Song Review: NCT 127 – Blingy

When describing the concept for NCT 127’s big comeback Blingy at KCON the other week, member Jaehyun offered this fascinating word salad: “It’s uh… it’s a blingy album… ’cause we’re on a journey to find something blingy, but we figure out it’s all in our minds… with our fans too.” Okay, then! This confirms to me that no one in K-pop actually knows what’s going on and leads me to my biggest question: do people really still say “blingy”? At any rate, this is NCT 127’s first comeback since 2024’s Walk and sees the group down to a paltry five members. As I mentioned in my KCON write-up, a five-member version of 127 feels very different and a bit surreal. However, they’re back to their classic Neo sound with this one. We’ve got a gritty, grimy electronic hip-hop beat with splashes of distorted guitar, a shout-chant nonsense chorus and plenty of mugging for the camera during the song’s rap-heavy verses. This familiar template should be enough to please hardcore fans, but I’m not sure it offers much for the rest of us. As I mentioned in my review for NCT 127’s pre-release Piñata, K-pop has a way of turning chanted centerpieces into overly shrill-sounding arrangements that are unpleasant t...