After teasing us with last week’s Golden Age, NCT are back with their project album of the same name. This album brings together the entire troupe — from Dream to 127 to WayV — for a celebration of all things NCT. I imagine this means we’re in for a lot of chanting.
If Baggy Jeans is any indication, my suspicion is correct. Like all songs on the album, this NCT U track is delivered by a conglomeration of characters, including Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun and Mark. They’re wasted on a silly/stupid novelty song that somehow required seven co-writers despite sounding like it emerged from foraged scraps of other NCT songs.
Here’s the thing: Baggy Jeans doesn’t work in any of its potential guises. It doesn’t work as a daring piece of experimental hip-pop. I can predict its every move before it makes it, from the dull melodies during the verses to the mumble-chant of the chorus. It doesn’t work as a groovy, Boss-style NCT banger because the beat isn’t that great or interesting. And, it doesn’t work as a joke because it’s not funny and the group performs it as if they’re reciting SM Entertainment’s most important dissertation. The chorus (if you can call it that) is among the year’s worst and we’re about three years past the point where the agency should have been moving on from this tired schtick.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 6.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Listened to it today and it felt good. Like the vocals were amazing and the rap is good as well. Then the chorus hit…f me. Despite there being SEVEN producers not a single one of them had the guts to simply write a decent chorus so we are left with whatever…this is.
For once I agree with the rating here.
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Io non sono d’accordo con la recensione. Trovo il motivo accattivante e loro molto attraenti. Penso però che dovrebbero dare più spazio al vocal principale,Doyoung, invece di mettere sempre avanti gli stessi personaggi.
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I like 94% of the song, but that chorus. All that work for basically a less good, more expensive version of this:
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Haha you went WAY back for that reference!
The song’s also giving me a bit of this attitude:
😂
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1. I AM way back.
2. What did I just watch?
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Hahaha check my swag!
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That Dundas song is awesome, love it! The Jenna Rose song was deleted from my memory. Thanks for bringing it back… Nick…. (menacingly stares)
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The song and the music video is perfect. It’s fun,full of swagger, not meant to cure cancer.I respect people’s opinions but everyone is being so harsh. It’s a fun summer song with great choreography and lots of moments to see these handsome men. These professionals are not wasted on this. Once in awhile you must have simple fun and they did it.
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New record for how little of an NCT song I managed to get through before having to pause and re-center myself, at 7 seconds (previous record-holder: 2 Baddies, 16 seconds).
There’s a lot of NCT stuff I like, but this is honestly inexcusable from the producers and I feel bad for the members performing it. It’s hard to imagine that this isn’t at least a little embarrassing no matter how much you’ve gotten used to being NCT and singing weird shit.
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also the disembodied jeans dancing absolutely sent me. that was camp. i am also unironically into taeyong’s multicolored hair here
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I actually laughed out loud at how ridiculous the dancing pants looked. It was definitely my favorite part of the video.
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Mine too!
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After listening to the new track, I had to quickly go relisten to “The 7th Sense” to clean my ears. What a waste of potential.
It’s funny that this unit has the same incredibly talented members who slayed “The 7th Sense”. I can’t believe we waited 7 years only for the unit to comeback with this mess.
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I feel the same way. I know there’s no point really in comparing this song to The 7th Sense – they’re just so different – but the whole point of this particular lineup is the nostalgia of the magic they had back then with that song so the comparisons are inevitable honestly. Listening to 7th Sense now (and Without You, which is still a masterpiece) makes me feel pretty sad about where the NCT brand is now in terms of the chanting stuff that they seem to be most known for these days.
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When I heard this for the first time in NCT’s concert last Saturday, first thing that popped up was “Nick is gonna fuckin’ HATE this song” and lmao I was right. Thought this was getting an F from you. Appreciate the write-up.
As I’ve said here many times I’m probably NCT’s biggest defender among your readers. I vibed with Sticker’s flute screeching, loved how Hot Sauce’s shout chanting made me hyped, and jammed with Universe so much it soared to the top of my Spotify most played of 2022. So when I first heard the song and was utterly bewildered from the chorus to the key change, does that still stand?
Well, yep, that’s still true here ladies and gents. This is unironically a solid 8 for me. The stupid as fuck chorus is irresistible, and this crazy ass song is something that instantly clicked with me. The boys sell it well, and my favorite part is probably Mark’s “yeah booiiiiiiii” lol. As a fan for years, I’m so glad they still surprise me.
Best description of my feelings of this song is best described from the b-side “PADO”: “You got me confused/you got me so satisfied”
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I swear, I personally love how silly it is and I can’t help but bop to this song. If it was someone else singing, they wouldn’t be able to pull this off because of how it is so NCT coded.
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Heard the song AFTER the Baek Y-jin meme…and weirdly enough it helped, i liked it and yes the chorus is ridiculous and hilarious.
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I think the song has its heart in the right place. Then it starts to run out of steam and makes stuff up, morphs up, morphs down, goes extra wobbly, extra whispery and never really lands the song. It never comes home.
