It’s late summer in Los Angeles and pop stars NCT 127 are booked and busy. Two of the group’s members, Doyoung and Jungwoo, are serving in the Korean military, so as of now there are only five members meeting with The Times for a recent interview. The group is used to being flexible both in the literal sense — they are all amazing dancers — and in the practical as they have adjusted to accommodate change over the years, including the departure of two members.
Inside a hotel conference room downtown, rapper/vocalists Johnny and Taeyong and singers Jaehyun, Haechan and Yuta are dutifully seated at a table with iced coffees, pens and notepads. Taeyong has used the occasion to sketch a large, detailed star and skull on his.
They are here to discuss their seventh studio album, “Blingy,” released Monday, that sees the five members continuing their reputation for experimental hip-hop.
NCT 127 is one of the Avengers-like subunits of the sprawling NCT concept (Neo Culture Technology) from the Korean company SM Entertainment — one in a large family of groups targeted to different regions, cultures or styles of music that have on occasion performed together as a supergroup.
It is a lot to digest, but for many fans of the concept called “NCTzens” (pronounced “net-izens”) it’s also a lot of fun.
The last time we met with the group in 2018, they were only two years into their career. A lot has happened since then, with millions of albums sold, world tours and, yes, they did lead the next generation with their harder-edged sound paving the way for acts like Ateez and Stray Kids.
The group spoke to the Times about celebrating 10 years together, their legacy, thoughts on the music industry and more.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and some portions of the interview were translated from Korean
I’d like to begin by asking a serious question. Are you ever too old to be a baddie in a Porsche?
Johnny: Never!
Your performance of “Piñata” at KCON and ”America’s Got Talent” stood out to me. The song has a driving bass line and would be interesting to perform with a live band. Is that something you’ve talked about before with each other, leaning into a rock sound?
Jaehyun: Naturally, it came out because we don’t have a “pure” vibe, maybe from us five, so we had to lean into some sounds that were more maybe hard, and one of the genres might be rock…. So I think it just came out during the performance.
Your light sticks were everywhere at KCON. People were there for you. Did you know they were actually part of a museum display back in 2024? The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston had a “Hallyu” exhibit with a light sick display, and yours was part of it.
Johnny: I did see photos of it … I never knew that anything about me would be in that museum, but at least we got our light stick in there and it makes me very happy.
The five active members of NCT 127 reflect on world tours, Hollywood Bowl memories and museum-worthy light sticks, even as two bandmates fulfill Korean military service.
(SM Entertainment)
The last time The Times met up with you was back in 2018 and I want to go down memory lane a bit. Is there anything that comes to mind when thinking about that time and looking at this photo?
NCT 127 is shown a photo of The Times article pulled up on a laptop.
Johnny: It looks like the “Touch” era, no?
Haechan: I think it was around the time that “Regular” was out.
Jaehyun: We were talking a lot about the first tour in the U.S. during this KCON. We were talking a lot about the memories during the first tour where we had a tour bus and we went to a lot of cities and had a good time. All the memories.
You were performing at the Hollywood Bowl for the Korea Times Music Festival with Rain and Baek Ji-young and Red Velvet…
Yuta: I think this was actually our first performance in the U.S.
That’s an iconic venue to have the first performance.
Johnny: And I think we were told that right before we went on stage too, so no pressure there. I think it was a performance we can’t forget because it was our first here in L.A.
You’re known for your genre blending, which says a lot since K-pop itself is known for genre blending and its distinctive elements. How do you define the “Neo” sound today, and how do you think it’s evolving?
Jaehyun: What I found out that was interesting recently is now, if you hear a song, people say, “Oh, this sounds like an NCT 127 song.” Like even like the demo tracks, like random tracks, there are specific things that make you feel like it’s a 127 song. It’s not what type of sound you use or what genre it is. It’s more with the vibe, I guess? And really if you listen to “Blingy” you definitely think of NCT 127, but [more] advanced than the other tracks. I also think as we grew as a group, our characters one by one also grew … and now whatever sound you give us, if we just put our character into it, it becomes very “127-like.” I think it goes along with what you said about “Piñata,” how it’s a rock sound. It’s a new sound, but because we put our character, our personalities inside that song, it became a song that looks really good on us.
