Song Review: NCT Dream – BTTF

NCT Dream’s new album is right around the corner and they’re promoting it with double title tracks. We’ll have to wait to hear Chiller on Monday alongside the album release, but the guys have pre-released opening track BTTF today. The song blends the old with the new, much like the retro-futurism of the music video.

I have such a difficult time with NCT releases. There are many songs I feel like I would absolutely love without all the shouting. I don’t automatically dislike shouting in pop music, but something about NCT’s distinct, blustery blend is often like nails on a chalkboard to my ears and makes the music very hard to parse. BTTF is chock-full of shout-chanting, yet its strengths may be enough to overcome that aural assault. There are times when the song is genuinely thrilling, though these make up a frustratingly small percent of the overall equation. I’m in love with the sung chorus, which recalls the vaunted SMP style of music SM Entertainment build their name on. The towering vocal blend during this segment is something only K-pop does and every time I hear it I’m reminded why I was first drawn into this musical world.

Unfortunately, these moments make up about fifteen seconds of a three minute song. Much more time is allotted to the guys shouting “ya ya whoa!” and “ta ta ta!” at us full blast (along with screeching whistles?). I would have preferred a more balanced mix of these elements, but that’s where BTTF‘s bombastic synthwave production comes in to carry the day. The instrumental is cinematic and exciting and tempers some of the overly aggressive rapping. A mid-song band breakdown is especially enticing. I can imagine how epic the song would be with melodies as consistently engaging as the energy of the production, but that rarely occurs these days so I guess we have to take the scraps we’re given and submit to all the barking and hollering to get to the good stuff.

Grade: B