What the song really needs is a fat stomping bass and percussion line which does that heavy lifting for it. The song needs a DJ remix who immediately adds those lines, pronto.
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It’s not for me but it also didn’t make me mad like some past nct singles. 7.25 for me
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Yea, definitely didn’t piss me off like Ay-yo 😭
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must’ve put “write a nct song about clothes” in chatgpt and called it a day
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I did try put that exact prompt into chatgpt and there were lyrics about jeans too lol.
(Verse 1)
From the runway to the streets we go,
Every thread tells a story, don’t you know?
Fabric swaying, colors bright,
In this fashion world, we’ll take flight.
(Pre-Chorus)
Put on your confidence, wear it like a crown,
Clothes speak louder without a sound.
Styles and patterns, a canvas so grand,
Let’s paint the town, hand in hand.
(Chorus)
Dressed to the nines, we shine so bright,
Our fashion game strong, day and night.
Denim jeans or a tailored suit,
Every outfit is our personal truth.
(Verse 2)
Mix and match, let’s redefine,
Breaking boundaries, crossing the line.
Sneakers to heels, we choose our stride,
Fashion’s our language, let it guide.
(Pre-Chorus)
Put on your confidence, wear it like a crown,
Clothes speak louder without a sound.
Styles and patterns, a canvas so grand,
Let’s paint the town, hand in hand.
(Chorus)
Dressed to the nines, we shine so bright,
Our fashion game strong, day and night.
Denim jeans or a tailored suit,
Every outfit is our personal truth.
(Bridge)
From vintage finds to futuristic flair,
Our closets are stories we’re eager to share.
Expressing ourselves, one stitch at a time,
In this fashion symphony, we truly shine.
(Pre-Chorus)
Put on your confidence, wear it like a crown,
Clothes speak louder without a sound.
Styles and patterns, a canvas so grand,
Let’s paint the town, hand in hand.
(Chorus)
Dressed to the nines, we shine so bright,
Our fashion game strong, day and night.
Denim jeans or a tailored suit,
Every outfit is our personal truth.
(Outro)
In this melody of threads and seams,
We dance through life, chasing dreams.
Clothes weave a tale, a song of our own,
In the world of fashion, we’ve grown and flown.
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Better lyrics… Korean lyricists might be better off looking into using chatgpt if this made more sense than 90% of kpop English lyrics
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that damn chorus… but other than this sounds like any other nct song and im sick of it
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taking the superior subunit… and giving them this. sm is sick.
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this is pretty terrible. but as a K-pop stan, I can ignore the music and focus on other things, which is why I will choose to mention that the styling looks great.
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Update: my rating is now instantly lower at a 6.5…maybe even a 6 soon and a possibility of getting into the 5’s
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even the album sucks and aside from like 3 tracks, it’s basically a 127 album without the R&B/slow songs… maybe 2 decent tracks but overall there was just ZERO standout tracks. to rub more salt into the wound (there’s several of them), Get A Guitar sounds amazing. https://www.tiktok.com/music/Get-A-Guitar-7271391182072383489
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I was gonna ask if there were any good b-sides because pressing play on the album feels like a chore. Guess I won’t really be missing anything…
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This is me being extremely biased towards NCT but if you’re not into listening to the whole album, then they just put out 4 track videos of parts of different bside songs as appetizers so I’d suggest checking those four out.
This is my favorite so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BawyJf4aKs
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Pado is definitely the jewel on this album. And the BAT is silly like Zoo and Ok! were so I dig it. So glad I did not pre-order.
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Seconding that PADO is a good track!
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Except for a few NCT Dream tracks, I’m *SO* sick of NCT concept.
Everytime the same, old stuff for N years (and counting). Not to mention that in early october a full NCT 127 album is gonna be released, and that means another dozen of similar AI-generated songs that never begin and that seem to never end.
Since I’m the first to state that as long as it works they’re right, I simply wonder how long it’s still going to work.
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Based on Nick’s harsh worded review, the impression was that score would’ve been lower like a < 4 and not essentially a 7 lol.
Normally I would agree as I really disliked this song from beginning… But as it progresses I kinda dig it?? Definitely not if there was no MV. I actually want to give it a bad score, but I have to admit the whole package was really cool?! It's sitting at a 8/10 for me against my will to dislike most NCT music
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as an nct stan…. yeah i hate this lmfao
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I enjoyed this a lot. It’s definitely one of Taeyong’s better vocal performances in recent memory & even though the singing parts left a lot to be desired in terms of quantity, the members were perfectly placed & did great in the parts they were given. But I also enjoyed 2 Baddies & Glitch Mode way more than their repackages, so what the hell do I know right?
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I feel close to the same way, but I still do not like 2 Baddies, although I can admit it’s a fun performance piece. But everything else? Damn near flawless. And I do love Glitch Mode!
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Wow, I don’t know how to digest this song. They took such a great unit and gave them this trash of a sock. I was struggling in finishing the whole song. I really feel bad for the members.
