Neo Culture Technology, a K-pop group launched by SM Entertainment, debuted in 2016 with an ambitious and quite intimidating concept: a group of unlimited members divided into multiple sub-units. However, recently SM announced the end of the limitless addition of new members, substituting it with the proposal of creating new fixed sub-units with the current members. As of May 2023, the total number of people in the group is 22, divided into five different units: NCT U, NCT Dream, WayV, NCT DJJ, and NCT 127, of which Taeyong is a fixed member and leader.
NCT U
The first unit to debut and the one that represents NCT’s concept the most is NCT U. This unit doesn’t have fixed members and unites them from other units to create different combinations to fit different concepts. Sometimes, new members are also introduced through this unit, which happened with Shotaro and Sungchan, who debuted with the project NCT 2020. Another example of this happened in NCT 2018 when Kun was included as part of the team, completing 18 members at that time.
Taeyong debuted as part of NCT U with the song “The 7th Sense”, and participated in striking songs from this unit like “BOSS”, in 2018 and “Make a Wish”, in 2020. Both songs are top two NCT MVs with the most views on YouTube at the moment, being “Make a Wish” the fastest SM music video to reach the mark of 100 million views so far.
NCT 127
NCT 127 was the second unit to debut in 2016, and it’s a Seoul-based group that represents the concept of spreading K-pop from Korea to the world. Even though the number 127 stands for the longitude of Seoul, the group combines members from different countries like Canada, the United States and Japan. From the oldest to the youngest, the members are: Taeil, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, Jungwoo, Mark and Haechan, however, Winwin hasn’t been participating in any NCT 127 activity since the release of their 4th mini album NCT#127 We Are Superhuman in 2019.
The last unit to debut in 2016 was NCT Dream with the song “Chewing Gum”. Initially, NCT Dream had a graduation system, and it would include members within a younger age range; SM then decided to scrap this idea in April 2020. Now, all seven members: Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung work together as a fixed unit. In May 2021, the sub-unit is breaking SM records with the title track of their first full-length album ‘Hot Sauce’.
WayV, which stands for We Are Your Vision, debuted in 2019 with the song “Take Off”. The group targets the Chinese market and includes members Kun, Ten, Winwin, Xiaojun, Hendery and Yangyang.
Last but not least, in 2023, Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Jungwoo reunited and debuted with the mini album “Perfume” as NCT DoJaeJung, the fifth NCT sub-unit.
Despite not being part of these last three units, Taeyong is the overall leader of 21 members, and as such, he is constantly supporting every unit. In March 2021, WayV released the song “Kick Back”, and Taeyong shared on Bubble some comments about the MV, saying how cool it was. The Dream members mentioned several times how supportive Taeyong has been since their early projects, and during NCT 2020 promotions, Xiaojun mentioned in a VLIVE that Taeyong’s role in the group is not easy.
Under the NCT brand, each unit has its own style and achievements. Combining all these members, with unique voices and different qualities, created a successful group, full of possibilities, that is building their history and establishing their Neo trademark.
image credit SM Entertainment