Cherry Bomb (NCT 127 song)

"Cherry Bomb" is a song recorded by South Korean boy band NCT 127, the Seoul-based unit of the unlimited boy group NCT for their third eponymous extended play in 2017. Written by songwriter Jennifer Decilveo, Deepflow, Lim Jung-hyo and Oh Min-joo with participation from member Taeyong and Mark, the hip-hop track was produced by a numerous of producers, notably including Dem Jointz, Deez, Michael Woods, Kevin White, Andrew Bazzi, MZMC and Yoo Young-jin. Described as a "complex synth and bass-infused" track with "colorful" composition, the song is the group's proclaim to be "the biggest hit" on such "propulsive and built to be performed" stage the members swagger about. An accompanying music video was premiered on June 14, 2017 to coincide with its digital release by SM Entertainment, with Genie Music serving as the South Korea distributor for the single.

"Cherry Bomb"
Single by NCT 127
from the EP Cherry Bomb
Language
Released
  • June 14, 2017 (2017-06-14) (Korean ver.)
  • October 22, 2018 (2018-10-22) (English ver.)
Recorded2017
StudioSM Studio, Seoul, South Korea
Genre
Length
  • 3:56 (Original ver.)
  • 4:21 (Performance ver.)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
NCT 127 singles chronology
"Limitless"
(2017)		 "Cherry Bomb"
(2017)		 "Touch"
(2018)
NCT singles chronology
"My First and Last"
(2017)		 "Cherry Bomb"
(2017)		 "We Young"
(2017)
Music video
"Cherry Bomb" on YouTube

Upon its release, "Cherry Bomb" received positive reviews from music critics for its "sinister" production, deeming the song as "one of the hottest tracks" of the year and became a prominent example of the group's experimental musical path. It eventually appear in several year-end critic picks list, while earning the group their first Korean Music Awards nomination in the category of Best Pop Song at the 2018 ceremony. The song became one of the group's signature songs and saw a breakthrough commercial success comparing to their previous singles, becoming their first top 50 entry on Gaon Digital Chart. It also entered at number three on Billboard's World Digital Song chart, becoming their third top five entry on the chart.

Background and release

After wrapping up promotion activities for their second extended play Limitless in January 2017, SM Entertainment confirmed NCT 127 was preparing for the group's comeback in June on May 25, one day after their attendance at the I Seoul U concert held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[1][2][3] The first teaser image was then revealed at midnight (KST) on June 5, which eventually became the extended play's cover for both the physical and digital release. The title was confirmed to be "Cherry Bomb", set to be released on June 14.[4][5] Following a string of individual member images and cartoon character videos on the group's official Instagram page, two video teasers were uploaded onto the official Youtube channel of their label four days prior to its premiere and worldwide release.[6][7][8][9]

Composition

Development

"Cherry Bomb" was produced by American producer Dem Jointz, Jennifer Decilveo, Jakob Mihoubi, Rudi Daouk, Michael Woods, Kevin White, Bazzi and MZMC, with Yoo Young-jin and Deez took part in the song's arrangement. In an interview with moonROK e-magazine, Abernathy revealed that the label's executives reached out to him earlier to work on new music for their artists. Developed from a writing session between Abernathy and fellow songwriter Decilveo, an early version of "Cherry Bomb" was among the songs that the executives "loved". He also revealed that South Korean songwriter and producer Deez co-produced the song's bridge section and added in "more colorful side" to the keys in the track, mostly via online connection. They eventually worked back and forth on the production several times before getting NCT 127 to record the track.[10] It was Dem Jointz's third work for SM Entertainment to be officially released, and subsequently his first with the group. Recording for the track took place at SM Studio, with the label's A&R executive Chris Lee sharing the recording process for the song was "pretty extreme", having been through seventeen different versions before getting to the final version of "Cherry Bomb."[11] Dem Jointz, Deez and Yoo Young-jin would later work again for the group's 2020 hit "Kick It", taken from their second Korean studio album Neo Zone.

Music and lyrics

Described as "edgy" and "experimental", "Cherry Bomb" is a hip hop dominant track with "complex, ominous and siren-like" synth work, and heavily-infused bass. The song is said to have "fuzzy electro-rock" influence, with "chanty" chorus and a few melodic interludes within the verse and the bridge section.[12][13] The song is composed in the key of F# minor, and set in common time at a moderate tempo of 78 beats per minute.[14] The song also has an additional extended mix, titled "Performance version", which contains a 25-second length of an instrumental future bass breakdown after the bridge section (starting from the 2-minute and 57-second mark with a distorted "and now, the breakdown" preceded). In addition, a remix version for "Cherry Bomb" was also available, containing a different instrumental breakdown section.

Lyrically, the song sees the group proclaim to be "the biggest hit" on such "propulsive and built to be performed" stage the members swagger about, referring the thrill of it "tastes like a cherry bomb".[12] According to producer Abernathy, the original demo lyrics were "crazy" and "super super nasty" in comparison to the Korean adapted lyrics, which was written by Jennifer Decilveo, Deepflow, Lim Jung-hyo, Oh Min-joo, fellow member Taeyong and Mark.[10] The song also contains a lyrical reference to the popular American children's song "If You're Happy and You Know It" during the pre-chorus section. Originally recorded in Korean, an English version of "Cherry Bomb" was recorded and released on October 22, 2018 for their Apple Music-digital exclusive extended play, titled Up Next Session: NCT 127.[15] The Korean version was later re-included in the group's first Japanese full-length album Awaken, released on April 19, 2019.[16]