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So, for science and my own amusement I counted how many times they say baggy in this song.
Its about 90 times, give or take one or two baggies.
That’s approximately one baggy every 2.34 seconds or you could say its about 25.6 baggies per minute.
And every time they say baggy all I want to do is laugh. Which of course equates to me laughing my way through the entire song, because I am just so very confused and vaguely amused by this ridiculous song and its obsession with bagginess. Its not a good song and I am sure I’ll never replay it after this but it also doesn’t anger me enough to be memorable in any way (I still loathe 2baddies). It will become a distant blip in my memory that will forever be quickly overshadowed by the memory of how much I love Dream’s ISTJ.
Is this song a waste of NCT’s talent and skill? Yup 100% , however I have reached a point where I just ignore the NCT material I don’t enjoy and focus on the still sizable amount of material they release that I do enjoy.
For example, during their beyond live concert Wayv debuted the rock version of Kick back and holy cow what an upgrade! I always liked Kick back but it ranked on the lower end of my Wayv title track ranking, though IMO Wayv has always had good titles. Yet that rock version was easily my favorite song of the concert and I would highly recommend it because it is a true jolt of adrenaline.
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I’m gonna need to hear NewJeans’ perspective on all this bagginess. It feels like NCT are encroaching on their turf.
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As much as I like 7S NCT U, the lyrics here are awful and distracting. Not cringey in the fun way, but in the unfun way, if that makes sense. Golden Age is still a bop and a half though
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It’s like they took the sawtooth bass that is my favorite part of 2 Baddies but put an even more insufferable chorus on top of it and threw in a befuddling key change on top of that. Add in the lyrics and I’m left bemused shouting, “……the HECK is this song!?!??” at my computer screen.
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‘They’re wasted on a silly/stupid novelty song that somehow required seven co-writers despite sounding like it emerged from foraged scraps of other NCT songs.’
Whenever kpop uses many writers, it’s always a disaster. Look at O.O and More and More (I like more and more though). Often, someone somewhere tried too hard. I like it’s feel though. The aesthetic of gangster is outdated and just not necessary. I dislike the bridge. Some stock bridge they pulled out of the closet and attached to the song. Idk why I wish they gave EXO this kind of work.
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Because Chen would bring you to tears on the bridge!
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Whenever kpop uses many writers, it’s always a disaster. Look at O.O and More and More (I like more and more though). Often, someone somewhere tried too hard. I like it’s feel though. The aesthetic of gangster is outdated and just not necessary. I dislike the bridge. Some stock bridge they pulled out of the closet and attached to the song. Idk why I wish they gave EXO this kind of work. I am not a fan of the grey scale music video.
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the whole album is the weakest nct release ever across all units and groups
idk when I’ve listened to the album it felt like I’m listening to 1 or 2 songs with slight remixes
souless purely commercial release but it will do well regardless anyway cuz it’s kpop – no one cares about music if it comes from favs
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The song and the music video is perfect. It’s fun,full of swagger, not meant to cure cancer.I respect people’s opinions but everyone is being so harsh. It’s a fun summer song with great choreography and lots of moments to see these handsome men. These professionals are not wasted on this. Once in awhile you must have simple fun and they did it.
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Exactly!!
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These five boys are better singing only The 7th Sense.
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i listened to this before the rest of the album and let me just say, HOW did sm manage to choose the two worst songs on the album as the title and the full group song because i genuinely cannot listen to these two while i’ve been blasting some of the b-sides for a while…
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What I love most with NCT is that they just dont take themselves so serious, they take a strange song and concept and just sell it. And this song really is the best example. Its kind of weird, silly, in parts quite annoying, super goofy, but also kinda cool. Leave it do the talented NCT guys to pull all this off!
I LOVE it.
Taeyongs whisper to start it off, the vocal moments heavenly as always, the chorus so darn weird but kind of groovy and those dancing jeans the funniest thing I have seen in a while. Then Mark with his ‘ya boiiiiii’, the beat switch ups, the parts where there is no instrumental (!!) and then put on top that loose choreo that not many people can pull off?! Genius, I call it.
Watching this MV made me laugh, put me in a good mood for the whole day and made me click replay an unhealthy amount of times.
With most NCT tracks it gets more and more addictive the more I listen. I am not somebody who can pick out everything in a music production on first listen, I always need a few rounds to fully appreciate instrumental, vocals, ad libs, beat changes and background vocals… and there is so much appreciate in this song
I personally will never get tired of them releasing tracks and MVs like that
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The chorus….. 😦
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“Baggy Pants” (SIGH😌)…as much as I resisted, the song made it to my “guilty pleasures” playlist (right next to Shalala).
Unlike Sticker, Ay-Yo, and a whole bunch of NCT songs, these two are listenable even though they are a bit silly. They are fun and bring a smile to my face whenever they play, so that’s that! 8/10
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“and the group performs it as if they’re reciting SM Entertainment’s most important dissertation.”
SCREAMING LMAO
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