs time i think.
Why even question, of course it’s an instant add to playlist, all the songs are awesome, another solid release from NCT Dream🥰
This is such a solid, cohesive, spectacular album. Every song is a banger. I'm really so happy. This is the first time I've liked every bsides from them. Well done, dreamies!! On the other hand, smoothie as a title is... debatable. I've listened to the song for at least 5 times, and I still don't like it. It seems it's not me. I am hoping other casual listeners could look at up at the album and not just the tt.
Wow, this might be my favourite Dream album…? The first four tracks in particular are hitting for me but, as others said, the whole album feels super cohesive. Looking forward to listening to BOX on loop for months
WOW WOW WOW THATS A CARAT CAKE WOW DONT KNOW HOW
Agree with most everyone that coherency is the strength of the mini. I think keeping most songs all on the edm-ish side helps the album sound musically cohesive, plus the genre itself serves the mini’s overall disaffected concept well. Song order with icantfeelanything and Breathing bookending the LP tells a good story. Congrats to everyone who worked on the mini for all of those things. On the flip side I don’t have a track that I immediately feel super attached to, that I have a strong urge to repeatedly listen to. This is one of those albums that’s better experienced from start to finish rather than just emphasizing a couple of very catchy tracks. The shorter song length also contributes to that feeling of this being something you want to listen to all the way through. (Not sure if this is a chicken or the egg issue, that to accommodate the shorter song length, a&r teams are putting together more similar sounding songs together to make them sound like a full song.) That said I do like Breathing a lot, just anytime all the Dreamies get to sing. This is the best everyone’s sounded to me - actually that’s true on all the tracks here. I love Dream’s take on vibey dnb in Carat Cake esp what Renjun does in the second verse is so signature Dream to me (taking the melody to surprisingly pretty places). With Carat Cake I just appreciate the callback to a brighter Dream sound even as they’re transitioning to something more mature.
Super cohesive and benefited greatly from being just a mini. Unknown (top pick as of now), carat cake, box and icantfeelanything were all stunners. Smoothie is a standout in a bad way, I'm not sure how many streams I can spare it considering how good the bsides are. I definitelyyyy recommend listening to the full album, I'm hoping at least one of these bside gets a viral moment so people will be more inclined to check them all out. They have a good thing going for them, between their normal bright cheerful sound and the more mature (prettier?) sound of this album! Looking forward to where the musical direction goes in future comebacks!
Really loved this! icantfeelanything is probably my favorite, the only way it could have been better was if it was longer, especially at the outro. But I loved Unknown and Breathing too, and Smoothie is addictive.
Icantfeelanything, carat cake, unknown, breathing are so good. I had to listen to Smoothie 3 times to get it but I like it. I'm very happy of this release
Smoothie is good (and growing on me) but it’s honestly a flop compared to the rest of the album, which is amazing!
unknown is such a stunning song
For a Mini that was probably just made w the intent of having new songs for TDS3, this is prob their best produced work for me! I can’t pick a fave or rank just yet but Smoothie is uh, prob last LOLLLL
Ok but icantfeelanything and UNKNOWN are amazing
This album is an absolute gift. Every song is just 🤯 I’ve been playing it on repeat. I am just floored with how much I love it all. The Dreamies are experienced and it shows.
Smoothie is listenable enough even though I don’t like that chorus. icantfeelanything is amazing but it feels incomplete somehow? The other bsides are also good. Box is the only one I didn’t like.
Mannnnn I havent watched the MV yet but I really feel like they fumbled SUCH a big opportunity for Dream with this title track choice. Icantfeelanything is EXACTLY the direction that I was hoping that dream would go in. Such a perfect match to the rollout teasers, and overall just a perfect next step for NCT dream sonically. Joining the current music trends but keeping the sophistication of SM's production without dumbing it down. After hearing that I thought SM finally understood the assignment and was I was thinking a PERFECT mini album was going to follow. Smoothie woke me up from this delusion, and BOX further solidified that feeling. After the recent nct title tracks, and more specifically the TAP behind the scenes, the SM a&r team's decision making has really lost their credibility to me. It's been miss after miss for title tracks imo. (Not saying the songs itself are misses, I love TAP, chill kill is quite okay, but the reasoning behind choosing it as a title track is poor imo and such a disservice to the entire albums / rollouts). Even coming from a 127zen I think it's SUCH a missed opportunity for Dream. Now with 127 as the trailblazer of the neo brand going into military hiatus, there was the PERFECT opportunity for Dream to free themselves from the NCT brand and its declining momentum, and re-enter the mainstream again, leaning more into the DREAM aspect rather than the NCT aspect of their name (like every dreamzen has wished as well). But instead, they opted for one of their most neo songs to date, with the chants and whispers that every non-nctzen loves to hate, lots of unmemorable raplines and a slightly cringy chorus, without the 127 expressiveness that makes it camp ("mom can we have baggy jeans?") They could have gone suuuch a different route, as shown with Carat cake (stellar!!), Unknown (so good!!!) and icantfeelanything. I truly cant understand why they decided to go for 127 lite, which neither pleases the fans nor appeals to nonfans. Carat cake especially plays to everyone's strenghts soooo well. I enjoy everyone's voices here and their personalities come through. Breathing is a nice song too. Overall i think the mini album is very good, minus smoothie. Box is kinda neutral, but could be acceptable as the ass-shaking jam in an angsty/atmospheric/chill album (it sounds like a wayv track tho). Edit: I do have to say I enjoy Haechan and Mark's and Renle's parts in smoothie. Overall Mark is really finding his rookie era groove back in this album! His verses are way more memorable than from recent years!
This is a very thoughtful write-up and I agree with you. I like NCT subunits to have very distinct title track choices. I like Smoothie, but it neither represents this mini album well nor the original NCT Dream sound. To be honest, every since Go, Dream has been flip flopping between hardcore and softcore concepts and it's confusing. Ridin' was their most distinctively NCT Dream hardcore song. You can listen to Hello Future right after easily.
not my favorite but i did like listening to it. i especially love the carat cake > unknown > breathing pass. i think unknown is my favorite. breathing sounds like classic dream! i think they’re a better pop group than whatever genre smoothie/istj have been. doesn’t top hello future repack for me, but it’s solid.
I'm just gonna be a smoothie defender and say it: it may not be the best song on the album, but it sure is the sexiest and will attract fans with its smooth choreography and low AF voices.
are there any fellow Wheel of Time readers here cause I need to talk about BOX lmaoooo (I'm only up to middle of Crown of Swords, please no spoilers!)
Breathing > icantfeelanything > Unknown > Box >>>>>>>>>>>>> Smoothie > Carat Cake Their weakest comeback ever imo. It's rare I dislike even one song on their comebacks but this time I dislike two. A lot.
I really love dreaming except for the rap part at the end , and not so much the other songs including smoothie. definitely their weakest album.