Music video

Directed by South Korean director Oui Kim, the animation-laced music video for "Cherry Bomb" emphasizes the group's dance performance at a seemingly-abandoned construction site and factory storage, featuring motorcycle and wirework stunt.[17] It was filmed in two days at Gyeonggi, South Korea back in May 2017, weeks before its official premiere.[18] It was choreographed by Tony Testa, with two additional "dance practice" versions for the song uploaded onto the label's Youtube channel from June 21 to June 23, 2017, a week after the release of its official music video.[19][20][21]

Tour and live performances

To coincide with the song's release, NCT 127 held their first showcase since their debut for free on June 14, where they also performed the song live for the first time.[22][23] The group then had their first television performance for "Cherry Bomb" and the album track "0 Mile" on M Countdown on June 15, followed by live performances on Show! Music Core and Inkigayo.[24][25] The song, however, was deemed "unfit for broadcast" by KBS due to mentions of violence in their lyrics, with gory descriptions and more.[26] The group eventually did not perform the song for their Music Bank promotion, but instead performed "0 Mile".[27] NCT 127 eventually earned their first M Countdown music trophy for the song, and subsequently the group's first since their debut on June 22, 2017.[28] The group would continue to promote the song throughout 2017, having attended and performed at several year-end ceremonies including MBC's 2017 Gayo Daejejeon and 2018 Seoul Music Awards. The group also collaborated with fellow labelmate Red Velvet and producer Hitchhiker for two performances during their attendance at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, where they performed an intro containing a reversed sample from NCT U's "The 7th Sense" single and "Cherry Bomb", followed by a joint performance with Red Velvet over Hitchhiker's "10$".[29][30]

NCT 127 also continued to expand their promotion outside South Korea, having their first live performances at the 2017's KCON music festival in Los Angeles and New York City, respectively.[31][32] The group then attended as an exclusively-invited act for the Apple Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on June 25, 2017, where they performed both "Cherry Bomb" and "0 Mile", along with "Limitless". With this, NCT 127 became the first K-pop act to be invited and introduced in Apple Music’s “New Artist of the Week” list.[33] The group then continued to promote the song again in 2018 during their promotion cycle for Regular-Irregular, again as the opening performance for their first headlining concert tour in the same year, titled "Neo City - The Origin", and later during their initial promotion activities for We Are Superhuman in 2019.[34][35] The song continued to serve as the opening number for the group's first online live concert on May 17, 2020, titled "Beyond the Origin."[36]

Critical reception

Following its initial release, "Cherry Bomb" received positive reviews from music critics. Writer Jeff Benjamin from Fuse called the song "edgy" and "explosive", oozing confidence which "makes the case" for NCT 127 to be an "experimental" act.[13] During an interview with the group, journalist Hong Dam-young described the song as "powerful hip-hop tune "with a "pulsating and brassy backing chorus".[37] In an album review fron Seoulbeats, the song is said to be a "jam-packed from top to finish" track, and while it may "sound messy and disorganised", the final result eventually worked. Writer Margaret also went on to compliment the vocals of the song, citing its consistency with the rest of the track.[38] Writer Sarah Boumedda from The Kraze magazine commented how the song was "hard to reconcile" at first, but "begs" its listeners to repeat again after several times, highlighting certain musical section such as the bridge and "beautiful" vocal melody break.[39] The song also went on to appear in year-end critics lists by Billboard and Idolator, landing at number seventeen and twenty-one respectively. While Billboard chose the song for its "eerie vibe", Idolator noted its "sinister" synth line and "sick" hip-hop production which made the song "one of the hottest tracks" in 2017.[40][41]

Year-end lists
Critic/Publication List Rank Ref.
Billboard 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2017 18 [40]
Idolator The Best K-pop Songs of 2017 25 [41]

Accolades

The song is notable for being NCT 127's first single to win a music trophy on weekly television music shows since their debut in July 2016. It was subsequently their first M Countdown trophy, and also the first NCT unit to achieve trophy on the show.[28] The song was also the group's first to receive a Korean Music Awards nomination in the category of Best Pop Song, but lost to fellow labelmate Red Velvet's "Red Flavor".[42] It was also nominated in the category of Best Dance Performance for Male Group at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, but lost to Seventeen's "Don't Wanna Cry".[43]

Music program awards
Program Date
M Countdown (Mnet) June 22, 2017

Commercial performance

In comparison to their previous two singles, "Cherry Bomb" saw a breakthrough commercial success for NCT 127 in their native country. Following its initial release, the song debuted and peaked at number forty-seven on the Gaon Digital Chart for the week of June 17, 2017.[44] It also debuted at number twenty-eight on the component Gaon Download Chart, having achieved a total of 39,006 downloads.[45] By this, the song was the group's highest charting entry for years, being surpassed by "Kick It" in 2020 when the song rose to number twenty-one on the former chart a week after its release, while topping the latter chart for two weeks. Subsequently, the song became the group's first single to appear in a monthly issue of a component Gaon chart, peaking at number ninety-six with an accumulative of 71,061 downloads.[46] It also debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, spending a total of six charting weeks.[47]

Formats and track listing

Charts
Chart (2017) Peak

position

South Korea (Gaon Digital Chart)[44] 47
US World Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[47] 3

Release history
Region Date Format Label
South Korea June 14, 2017 (Korean ver.) Digital download, streaming SM Entertainment, Genie Music
Various SM Entertainment
October 22, 2018 (English ver.) SM Entertainment, Apple Music
Japan April 17, 2019 (Korean ver.) Avex Trax
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