NCT Dream — Hot Sauce — The 1st Studio Album
Fun and experimental, NCT Dream gives us a buffet of music to explore.
When I hear NCT Dream, I think immediately of growth and of a child’s journey. I remember watching their fun debut with Chewing Gum, their teenage exploration of the more pop sound with My First and My Last, the grunge of Go, and the maturity of Ridin’.
Now, here NCT Dream is, releasing their first full studio album and I’m quite curious to see what they’ve decided to give us. Hot Sauce has 10 tracks and a run time of roughly 35 minutes. The accreditations for production and lyricism are SM staple names with a few interesting surprises, so it looks like this album might be quite a rollercoaster!
Skip to Specific Track: Hot Sauce, Diggity, Dive Into You, My Youth, Rocket, Countdown (3, 2, 1), ANL, Irreplaceable, Be There for You, Rainbow
1.Hot Sauce
For a song called Hot Sauce, I was expecting this to be potentially sultry/spicy or even just an extremely hard dance song. But, the descending opening vocals are just the beginning of a very unique track.
Hot Sauce is bright, joyful, and animated throughout. The energy level feels much like the album cover art, a bottle about to explode. With lyrics that greatly emphasize throwing away the candy-coated crushes of the past to now aim for a heated and passionate love, NCT Dream comes out on this track blazing with power.
In the MV, it is clear that the boys hold well-deserved confidence. Transitioning into a poppier sound with a bright guitar for the verse, the song takes a surprise turn into a harder and chant-filled chorus. Right now, I think this song highlights each member decently, with a hefty focus on Jeno and Mark. But, the member I’m looking to hear more from is Renjun, who I don’t feel really got to shine in this title track in comparison to other releases.
Hot Sauce may end up as a fairly polarizing song due to the unique styling, which is to be expected when the music was produced by seven different individuals! Honestly, this song required a couple more listens for me to really get into it, but the instrumental for Hot Sauce is exceptionally full with barely a moment of rest and an increasingly complicated percussion sequence that just draws you in. Give it up for NCT Dream! This is their first studio album and their title track is definitely getting noticed, as it should be.
2. Diggity
Retaining that layered chant opening from Hot Sauce, Diggity is the perfect follow-up to Hot Sauce. It keeps the energy high but also adds its own flavor, with more synths and vocals. Diggity allows for more melodic play and has a spacious bridge that gives the song the chance to take a breath.
While I did find the repetitive “yeah” in the backing track to be a bit distracting, the song itself is very engrossing, so much so that I ended up humming it the next day while doing chores before noticing that yes, this was Diggity by NCT Dream.
One final shoutout to this bridge. Haechan shined during that bridge and it was a wonderful addition to the track.
3. Dive Into You
After the energy of Diggity, Dive into You is quite a change of pace. The initial opening brought me back to Guster’s Rainy Day, but clearly, this song is much more light-hearted and playful. The guitar in the chorus is stellar and I think right now, I’ve found my favorite song on this album.
The second verse brings the opening melody subtly in the background before layering the guitar chorus with clear harmonies from the boys. The reverb on the bridge with the slight alteration of the final chorus closes this perfectly, bringing to an outro focused on that opening melody again.
Highlights? Renjun finally got his moment and I love it. The adlibs were perfect and I am confident that this song will be on my playlists for a long time.
4. My Youth
And yet again another shake-up! My Youth feels, as strange as this may sound, young. I know, I know, not a very clinical definition. But, that truly is the best way to describe My Youth — young. This is echoed in the lyrics that focus on remembering the earlier times of their youth as the boys grow older.
There is a wistfulness and build-up of energy as the percussion starts layering in before we hit the middle of the song, which surprisingly doesn’t give us a drop but brings us back to another verse.
I need to point out the superb harmonies between Chenle and Mark, Jaemin and Renjun, and later Jeno and Haechan alongside the various adlibs littered throughout the pre-chorus. Finally, Jisung’s deeper register is beautifully utilized here to create a full color for this song. His harmonies with Chenle? Perfect.
