Sticker

The record

Sticker is NCT 127’s third full-length album, released on 17 September 2021. It carries eleven tracks and the title track shares the album’s name. SM Entertainment’s album introduction on Bugs describes the first album in about a year and a half since NCT #127 Neo Zone, and calls the title track “a hip-hop dance number in which a strong bass line and rhythmic vocals meet an addictive signature flute source”. The same text credits Yoo Young-jin, Dem Jointz and Harvey Mason Jr. among the writers, with Taeyong and Mark on the rap-making. The Korea Herald reported that preorders passed two million copies the day before release. The repackage Favorite carried these tracks again on 25 October that year.

Reviews

IZM ran Jeong Da-yeol’s album review in October 2021. He wrote that “the circling of the eastern-sounding textures and the firm bass is the ideal element for dressing the group’s curious identity on the title track ‘Sticker’”, and that “the R&B vocal brought in as the rap’s share is cut right back leads the rhythmic melody, scraping and bending the throat”.

Idology (아이돌로지) carried the record in ‘Monthly’, its round-up of September 2021 releases, as short pieces by two critics. Kwibi ran through the tracklist — “‘Sticker’, ‘Lemonade’, ‘Far’ and ‘Bring The Noize’, where the keenly whetted sound stands out; the fluent R&B of ‘Focus’, ‘The Rainy Night’ and ‘Magic Carpet Ride’; and ‘Road Trip’, ‘Dreamer’ and ‘Promise You’, boy-band pop so by-the-book it is almost classical” — and added that “the members’ solid vocal ensemble stands out more than ever, too”. Yemi wrote that “‘The Rainy Night’, ‘Magic Carpet Ride’, ‘Road Trip’ and ‘Dreamer’ show the sure vocal fundamentals and the staging of harmony that are NCT’s and SM’s strong suit”.

NME’s Carmen Chin published her review three days after release. “Despite being out of the group’s comfort zone, the house-inspired ‘Breakfast’ is one of ‘Sticker’’s strongest entries, pulsating with punchy electronic beats, which are reflective of the intense emotions framed through its lyrics,” she wrote.

Among the tracks

‘Lemonade’ and ‘Bring The Noize’ are the two songs all three pieces stop at. Jeong wrote that “the bittersweet ‘Lemonade’ likens the world’s noise to a sour lemon and drinks it down coolly, while the sprint of ‘Bring the noize’, faithful to a straight-ahead instinct, sends noise back out at society and leaves a clear skid mark”, and added that “the rap parts the vocalist Jaehyun murmurs in a low tone on those two songs in particular become the record’s main performance and widen the team’s operating radius”. Carmen Chin wrote that “‘Lemonade’ and ‘Far’ are two tracks that fit the bill, and are (more importantly) much more cohesive in their overall execution”.

The slower songs put the vocals forward. Of the R&B-tinged ‘Focus’ Chin wrote that it “is a sultry slow jam, embellished with hypnotic drums, honeyed falsettos and idyllic beats, that connects in an instant”, and of the closing stretch that “‘Dreamer’ is ablaze with childlike optimism, further amplified by heady layers of piano notes and trumpet riffs”. Kwibi picked the same song: “‘Dreamer’, where a playful nuance comes alive, is also where you come upon a new charm in the members.”

Numbers

The album introduction to the repackage Favorite records that this album reached number three on the Billboard 200 in the United States, entered the top 40 of the Official Albums Chart in the United Kingdom and topped Oricon’s weekly album chart in Japan. The same text says it passed two million copies sold within a week of release.