[Review] +82 Pressin’ – MARK (NCT) ft. HAECHAN (NCT)

MARK continues to tease his upcoming solo debut album, which has now been confirmed to drop on 7 April 2025 and be titled The Firstfruit. The first release from this forthcoming album was Fraktsiya (ft. LEE YOUNG JI) from December 2024. And now, MARK is back with a new pre-release single +82 Pressin’, which features fellow NCT member HAECHAN.

+82 Pressin’ is a hip-hop track with abundant textures and superb delivery from the pair. While the influences were ordinary, I enjoyed the upbeat instrumentation, which keeps +82 Pressin’ dynamic and energetic throughout. The textures made the song “crunchy” and enjoyable. As for the pairing, both MARK and HAECHAN did a fantastic job in their own areas of delivery – MARK with rapping and HAECHAN with vocals. However, HAECHAN’s raspy vocals stood out more to me. But their chemistry is undeniable, especially during the parts where they come together. This should not surprise anyone, given their long history together. But what I thought was cool and made +82 Pressin’ even more intriguing was that they dabbled in each other’s motif (i.e., MARK with vocals and HAECHAN in rapping). It is not a new thing for them, but it is a memorable highlight of +82 Pressin’. The chorus was catchy, but I wished there was a more pronounced hook to remember the song by. I also would have liked them to break the song’s confines and show off more. These would have taken +82 Pressin’ to the next level for me.

Interesting that three reviews in a row, I have assigned a 10/10 for the music video scores. It has been a week of awesome music videos, apparently. In the video for +82 Pressin’, we see MARK and HAECHAN work together to fight crime. But when they encounter the female character, HAECHAN becomes brainwashed and turns on MARK. MARK continues his mission and fights the mobsters working for the female character. He succeeds against the mobsters but barely gets away from the female character before he is executed by his former crime-fighting partner. My recap here probably does not do justice to the actual storyline in the video, so I recommend you check it out. I did like the Sin City influence the video had going on, with the grayscale motif and retention of the red colour. The red colour is a key detail to note, as when HAECHAN is turned, his shirt collar goes from grayscale to red. However, it is back to grayscale at the end, so maybe HAECHAN has been against MARK all along?

+82 Pressin’ was performed on MCountDown last Thursday. It was a fantastic performance. The hip-hop influence was a no-brainer given the song, but I liked how it came through in the routine. MARK and HAECHAN looked very natural throughout the performance, despite my initial thoughts that HAECHAN might look awkward in this form. Their moves, particularly their footwork, were super cool, and their chemistry (once again) made it engaging to watch.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.8/10