I return.
NCT Wish released a song in April and I like it. I have had this review in my vault for a while.
In April, Wish released two singles: "Sticky" (a prerelease) and "Ode to Love" (the title track for their full album). I'm pretty okay with "Ode to Love" - it's very classic NCT, to me, kind of like the Wish version of NCT Dream's "Dreaming". It's also very boring. I believe the signature "du-duru-du" of the chorus was made popular by the charm of the members alone. That's okay with me. It's okay that you guys want to kiss Sion on the lips.
"Sticky", on the other hand, fascinates me, and it seems also to have fascinated fans. It has been pretty universally¹ described by haters and fans as "neo", a term which is widely used among NCT fans but rather vague. Generally it is used to refer to the crazy fucky side of NCT's music. A crazy fucky Stray Kids or NMIXX or EXO song is not necessarily going to be neo in nature.
What exactly counts as neo? - The answer has evolved significantly over the years. Neo songs are usually futuristic or noisy or edgy in some way, but still incorporate relatively sophisticated vocalism. They also may be characterized by frequent change-ups, usually between the gentle or suave (or surprisingly sweet) and the tough or experimental, but also, as expressed by songs like "Sticker" and "Lipstick", in a strange dissonance between subject matter and delivery. In some cases this produces a new "take" on the subject of the song; in other cases, like in "Glitch Mode", it may be a little tongue-in-cheek.
So if you haven't listened yet you should probably listen to "Sticky" using the link above. I will wait.
The song scores well on the neo rubric. The prominent beat and synths give it that rough sound, while the bossa nova sections lend it sweetness. Crucially, these two aspects butt up against each other.
"Sticky" can be pretty clearly split into different sections, not lyrically but sonically:
- Elevator Music/Bossa Nova
- Crazy Fucky Stuff ("sticky-icky-icky")
- Melodic Verse Stuff
- Dance break
In examining these I do not want to neglect the significance of the transitions between them, nor do I want to lose sight of the song they make up together.
Firstly: Elevator Music. While Wish do not have a monopoly on NCT's sweetness and innocence, the straightforwardness of the Bossa Nova really makes this feel like Wish's song. One can argue that the charm of this section exists to be refuted by the more experimental parts of the song - but I would suggest a more complex intent, as indicated by the music video. There are transitions in the music video that take place between this Bossa sound and another one, but they don't exploit the contrast overly. At one point, a Bossa section is illustrated by Sakuya sitting in the corner of a dark room, illuminated by a blinding white spotlight.
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| He's just sitting there... menacingly! |
This specific Bossa Nova section - beginning with Sakuya's "mango tango bop" - appears to be controversial among NCTzens. For some people, this part represents what is annoying and absurd about K-pop rap. I am going to be a contrarian and say this is one of my favorite NCT Wish raps. It is not too long if you don't count Sakuya's continuing background vocals during Jaehee's succeeding lines, and it has a purpose, too. Sakuya takes on a specific tone of voice which blends the harsher parts into the softer ones. Admittedly, I initially did not enjoy Sakuya's lazy half-singing background vocals during Jaehee's high note. Ironically, in a way they make Jaehee sound absurd, highlighting the lack of build-up to a rather forced high note.² I understand it a little more now, given that the lyrics describe the "humming" and "drumming" of one's heartbeat, and I think this part illustrates that feeling decently.
Okay, onto the Crazy Fucky Stuff, which actually doesn't take up too much time in the song. I am going to include, then, a part which would technically align with the melodic verse section, given the continuity of instrumental: this is the rap from 0:34-0:46 in the video. I include this in my look at the "sticky-icky-icky" parts because a) it is a rap, and b) it aligns with the Crazy Fucky part in its purpose, which is to provide a stark contrast to the elevator music.
Throughout the Crazy Fucky Stuff sections, more of a harmonic basis is provided to the 3rd scale degree being chanted ("sticky-icky-icky"), which makes me happy because that is a really annoying note to have your chant chorus on with no instrumental basis. Finally, at the end, the Bossa Nova is completely integrated into the Crazy Fucky Stuff - or rather vice-versa, since the vocal line is that of the Bossa Nova sections. I feel this integration also goes to show that the Bossa is not being fully rejected by the end of the song - the cutiefulness of Wish does not necessarily stand in opposition to the Neo Culture Technology part.
In conclusion, the Crazy Fucky Stuff is fine. I don't mind it. It suffers, perhaps, from some sheen of non-commitment, some lack of a special sauce. Songs such as "Poison" by Secret (which is, of course, still fire) almost attain the sound they are clearly reaching for, but are held back by some deficiency in mixing or structure or something. The first "sticky-icky-icky" chorus in "Sticky" still seems to lack something despite the fact that
a) the simplicity is obviously intentional,
b) it is eventually elaborated on by the bass after four measures (if we assume the tempo is 150bpm), and
c) unlike the case of "Poison", I can't quite pinpoint what it's going for.
It is one of three parts of the song that make me cringe. The second part is Yushi's "coconut milk shower" moment. The melody of his whole line here feels annoyingly familiar, almost cliche, but the repetition of the "coconut milk shower" melody twice in a row strikes me as especially lazy. It nearly ruins my enjoyment of the entire song, and especially of Riku's cheeky line right before it.³ Every time I hear it coming on, I close my eyes and try to time travel a few seconds.
The third part is the dance break, which is, like, fine in the grand scheme of NCT, considering "Favorite" by NCT 127, which was released in 2021, has an honest-to-fucking- god dubstep interlude. I think I can accept that the "Sticky" dance break was not meant to be heard by human ears, but by the ears of the angels, because it's not trying and failing to be anything that I can recognize. However, I just don't like it when NCT Wish yells in unison - not any more than I like when NCT Dream does it. I didn't like "future's in my hand, that's my wish" in "Wish". I did not like "hey! ho!" in "Surf". I do not like "main dishes!" in the dance break of "Sticky". These parts all sound the same to me and that makes them doubly unpleasant.
So that is "Sticky". How do you feel about "Sticky"? Tell me in the comments when you come across this blog in ten years and then go stream "Boy Meets Girl", NCT Wish's latest Japanese release.
¹Based on my experience.
²The term forced describes the position of the high note in the structure of the song, not Jaehee's voice. A more egregious example of a forced, though technically well-executed, high note in an NCT song would be Haechan's bullshit high note in "Hot Sauce".
³To be clear, I typically love to hear Riku and Yushi's high voices play against each other, because Riku's voice is very confident, almost flirtatious (I have no other way to put it), and Yushi's is very earnest.