"The 7th Sense" (Korean: 일곱 번째 감각; RR: Ilgop beonjjae gamgak) is the debut single by South Korean boy group NCT U, the first sub-unit of NCT. It was released digitally on April 9, 2016, through SM Entertainment. Musically, "The 7th Sense" was described as a future bass genre based on hip-hop grooves, with heavy bass sounds and dreamy vocals and rap.
Background and release
On January 28, 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man delivered a presentation at the SM Coex Artium, titled "SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016." The label's plan was to debut a new boy group with an "unlimited" number of members with their "culture contents" strategy. They released a video called "SM_NCT#2 Synchronization of your dreams" where Taeyong, Hansol, Ten, Mark, and Jaehyun performed a dance, there was a song teaser vocal by Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Mark, & Haechan. The music video for "The 7th Sense" was released on April 8, 2016, released on SMTOWN's official YouTube Channel.
Composition
In an interview, the composer said he was curious about the new idol group's debut with the song and that a foreign reaction would be good. On the last day of the SM songwriting camp, a composer put out a beat, which came out very well, and eight or nine composers made it. Taeyong and Mark participated in rap making. The lyrics introduce the NCT score keyword, "Seventh Sense," which means a sense of feeling and understanding each other's dreams through music. It contains NCT's desire and aspiration to communicate powerfully with the public in the future.
Accolades
| Critic/Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billboard | The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s: Staff List | 83 | |
| Dazed | The 20 best K-Pop tracks of the year | 13 | |
| Insider | 13 Best K-pop Debut Songs of All Time | Included | |
| Medium | 25 Best K-Pop Songs of the 2010s (Ciarra Gaffney) | 25 | |
| Melon | Top 100 K-pop Songs of All Time | 50 | |
| SBS PopAsia | SBS PopAsia's Top 100 songs of 2016 | 41 |
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart (2016) | Peak
position |
|---|---|
| South Korea (Gaon) | 111 |
| US World Digital Songs (Billboard) | 2 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2016) | Position |
|---|---|
| US World Digital Songs (Billboard) | 25 |
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from album's liner notes.
Studio
- SM Blue Cup Studio – recording, mixing
- Ingrid Studio – recording, additional vocal editing
- SM Booming System – digital editing
- Sterling Sound – mastering
Personnel
- SM Entertainment – executive producer
- Lee Soo-man – producer
- NCT U – vocals
- Kim Dong-hyun – lyrics
- Cho Jin-joo – lyrics
- January 8th – lyrics
- Ju Chan-yang – vocal directing
- Timothy "BOS" Bullock – producer, composition, arrangement
- Jeremy "Tay" Jasper – producer, composition, arrangement
- Michael Jiminez – composition
- MZMC – composition
- Sara Forsberg – composition
- Leven Kali – composition
- Jung Eui-seok – recording, mixing
- Jung Eun-kyung – recording, additional vocal editing
- Yoo Young-jin – digital editing, music and sound supervisor
- Randy Merrill – mastering
Release history
| Region | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea | April 9, 2016 | SM Entertainment | |
| Various |