When working on music, do you ever hear a song the first time through and go, “This needs to be tweaked a little bit. It’s not NCT 127 enough?”
Taeyong: When it comes to important titles, I try to learn about the song at a really high level. I do discuss with my members and everything, but personally, I don’t really listen to the demo because I want to just go in there and get the vibe of it, and you know, just go as a kind of freestyle as I discuss with the director and the A&R.
We’ll have a discussion with our staff when we do the recording, and to bring out the “Neo-ness” in the song, I think we just achieve this by just layering our voices together. That’s what makes our songs Neo, and if we don’t like certain versions of it, we will do another recording of it and do some modifications.
Is there a particular lyric off of”Blingy” that resonates with any of you?
Johnny: No, but actually, I do remember we were shooting like a little short clip with Matt Damon and Charlize Theron because we got to meet them. We interviewed them for “The Odyssey.” So while shooting we actually had to say the lyrics to them. “Ooh blingy, eyes on my city” And they were like, “Eyes on my city?” So I was like, “Oh, OK that lyric definitely will make people kind of stop and think.”
Jaehyun: Yeah, stop and think.
Johnny: [And] want to try to listen to the song. Yes, and I think it’s true because NCT 127 the whole concept is basically music from Korea, us from Korea, just spreading our music and love all around the world, and then having the world now come see us, like look at our city. This is our city. So that lyric kind of does resonate with NCT 127 as a whole.
When thinking about your career and this time in your life, what legacy do you want to leave behind? You know, it could be a personal legacy too, like not just with NCT 127.
Taeyong: I feel like our albums will be our legacy. So looking back when we look at all of the albums that we created, I think about all the efforts that we put in, and the more efforts we put in, you know, the better [an] album it could be. And looking back on individual albums, maybe 10 to 20 years later, I want them to consist of all the good memories that we’ve shared together, and I feel like that would be the legacy.
Did you celebrate, acknowledge or talk about your 10-year anniversary together, apart from any official events for fans?
Johnny: Everyone has a different way of celebrating a 10th anniversary; even in a marriage maybe some people will buy each other presents and some will go on vacation … one thing that Haechan actually did for us was he got us some mics, so we can use that to perform later on during the tour, and that actually kind of means a lot to us. It’s kind of useful and thoughtful at the same time. Very “Haechan-like.”
Yuta: Johnny got watches for all of us. Sweet guy.
What kind?
Johnny: I knew that not all the members would wear the watch, so I just got them the Swatch AP collab, put it on the bag.
Haechan takes out his bag and shows the watch
Johnny: Yeah, so nothing too …
Looking toward their next decade, the group doubles down on a boundary-free “Neo” identity, treating albums as lasting legacy pieces and insisting their sound transcends K-pop labels.
(SM Entertainment)
It’s not a Rolex. That’s for the 15th or 20th year.
They all laugh
Johnny: Something simple but they can carry around easily.
One of your colleagues recently brought up the thought that K-pop sounds more and more like American pop. One could argue that there should be no labels in music at all. Do you have any thoughts on that or any other changes going on in music, the industry, like with AI, for example?
Taeyong: I personally don’t think music has boundaries, and it’s unfortunate to see some people labeling different music for this. Of course, there are different genres, and dividing into different genres is OK. But it’s unfortunate that people are sometimes prejudiced about music, dance and instruments. Since we debuted as NCT, we kind of try to focus on being “Neo,” and I don’t think being Neo should be confined to just one area. We try to cover comprehensive genres and areas of music, and I don’t want us to be labeled as just you know K-pop or pop or hip-hop. We want to cover everything.
Yuta: Everyone gets inspired from everybody, so you know we learn from each other. And recently, I’ve been into a U.K. rock artist and again, I feel like when it comes to art, we are free from boundaries, and there’s really no meaning in labeling.
What artist?
Yuta: Yungblud
Finally, I ran into a couple of your NCTzens at the concert and they had a couple of questions: When will there be a Jaehyun world tour?
Jaehyun: I’m working on it.
They want to know if DoJaeJung is going to come back. They really liked “Perfume.”
Jaehyun: That’s … nobody knows. I’m so curious about that too. I wonder what would happen. Nobody knows.
