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About

NCT, short for Neo Culture Technology, is a K-pop boy band formed in 2016 by SM Entertainment. Unlike other groups formed by SM Entertainment and the larger K-pop industry, the concept behind NCT is that there is an unlimited amount of members that can join the group and that there are different sub-units and groups that fall under the NCT banner that promote usually in the city they were formed in. The group, currently consisting of four sub-units, has received notoriety due to its somewhat unique and complex concept and growing fandom online.

History

Pre-debut

In January 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man gave a presentation titled "SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016" (shown below), where he, among other plans for the company, announced the creation of a new group based upon the "Cultural Technology" strategy used by SM Entertainment to promote their artists. With this new group, the concept would be that the group would have an unlimited amount of members as part of sub-units formed and based in various cities around the world and some members would either be added to, removed from, or transferred to, other sub-units. This has been noted to be similar to Soo-man's former approach to mid-2000s group Super Junior in that members would be rotated in and out from active performance.

NCT U

NCT U was the first group to debut under the NCT name. Originally composed of Moon "Taeil" Tae-il, Lee "Taeyong" Tae-yong, Kim "Doyoung" Dong-young, Chittaphon "Ten" Leechaiyapornkul, Jung "Jaehyun" Jae-hyun, and Mark Lee, mononymously known as Mark and also known as Lee Min-hyung. The group made their debut on April 9, 2016 with the release of their first single "The 7th Sense" (music video shown below, left) followed by "Without You" (music video shown below, right) a day later, with the former being sung by Taeyong, Mark, Jaehyun, Doyoung, and Ten, and the latter being sung by Jaehyun, Doyoung, and Taeil, with a Chinese version released featuring then-rookie Qian Kun, also simply known as Kun.

NCT 127

NCT 127 made their debut as the second group under NCT. This group was the first to have a permanent lineup and was supposed to be the Seoul-based sub unit, based upon Seoul being located on the 127th circle of longitude. The group originally consisted of NCT U members Taeil, Taeyong, Jaehyun, Mark, and new members Yuta Nakamoto, or simply Yuta, Dong "Winwin" Si Cheng, and Lee "Haechan" Dong-hyuck, formerly known as Donghyuck. The group made their debut 3 months after NCT U debuted, on July 7, 2016 with the release of their first single "Firetruck" (shown below, left). In January 2017, 2 more members would be added to the lineup for the release of their second EP Limitless (music video shown below, right): Doyoung from NCT U, and newcomer John "Johnny" Seo.

NCT Dream

NCT Dream is the third group to debut under NCT. Originally composed of members ranging from the ages of 15 to 18 with members to leave the group to join another sub-unit once age 20 or older, it is the second rotational unit to debut and consisted of members Mark, Haechan, Huang "Renjun" Ren Jun, Lee "Jeno" Je-no, Na "Jaemin" Jae-min, Zhong "Chenle" Chen Le, and Park "Jisung" Ji-sung. The group made their debut on August 24, 2016, a month after the debut of NCT 127, with the release of their first single "Chewing Gum" (shown below, left). The single would be part of their first singles EP "The First", alongside the other lead single "My First and Last" (shown below, right). At the end of 2018, it was announced that Mark would graduate from the group as per Dream's rotational unit status, though in 2020, the group would restructure to become a fixed-member group, with Mark rejoining.

NCT 2018

NCT 2018 is a project involving all current members of NCT at the time alongside new members Kun, Wong "Lucas" Yuk Hei, and Kim "Jungwoo" Jung-woo. As a full group, the ensemble released their first album, NCT 2018 Empathy on March 14, 2018 and featured new material from all 3 units.

WayV

WayV is the fourth group to debut as a part of NCT, and the sub-group focused on promoting in China. Comprised of existing members Lucas, Ten, WinWin, Kun, and former rookies Xiao "Xiaojun" De Jun, Wong "Hendery" Kunhang, and Liu "Yangyang" YangYang, the group debuted in 2019 as NCT's Chinese language unit to release under SM Entertainment's Chinese exclusive record label Label V, starting with their first EP The Vision released on January 17th, featuring Mandarin Chinese versions of NCT 127's "Regular" (music video shown below, left) and "Come Back," and an original track "Dream Launch" (music video shown below, right)

Reputation

Though NCT has seen an immeasurable amount of success since the debut of the first group, it seems as if NCT 127 has seen the most success and probably the most active, with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. They also have a variety show, NCT Life, showcasing their daily lives and promotional activities.

Online Relevance

Four Twitter accounts for the group and its sub-units exist, with the main account having accumulated over 1 million followers, an official Japanese account gaining over 232,000 followers, and the official accounts for NCT 127 and NCT Dream gaining over 648,000 followers and 498,000 followers respectively. On Youtube, channels for NCT, NCT 127, and NCT Dream exist with subscriber counts at over 172,000, 120,000, and 108,000 subscribers respectively for each channel.

Fandom

NCTzen

The fandom of NCT is known as NCTzen

Search Interest

External References