Here’s Why Not Everyone Likes NCT 127’s “Sticker” At First, According To A Professional Music Producer
Recently, NCT 127 made their comeback with their third studio album, Sticker. While it was a great album with many great songs, it was actually the title song that not everyone, including NCTzens, was a fan of.
While it has grown on a lot of us, the flute sound in the song still feels jarring for some. But just exactly why do people, not like the sound? Music artist and producer Kenneth Takanami shared his thoughts regarding the song after his followers on TikTok requested him to listen to “Sticker” by NCT 127.
He listed a few things that he believes had a major impact on the song and why not everyone liked it at first. The first reason is obviously the mixing choices.
So, while mixing a song, you have what’s called frequency range. Think of it like baking a cake and you want all of your ingredients to sit well together. Because of where in the mix the flute is, it ends up being too close to the vocal and you end not really being able to hear either. Plus, since the flute is distorted, it includes a lot of harsh frequencies, which can sound off.
— Kenneth Takanami
The second factor is composition. While the flute maybe didn’t need to be with the vocals, it could have been better in the beat part with the bass.
The beat is broken down into the eight-part with the flute and the beat part with the bass. The base itself is a nice groove, but I think because of how minimal each part sounds, they would probably work better together and don’t necessarily stand well on their own.
— Kenneth Takanami
While the song is certainly creative and innovative, it sometimes feels disorienting. Takanami added that it seemed as if it was leading to something, like a tension release, but instead, it just lingers at the same drop.
Ultimately, it’s a style choice to go for a song with a lot of dissonance and inharmonious parts. I was personally hoping for some resolution and tension release, but ultimately the song just sort of lingers around this same drop.
— Kenneth Takanami
He concluded by saying what he would have done if he had worked on the track. Especially because he liked the vocals so much, he said that he would have at least taken the flute out of any part with vocals so as not to take away from it.
If I were to change the track, I would have mixed the flute lower or just taken out of the parts where there’s a vocal, try to bring all of the beats together, and hopefully make the flute sound pay off at a future point by introducing some release. I think the worst thing you can do is to distract from a great vocal performance like they did.
— Kenneth Takanami
Check out his full review of “Sticker” below:
@kennethtakanami Let’s talk about the flute on NCT 127’s “Sticker.” I do a producer breakdown on why I think many fans don’t like it. Follow for part 2 #nct127
@kennethtakanami Reply to @kennethtakanami Part 2 of breaking down the production of NCT 127 “Sticker” and its flute. What do you think of the production? #nct
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