It’s late summer in Los Angeles and pop stars NCT 127 are booked and busy. Two of the group’s members, Doyoung and Jungwoo, are serving in the Korean military, so as of now there are only five members meeting with The Times for a recent interview. The group is used to being flexible both in the literal sense — they are all amazing dancers — and in the practical as they have adjusted to accommodate change over the years, including the departure of two members.
Inside a hotel conference room downtown, rapper/vocalists Johnny and Taeyong and singers Jaehyun, Haechan and Yuta are dutifully seated at a table with iced coffees, pens and notepads. Taeyong has used the occasion to sketch a large, detailed star and skull on his.
They are here to discuss their seventh studio album, “Blingy,” released Monday, that sees the five members continuing their reputation for experimental hip-hop.
NCT 127 is one of the Avengers-like subunits of the sprawling NCT concept (Neo Culture Technology) from the Korean company SM Entertainment — one in a large family of groups targeted to different regions, cultures or styles of music that have on occasion performed together as a supergroup.
It is a lot to digest, but for many fans of the concept called “NCTzens” (pronounced “net-izens”) it’s also a lot of fun.
The last time we met with the group in 2018, they were only two years into their career. A lot has happened since then, with millions of albums sold, world tours and, yes, they did lead the next generation with their harder-edged sound paving the way for acts like Ateez and Stray Kids.
The group spoke to the Times about celebrating 10 years together, their legacy, thoughts on the music industry and more.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and some portions of the interview were translated from Korean
I’d like to begin by asking a serious question. Are you ever too old to be a baddie in a Porsche?
Johnny: Never!
Your performance of “Piñata” at KCON and ”America’s Got Talent” stood out to me. The song has a driving bass line and would be interesting to perform with a live band. Is that something you’ve talked about before with each other, leaning into a rock sound?
Jaehyun: Naturally, it came out because we don’t have a “pure” vibe, maybe from us five, so we had to lean into some sounds that were more maybe hard, and one of the genres might be rock…. So I think it just came out during the performance.
Your light sticks were everywhere at KCON. People were there for you. Did you know they were actually part of a museum display back in 2024? The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston had a “Hallyu” exhibit with a light sick display, and yours was part of it.
Johnny: I did see photos of it … I never knew that anything about me would be in that museum, but at least we got our light stick in there and it makes me very happy.
The five active members of NCT 127 reflect on world tours, Hollywood Bowl memories and museum-worthy light sticks, even as two bandmates fulfill Korean military service.
(SM Entertainment)
The last time The Times met up with you was back in 2018 and I want to go down memory lane a bit. Is there anything that comes to mind when thinking about that time and looking at this photo?
NCT 127 is shown a photo of The Times article pulled up on a laptop.
Johnny: It looks like the “Touch” era, no?
Haechan: I think it was around the time that “Regular” was out.
Jaehyun: We were talking a lot about the first tour in the U.S. during this KCON. We were talking a lot about the memories during the first tour where we had a tour bus and we went to a lot of cities and had a good time. All the memories.
You were performing at the Hollywood Bowl for the Korea Times Music Festival with Rain and Baek Ji-young and Red Velvet…
Yuta: I think this was actually our first performance in the U.S.
That’s an iconic venue to have the first performance.
Johnny: And I think we were told that right before we went on stage too, so no pressure there. I think it was a performance we can’t forget because it was our first here in L.A.
You’re known for your genre blending, which says a lot since K-pop itself is known for genre blending and its distinctive elements. How do you define the “Neo” sound today, and how do you think it’s evolving?
Jaehyun: What I found out that was interesting recently is now, if you hear a song, people say, “Oh, this sounds like an NCT 127 song.” Like even like the demo tracks, like random tracks, there are specific things that make you feel like it’s a 127 song. It’s not what type of sound you use or what genre it is. It’s more with the vibe, I guess? And really if you listen to “Blingy” you definitely think of NCT 127, but [more] advanced than the other tracks. I also think as we grew as a group, our characters one by one also grew … and now whatever sound you give us, if we just put our character into it, it becomes very “127-like.” I think it goes along with what you said about “Piñata,” how it’s a rock sound. It’s a new sound, but because we put our character, our personalities inside that song, it became a song that looks really good on us.
