Even as its members begin to enlist, NCT’s enormous universe guarantees there will be plenty of music regardless of how many performers may be on hiatus. As the brand’s youngest group, NCT Dream is still very much active, but even they have joined in on the sub-unit approach with NCT JNJM — a duo consisting of Jeno and Jaemin. When this unit was first announced, I hoped that it would give the guys a chance to explore completely new sounds and styles. Sadly, Both Sides is more predictable than thrilling.
Of all of K-pop’s big agencies, SM Entertainment has had the most trouble sourcing new music that lives up to their legacy. The core NCT sound has long since taken over the male side of their roster and Both Sides conforms to many of its tenets. The song is almost entirely rapped, spoken or chanted, including its unappealing post-chorus. Without the other voices of NCT Dream to offer sonic diversity, Both Sides is pretty one-note all the way through. The rapping is catchy enough, but the beat feels overly tinny and inconsequential.
Both Sides‘ chorus is divided into two pieces. First, we’ve got a whispy vocal that injects a touch of funk into the track. This is immediately followed by a bit of spoken word vamping. This contrast works well enough, but it isn’t long before we transition into a grating, NCT-esque chant that pulls the whole song down. I’ve never been a fan of this particular tone, as it only highlights the rather flat sound of the production. There’s nothing truly awful about this track, but I can’t find any reason to go back to it either.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
Grade: C-
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
let’s not kid ourselves the goal of this project isn’t the music, it’s making jeno and jeamin look as hot as possible (ngl they succeeded lol but the music itself is forgettable)
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Once I heard news of this unit I knew immediately what we were in for. SM didn’t even try subverting expectations but I don’t think they planned to.
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i mean im rlly not complaining………. 👀
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only part that was intresting to me was the do scratches. Otherwise this song is forgettable
7.25/10 (7, 8, 7, 7) for me
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this is easily the worst song on the album. granted, the rest of the album isn’t much better, but I found myself enjoying the b-sides more.
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I didn’t expect anything other than something braggadocious with visuals as the selling point. This isn’t meant to be taken seriously so I’m regarding it as such but they do look great from both sides. This is clearly a throwaway project for SM but it’ll sell well I’m sure.
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This is fun, I like it! It’s actually better than I expected. I was expecting no melody at all but there is a bit of singing lol and there are little pops of ear candy throughout that make the song replay-able. Probably an 8 for me rn
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Conceptually the songs fit together but it’s all consistently mid.
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I’m disappointed. Jeno was cool guesting on songs by Key and Donghae. And Jaemin is uniquely silly. I was hoping for a kind of fire&ice thing with them, or comedy and straight man, but it’s kind of same-y and blah. They do look ridiculously good, though.
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OOO now im devastated that’s not the route they took, would’ve been sonically more interesting and has a lot of mv potential too
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I expected better from this duo. Highly disappointed.
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I hate the feeling when the main single is a bit of a mess and then you have to cross fingers for the rest of the mini-album or album to be good. It takes me back to Smoothie or Beat it up.
As per the song, there are individual parts I find cool but this tracks leans heavily on sing-talk and (especially) rapping. Sadly, I think the only NCT Dream member that can pull that off is Mark. He is convincing, you buy what he’s saying in his rap lines. That can’t be said about Jeno and Jaemin.
I’m guessing a stronger production that actually packed a punch and a harder delivery from the performers would make for an scenario where the song could work. But as it is… I just find it a bit dissapointing.
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I think SM musically is really weak. you can be the most talented or untalented idol/group and the chances you get a good song is 5% if your a male artist and 10% if your a female artist. NCT in particular has been suffering from this for a while. They’ll have one gem every twenty songs and it’s never the title track
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