Have I got a new contender for my favorite song? Well, that isn’t too surprising as the same trio that produced Dive Into You, are the geniuses behind My Youth — David “dwilly” Wilson, Wyatt Sanders, and Scott Effman.
My Youth is very well produced and the weight of this song tugs at me. Musically, this is sound painting as we have an instrumental that really pushes us to remember our early years.
5. Rocket
Moonshine huh? Of course, this team comes up with a fabulously funky beat on a once again fun song with a delightful hint of retro fusion. This would probably be my beach song for the album. Not exceptionally thrilling, but interestingly enough for a beach day. I like the sounds I’m hearing, but thankfully the bridge breaks up the repetitive nature of this song before getting back into the chorus.
Points for that star wars reference from Jaemin!
Ultimately, not their best song. Interesting, but a touch repetitive. Also, those upper synths are quite piercing. Rocket isn’t my favorite song from this album, but it has my absolute favorite bridge in the album!
6. Countdown (3, 2, 1)
Anddddd we have the rap song. While the verse didn’t catch my interest, the chorus was what brought this song together, alongside the post-chorus. The instrumental focus really helped to keep this track flowing.
These boys can rap very well, and it is showcased here! But the meld of the vocals just brings this song to the next level. This is the type of slightly darker song I wanted to see from them. It isn’t too heavy but allows them to flex their various skills while working with the hip-hop sound. Mark and Jeno? Hat’s off to this duo!
If you aren’t singing by that last chorus, something is wrong. I’m hooked.
7. ANL
Once again, a bit of an abrupt tonal switch. While we are definitely a bit more into the synth-pop region, this song ended up reminding me of late-night drives along the coast.
The highlight of this song is 100% Mark’s rap. Also, that bridge with Renjun and Chenle? Haechan hitting that high note? Exquisite.
Jisung got a shining moment and I love his voice, as I think I’ve said previously. Can we get more Jisung-focused songs? His low range needs to be utilized more!
A solid song, ANL, or All Night Long, is a smooth vibe.
8. Irreplaceable
Now that is a funky baseline with a bit of a Jackson 5 opening. Are we at the county fair? Is that a big band? Oh wow, that vintage keyboard sound?
My my my, Irreplaceable is easily the most swing pop we have seen on this album, but also a joy to listen to. It feels lighthearted and cotton-candy sweet, but somehow treads the line of not feeling too childish still.
Reminiscent of some of their very early songs, Irreplaceable is a jam, meant for a happy day.
9. Be There for You
We’ve officially hit the only true ballad on this album and the required sentimental vocal track in every album. Beautifully sung and perfectly highlighting the vocal skill of Chenle, Haechan, and Renjun, Be There for You was the serious side of things that I was missing in this album, and yet also feels deeply out of place.
A sweet piano is the main melody that backs the three vocalists. Be There for You could easily fit as a romantic OST, with extremely touching lyrics.
NCT Dream is more than capable of singing serious and emotive ballads as they show here, and yet when put together with the rest of the album, Be There for You feels distinctly misplaced. Nevertheless, the track is truly a beauty.
10. Rainbow
NCT Dream has taken us on a rollercoaster and Rainbow is a superb way to close to the album. Darker and slightly somber, but still filled with that special Dream warmth, Rainbow shows us the various colors of this talented group. I can easily see this song being a massive hit amongst fans and I know I for sure adore this one.
Hot Sauce is an interesting album that in some ways is misnamed. The Korean title for the title track actually translates to “Flavor (Hot Sauce)”, which might be the best way to truly describe this album. It is a sampling of various flavors. Some are sweet, spicy, tangy, etc, but titling the album Hot Sauce doesn’t quite capture everything.
Ultimately, NCT Dream delivers a very strong first album that helps to showcase their versatility and unity as a group. While not entirely cohesive, the tracks individually are strong. I think this group has a lot to bring to the table and look forward to future releases to see where they will take us next!