When working on music, do you ever hear a song the first time through and go, “This needs to be tweaked a little bit. It’s not NCT 127 enough?”
Taeyong: When it comes to important titles, I try to learn about the song at a really high level. I do discuss with my members and everything, but personally, I don’t really listen to the demo because I want to just go in there and get the vibe of it, and you know, just go as a kind of freestyle as I discuss with the director and the A&R.
We’ll have a discussion with our staff when we do the recording, and to bring out the “Neo-ness” in the song, I think we just achieve this by just layering our voices together. That’s what makes our songs Neo, and if we don’t like certain versions of it, we will do another recording of it and do some modifications.
Is there a particular lyric off of”Blingy” that resonates with any of you?
Johnny: No, but actually, I do remember we were shooting like a little short clip with Matt Damon and Charlize Theron because we got to meet them. We interviewed them for “The Odyssey.” So while shooting we actually had to say the lyrics to them. “Ooh blingy, eyes on my city” And they were like, “Eyes on my city?” So I was like, “Oh, OK that lyric definitely will make people kind of stop and think.”
Jaehyun: Yeah, stop and think.
Johnny: [And] want to try to listen to the song. Yes, and I think it’s true because NCT 127 the whole concept is basically music from Korea, us from Korea, just spreading our music and love all around the world, and then having the world now come see us, like look at our city. This is our city. So that lyric kind of does resonate with NCT 127 as a whole.
When thinking about your career and this time in your life, what legacy do you want to leave behind? You know, it could be a personal legacy too, like not just with NCT 127.
Taeyong: I feel like our albums will be our legacy. So looking back when we look at all of the albums that we created, I think about all the efforts that we put in, and the more efforts we put in, you know, the better [an] album it could be. And looking back on individual albums, maybe 10 to 20 years later, I want them to consist of all the good memories that we’ve shared together, and I feel like that would be the legacy.
Did you celebrate, acknowledge or talk about your 10-year anniversary together, apart from any official events for fans?
Johnny: Everyone has a different way of celebrating a 10th anniversary; even in a marriage maybe some people will buy each other presents and some will go on vacation … one thing that Haechan actually did for us was he got us some mics, so we can use that to perform later on during the tour, and that actually kind of means a lot to us. It’s kind of useful and thoughtful at the same time. Very “Haechan-like.”
Yuta: Johnny got watches for all of us. Sweet guy.
What kind?
Johnny: I knew that not all the members would wear the watch, so I just got them the Swatch AP collab, put it on the bag.
Haechan takes out his bag and shows the watch
Johnny: Yeah, so nothing too …
Looking toward their next decade, the group doubles down on a boundary-free “Neo” identity, treating albums as lasting legacy pieces and insisting their sound transcends K-pop labels.
(SM Entertainment)
It’s not a Rolex. That’s for the 15th or 20th year.
They all laugh
Johnny: Something simple but they can carry around easily.
One of your colleagues recently brought up the thought that K-pop sounds more and more like American pop. One could argue that there should be no labels in music at all. Do you have any thoughts on that or any other changes going on in music, the industry, like with AI, for example?
Taeyong: I personally don’t think music has boundaries, and it’s unfortunate to see some people labeling different music for this. Of course, there are different genres, and dividing into different genres is OK. But it’s unfortunate that people are sometimes prejudiced about music, dance and instruments. Since we debuted as NCT, we kind of try to focus on being “Neo,” and I don’t think being Neo should be confined to just one area. We try to cover comprehensive genres and areas of music, and I don’t want us to be labeled as just you know K-pop or pop or hip-hop. We want to cover everything.
Yuta: Everyone gets inspired from everybody, so you know we learn from each other. And recently, I’ve been into a U.K. rock artist and again, I feel like when it comes to art, we are free from boundaries, and there’s really no meaning in labeling.
What artist?
Yuta: Yungblud
Finally, I ran into a couple of your NCTzens at the concert and they had a couple of questions: When will there be a Jaehyun world tour?
Jaehyun: I’m working on it.
They want to know if DoJaeJung is going to come back. They really liked “Perfume.”
Jaehyun: That’s … nobody knows. I’m so curious about that too. I wonder what would happen. Nobody knows.
