NCT 2021 Has Officially Begun — Here’s What We Know So Far, And Some Fan Theories

The members spoiled some details about the album!
News
Koreaboo

NCT 2021 are releasing their highly anticipated album next month, and fans are already digging for potential hints and forming theories surrounding it! Here’s what we know so far about the group’s third album, according to the official announcement and members’ spoilers, as well as some rumors that fans are keeping an eye on.

The 23 members of NCT 2020. | @NCTsmtown/Twitter

1. Album details

NCT tweeted at 12:00am KST on November 13, 2021, with a concept photo teasing their upcoming album. In true “neo” style, the photo is a graphic showing the details of an elaborate technological… thing.

While fans have their theories about what it could mean about sub-units and new members, one thing it tells us for sure is that the album will be released on December 14! It will include the members of NCT 127, NCT DREAM, and WayV, though fans are curious about whether all the members of WayV will participate as Lucas is on hiatus and Ten and Winwin are filming in China.

2. “Universe”

Ever the king of spoilers, Haechan revealed during a recent fansign that the album would come out in December even before the official announcement was made!

When another fan asked him for a spoiler, Haechan cleverly included the album’s title in his answer: “We did everything in the universe.”

Mark also spoiled NCT 2021 in an earlier fansign when a fan brought it up! Even Mark had doubts that NCT 2021 would happen this year, much like fans who weren’t sure how the members would manage to release a group project among all their other schedules. But ultimately, he confirmed it!

And Mark teased the “universe” concept as well when giving another fan a spoiler.

3. “Lot of stages”

Johnny didn’t even hesitate before talking about NCT 2021, knowing that the fans knew all about it even with no official updates ever since Lee Soo Man confirmed it. Johnny said, “There will be a lot of stages to be performed,” which isn’t a surprise considering all the possibilities that come with a group of 20+ members!

4. “Misfit”-style

Taeyong tried his best to keep the spoilers back when one fan asked him about whether there’d be a song like “Misfit” or “Make A Wish” in NCT 2021’s album. He said that NCT 127’s “album” would have a similar song to “Misfit.” When the fan asked if he meant NCT 127’s song in the NCT 2021 album, Taeyong paused and said that no one confirmed NCT 2021 yet. Except Lee Soo Man did previously! So either NCT 127 have yet another album on the way, or this was his clever way of hinting towards a “Misfit”-style song.

5. “Vocal harmonized song”

Back in October, Jaehyun gave a spoiler about the full group song for NCT 2021! He said, “2021…The song that we did all together, it’s kinda like… it’s a good vocal harmonized song.”

6. Versions

Some fans found that on certain websites, there are two versions of an upcoming NCT album! With two versions, kihno kits, and over 20 members, NCTzens are mentally preparing to drop bank on this album to collect their bias.

7. NCT 2018

One rumored insider account states that the upcoming album will be similar to NCT’s 2018 project, Empathy! This saw NCT 127 release a music video for their unit song “Touch,” and NCT DREAM release one for their song “GO.” Fans predict that an “NCT 2018 format” will mean NCT 127, NCT DREAM, and WayV each get music videos this time!

8. Solo songs

Fans are hopeful that a few members will get solo songs on the upcoming album! For Empathy, Ten released a solo song titled “Dream in a Dream.” Many fans of Mark and Haechan are hoping those two release a solo song following their extremely busy year, with multiple comebacks as members of NCT DREAM and NCT 127.

9. New fixed unit

NCT has established a tradition of introducing new members annually and especially in each full-group project. For NCT 2018, Kun, Jungwoo, and Lucas joined the group. In 2019, Xiaojun, Hendery, and YangYang joined. And in 2020, Sungchan and Shotaro became members of NCT! Following the pattern, and based on the fact that Sungchan and Shotaro still don’t have a fixed unit, many believe that new members will be introduced this year.

Furthermore, some fans theorize that the 28 rivets in the official teaser graphic hints at 28 members. This would mean an addition of 5 new members which, assuming they form a new unit together, could put Sungchan and Shotaro in a 7-piece group.

Fans are super excited to see what NCT have in store for this year’s full-group release! With the enormous success of last year’s Resonance, “Universe” is set up to be their biggest release to date.

Source: Twitter

NCT

NCT’s Mark Shows Up To His Lookalike Contest — But The Situation Quickly Turned Into A Mess

NCT’s Mark Finally Finds Out About His Look-Alike Contest

Popular K-Pop Idol Totally Understands Why Fans Are Nervous When Meeting Their Bias

NCT Duo Go Viral For Completing Grad School With The Most Unexpected Major

See more NCT

Next Page
Scroll to top