It’s late summer in Los Angeles and pop stars NCT 127 are booked and busy. Two of the group’s members, Doyoung and Jungwoo, are serving in the Korean military, so as of now there are only five members meeting with The Times for a recent interview. The group is used to being flexible both in the literal sense — they are all amazing dancers — and in the practical as they have adjusted to accommodate change over the years, including the departure of two members.
Inside a hotel conference room downtown, rapper/vocalists Johnny and Taeyong and singers Jaehyun, Haechan and Yuta are dutifully seated at a table with iced coffees, pens and notepads. Taeyong has used the occasion to sketch a large, detailed star and skull on his.
They are here to discuss their seventh studio album, “Blingy,” released Monday, that sees the five members continuing their reputation for experimental hip-hop.
NCT 127 is one of the Avengers-like subunits of the sprawling NCT concept (Neo Culture Technology) from the Korean company SM Entertainment — one in a large family of groups targeted to different regions, cultures or styles of music that have on occasion performed together as a supergroup.
It is a lot to digest, but for many fans of the concept called “NCTzens” (pronounced “net-izens”) it’s also a lot of fun.
The last time we met with the group in 2018, they were only two years into their career. A lot has happened since then, with millions of albums sold, world tours and, yes, they did lead the next generation with their harder-edged sound paving the way for acts like Ateez and Stray Kids.
The group spoke to the Times about celebrating 10 years together, their legacy, thoughts on the music industry and more.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and some portions of the interview were translated from Korean
I’d like to begin by asking a serious question. Are you ever too old to be a baddie in a Porsche?
Johnny: Never!
Your performance of “Piñata” at KCON and ”America’s Got Talent” stood out to me. The song has a driving bass line and would be interesting to perform with a live band. Is that something you’ve talked about before with each other, leaning into a rock sound?
Jaehyun: Naturally, it came out because we don’t have a “pure” vibe, maybe from us five, so we had to lean into some sounds that were more maybe hard, and one of the genres might be rock…. So I think it just came out during the performance.
Your light sticks were everywhere at KCON. People were there for you. Did you know they were actually part of a museum display back in 2024? The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston had a “Hallyu” exhibit with a light sick display, and yours was part of it.
Johnny: I did see photos of it … I never knew that anything about me would be in that museum, but at least we got our light stick in there and it makes me very happy.
The five active members of NCT 127 reflect on world tours, Hollywood Bowl memories and museum-worthy light sticks, even as two bandmates fulfill Korean military service.
(SM Entertainment)
The last time The Times met up with you was back in 2018 and I want to go down memory lane a bit. Is there anything that comes to mind when thinking about that time and looking at this photo?
NCT 127 is shown a photo of The Times article pulled up on a laptop.
Johnny: It looks like the “Touch” era, no?
Haechan: I think it was around the time that “Regular” was out.
Jaehyun: We were talking a lot about the first tour in the U.S. during this KCON. We were talking a lot about the memories during the first tour where we had a tour bus and we went to a lot of cities and had a good time. All the memories.
You were performing at the Hollywood Bowl for the Korea Times Music Festival with Rain and Baek Ji-young and Red Velvet…
Yuta: I think this was actually our first performance in the U.S.
That’s an iconic venue to have the first performance.
Johnny: And I think we were told that right before we went on stage too, so no pressure there. I think it was a performance we can’t forget because it was our first here in L.A.
You’re known for your genre blending, which says a lot since K-pop itself is known for genre blending and its distinctive elements. How do you define the “Neo” sound today, and how do you think it’s evolving?
Jaehyun: What I found out that was interesting recently is now, if you hear a song, people say, “Oh, this sounds like an NCT 127 song.” Like even like the demo tracks, like random tracks, there are specific things that make you feel like it’s a 127 song. It’s not what type of sound you use or what genre it is. It’s more with the vibe, I guess? And really if you listen to “Blingy” you definitely think of NCT 127, but [more] advanced than the other tracks. I also think as we grew as a group, our characters one by one also grew … and now whatever sound you give us, if we just put our character into it, it becomes very “127-like.” I think it goes along with what you said about “Piñata,” how it’s a rock sound. It’s a new sound, but because we put our character, our personalities inside that song, it became a song that looks really good on us.
When working on music, do you ever hear a song the first time through and go, “This needs to be tweaked a little bit. It’s not NCT 127 enough?”
Taeyong: When it comes to important titles, I try to learn about the song at a really high level. I do discuss with my members and everything, but personally, I don’t really listen to the demo because I want to just go in there and get the vibe of it, and you know, just go as a kind of freestyle as I discuss with the director and the A&R.
We’ll have a discussion with our staff when we do the recording, and to bring out the “Neo-ness” in the song, I think we just achieve this by just layering our voices together. That’s what makes our songs Neo, and if we don’t like certain versions of it, we will do another recording of it and do some modifications.
Is there a particular lyric off of”Blingy” that resonates with any of you?
Johnny: No, but actually, I do remember we were shooting like a little short clip with Matt Damon and Charlize Theron because we got to meet them. We interviewed them for “The Odyssey.” So while shooting we actually had to say the lyrics to them. “Ooh blingy, eyes on my city” And they were like, “Eyes on my city?” So I was like, “Oh, OK that lyric definitely will make people kind of stop and think.”
Jaehyun: Yeah, stop and think.
Johnny: [And] want to try to listen to the song. Yes, and I think it’s true because NCT 127 the whole concept is basically music from Korea, us from Korea, just spreading our music and love all around the world, and then having the world now come see us, like look at our city. This is our city. So that lyric kind of does resonate with NCT 127 as a whole.
When thinking about your career and this time in your life, what legacy do you want to leave behind? You know, it could be a personal legacy too, like not just with NCT 127.
Taeyong: I feel like our albums will be our legacy. So looking back when we look at all of the albums that we created, I think about all the efforts that we put in, and the more efforts we put in, you know, the better [an] album it could be. And looking back on individual albums, maybe 10 to 20 years later, I want them to consist of all the good memories that we’ve shared together, and I feel like that would be the legacy.
Did you celebrate, acknowledge or talk about your 10-year anniversary together, apart from any official events for fans?
Johnny: Everyone has a different way of celebrating a 10th anniversary; even in a marriage maybe some people will buy each other presents and some will go on vacation … one thing that Haechan actually did for us was he got us some mics, so we can use that to perform later on during the tour, and that actually kind of means a lot to us. It’s kind of useful and thoughtful at the same time. Very “Haechan-like.”
Yuta: Johnny got watches for all of us. Sweet guy.
What kind?
Johnny: I knew that not all the members would wear the watch, so I just got them the Swatch AP collab, put it on the bag.
Haechan takes out his bag and shows the watch
Johnny: Yeah, so nothing too …
Looking toward their next decade, the group doubles down on a boundary-free “Neo” identity, treating albums as lasting legacy pieces and insisting their sound transcends K-pop labels.
(SM Entertainment)
It’s not a Rolex. That’s for the 15th or 20th year.
They all laugh
Johnny: Something simple but they can carry around easily.
One of your colleagues recently brought up the thought that K-pop sounds more and more like American pop. One could argue that there should be no labels in music at all. Do you have any thoughts on that or any other changes going on in music, the industry, like with AI, for example?
Taeyong: I personally don’t think music has boundaries, and it’s unfortunate to see some people labeling different music for this. Of course, there are different genres, and dividing into different genres is OK. But it’s unfortunate that people are sometimes prejudiced about music, dance and instruments. Since we debuted as NCT, we kind of try to focus on being “Neo,” and I don’t think being Neo should be confined to just one area. We try to cover comprehensive genres and areas of music, and I don’t want us to be labeled as just you know K-pop or pop or hip-hop. We want to cover everything.
Yuta: Everyone gets inspired from everybody, so you know we learn from each other. And recently, I’ve been into a U.K. rock artist and again, I feel like when it comes to art, we are free from boundaries, and there’s really no meaning in labeling.
What artist?
Yuta: Yungblud
Finally, I ran into a couple of your NCTzens at the concert and they had a couple of questions: When will there be a Jaehyun world tour?
Jaehyun: I’m working on it.
They want to know if DoJaeJung is going to come back. They really liked “Perfume.”
Jaehyun: That’s … nobody knows. I’m so curious about that too. I wonder what would happen. Nobody knows.
It’s late summer in Los Angeles and pop stars NCT 127 are booked and busy. Two of the group’s members, Doyoung and Jungwoo, are serving in the Korean military, so as of now there are only five members meeting with The Times for a recent interview. The group is used to being flexible both in the literal sense — they are all amazing dancers — and in the practical as they have adjusted to accommodate change over the years, including the departure of two members.
Inside a hotel conference room downtown, rapper/vocalists Johnny and Taeyong and singers Jaehyun, Haechan and Yuta are dutifully seated at a table with iced coffees, pens and notepads. Taeyong has used the occasion to sketch a large, detailed star and skull on his.
They are here to discuss their seventh studio album, “Blingy,” released Monday, that sees the five members continuing their reputation for experimental hip-hop.
NCT 127 is one of the Avengers-like subunits of the sprawling NCT concept (Neo Culture Technology) from the Korean company SM Entertainment — one in a large family of groups targeted to different regions, cultures or styles of music that have on occasion performed together as a supergroup.
It is a lot to digest, but for many fans of the concept called “NCTzens” (pronounced “net-izens”) it’s also a lot of fun.
The last time we met with the group in 2018, they were only two years into their career. A lot has happened since then, with millions of albums sold, world tours and, yes, they did lead the next generation with their harder-edged sound paving the way for acts like Ateez and Stray Kids.
The group spoke to the Times about celebrating 10 years together, their legacy, thoughts on the music industry and more.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and some portions of the interview were translated from Korean
I’d like to begin by asking a serious question. Are you ever too old to be a baddie in a Porsche?
Johnny: Never!
Your performance of “Piñata” at KCON and ”America’s Got Talent” stood out to me. The song has a driving bass line and would be interesting to perform with a live band. Is that something you’ve talked about before with each other, leaning into a rock sound?
Jaehyun: Naturally, it came out because we don’t have a “pure” vibe, maybe from us five, so we had to lean into some sounds that were more maybe hard, and one of the genres might be rock…. So I think it just came out during the performance.
Your light sticks were everywhere at KCON. People were there for you. Did you know they were actually part of a museum display back in 2024? The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston had a “Hallyu” exhibit with a light sick display, and yours was part of it.
Johnny: I did see photos of it … I never knew that anything about me would be in that museum, but at least we got our light stick in there and it makes me very happy.
The five active members of NCT 127 reflect on world tours, Hollywood Bowl memories and museum-worthy light sticks, even as two bandmates fulfill Korean military service.
(SM Entertainment)
The last time The Times met up with you was back in 2018 and I want to go down memory lane a bit. Is there anything that comes to mind when thinking about that time and looking at this photo?
NCT 127 is shown a photo of The Times article pulled up on a laptop.
Johnny: It looks like the “Touch” era, no?
Haechan: I think it was around the time that “Regular” was out.
Jaehyun: We were talking a lot about the first tour in the U.S. during this KCON. We were talking a lot about the memories during the first tour where we had a tour bus and we went to a lot of cities and had a good time. All the memories.
You were performing at the Hollywood Bowl for the Korea Times Music Festival with Rain and Baek Ji-young and Red Velvet…
Yuta: I think this was actually our first performance in the U.S.
That’s an iconic venue to have the first performance.
Johnny: And I think we were told that right before we went on stage too, so no pressure there. I think it was a performance we can’t forget because it was our first here in L.A.
You’re known for your genre blending, which says a lot since K-pop itself is known for genre blending and its distinctive elements. How do you define the “Neo” sound today, and how do you think it’s evolving?
Jaehyun: What I found out that was interesting recently is now, if you hear a song, people say, “Oh, this sounds like an NCT 127 song.” Like even like the demo tracks, like random tracks, there are specific things that make you feel like it’s a 127 song. It’s not what type of sound you use or what genre it is. It’s more with the vibe, I guess? And really if you listen to “Blingy” you definitely think of NCT 127, but [more] advanced than the other tracks. I also think as we grew as a group, our characters one by one also grew … and now whatever sound you give us, if we just put our character into it, it becomes very “127-like.” I think it goes along with what you said about “Piñata,” how it’s a rock sound. It’s a new sound, but because we put our character, our personalities inside that song, it became a song that looks really good on us.
When working on music, do you ever hear a song the first time through and go, “This needs to be tweaked a little bit. It’s not NCT 127 enough?”
Taeyong: When it comes to important titles, I try to learn about the song at a really high level. I do discuss with my members and everything, but personally, I don’t really listen to the demo because I want to just go in there and get the vibe of it, and you know, just go as a kind of freestyle as I discuss with the director and the A&R.
We’ll have a discussion with our staff when we do the recording, and to bring out the “Neo-ness” in the song, I think we just achieve this by just layering our voices together. That’s what makes our songs Neo, and if we don’t like certain versions of it, we will do another recording of it and do some modifications.
Is there a particular lyric off of”Blingy” that resonates with any of you?
Johnny: No, but actually, I do remember we were shooting like a little short clip with Matt Damon and Charlize Theron because we got to meet them. We interviewed them for “The Odyssey.” So while shooting we actually had to say the lyrics to them. “Ooh blingy, eyes on my city” And they were like, “Eyes on my city?” So I was like, “Oh, OK that lyric definitely will make people kind of stop and think.”
Jaehyun: Yeah, stop and think.
Johnny: [And] want to try to listen to the song. Yes, and I think it’s true because NCT 127 the whole concept is basically music from Korea, us from Korea, just spreading our music and love all around the world, and then having the world now come see us, like look at our city. This is our city. So that lyric kind of does resonate with NCT 127 as a whole.
When thinking about your career and this time in your life, what legacy do you want to leave behind? You know, it could be a personal legacy too, like not just with NCT 127.
Taeyong: I feel like our albums will be our legacy. So looking back when we look at all of the albums that we created, I think about all the efforts that we put in, and the more efforts we put in, you know, the better [an] album it could be. And looking back on individual albums, maybe 10 to 20 years later, I want them to consist of all the good memories that we’ve shared together, and I feel like that would be the legacy.
Did you celebrate, acknowledge or talk about your 10-year anniversary together, apart from any official events for fans?
Johnny: Everyone has a different way of celebrating a 10th anniversary; even in a marriage maybe some people will buy each other presents and some will go on vacation … one thing that Haechan actually did for us was he got us some mics, so we can use that to perform later on during the tour, and that actually kind of means a lot to us. It’s kind of useful and thoughtful at the same time. Very “Haechan-like.”
Yuta: Johnny got watches for all of us. Sweet guy.
What kind?
Johnny: I knew that not all the members would wear the watch, so I just got them the Swatch AP collab, put it on the bag.
Haechan takes out his bag and shows the watch
Johnny: Yeah, so nothing too …
Looking toward their next decade, the group doubles down on a boundary-free “Neo” identity, treating albums as lasting legacy pieces and insisting their sound transcends K-pop labels.
(SM Entertainment)
It’s not a Rolex. That’s for the 15th or 20th year.
They all laugh
Johnny: Something simple but they can carry around easily.
One of your colleagues recently brought up the thought that K-pop sounds more and more like American pop. One could argue that there should be no labels in music at all. Do you have any thoughts on that or any other changes going on in music, the industry, like with AI, for example?
Taeyong: I personally don’t think music has boundaries, and it’s unfortunate to see some people labeling different music for this. Of course, there are different genres, and dividing into different genres is OK. But it’s unfortunate that people are sometimes prejudiced about music, dance and instruments. Since we debuted as NCT, we kind of try to focus on being “Neo,” and I don’t think being Neo should be confined to just one area. We try to cover comprehensive genres and areas of music, and I don’t want us to be labeled as just you know K-pop or pop or hip-hop. We want to cover everything.
Yuta: Everyone gets inspired from everybody, so you know we learn from each other. And recently, I’ve been into a U.K. rock artist and again, I feel like when it comes to art, we are free from boundaries, and there’s really no meaning in labeling.
What artist?
Yuta: Yungblud
Finally, I ran into a couple of your NCTzens at the concert and they had a couple of questions: When will there be a Jaehyun world tour?
Jaehyun: I’m working on it.
They want to know if DoJaeJung is going to come back. They really liked “Perfume.”
Jaehyun: That’s … nobody knows. I’m so curious about that too. I wonder what would happen. Nobody knows.
