Kick It (NCT 127 song)

"Kick It" () is a song recorded by South Korean boy band NCT 127. It was written by songwriters Wutan, Rick Bridges and danke of lalala Studio, while production was handled by Dem Jointz, Deez, Mayila Jones, Chikk, Ryan S. Jhun and Yoo Young-jin. Described as a "high-energy" song with "inspirational lyrics" that portrays the group's musical identity, it was released as the lead single from their second studio album ''Neo Zone'' on March 6, 2020 by SM Entertainment. An accompanying martial arts-themed music video premiered two days prior.

Music critics noted the song's "darkness" and "anthemic" return, in contrast to their previous singles, and believed it contributed to the group's musical diversity. Commercially, the song became their first top-thirty entry on Gaon Digital Chart, as well as the unit's first top-ten entry on the ''Billboard'' K-Pop Hot 100, peaking at number nine. It also entered at number three on ''Billboard's'' World Digital Songs chart at number eight, while becoming the unit's second entry on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart. The group went on to promote the song on several South Korean music programs in addition to their online concert via Beyond Live, titled ''Beyond the Origin''.

Background and release

After wrapping up promotion activities in the United States by the end of November 2019, SM Entertainment uploaded a music video for "Dreams Come True", along with the release announcement for ''Neo Zone'' on January 27, 2020. The label further confirmed that member Jungwoo would eventually join the group and participate in promotion activities following his initial hiatus from August 2019. On February 12, a "timeline" video for the album was announced on all social media platforms of the group, including a release schedule and the title of the lead single to be "영웅 / 英雄 (Kick It)". Following the video previews of other album tracks, the music video teaser for "Kick It" was uploaded on the official SMTOWN channel on March 3, 2020. The song had its official music video premiere one day later, while being released digitally along with its parental album on March 6, 2020.

Composition

Writing and development

"Kick It" was produced by American producer Dem Jointz, South Korean songwriter Deez, Ryan S. Jhun, Mayila Jones and Rodnae Bell, with Yoo Young-jin took part in the song's arrangement. The song marked the second time that Dem Jointz, Deez and Yoo Young-jin collaborated together with the boy group since "Cherry Bomb" in June 2017. During an interview with music critic Kim Young-dae in March 2020, songwriter and producer Deez said that the song was originally prepared to "gird the loins" for "Cherry Bomb 2.0", with the outcome being "stronger" than the 2017 single according to the producer. He further revealed that the production team had to "revise and multiply" the song for about a hundred times from end of December 2019 to early February 2020. While fellow producer Abernathy created the song's beat loop, Deez took part in the R&B arrangement for the track, having constructed and composed the bridge and the dance break section with the idea of "maintaining" the "harmonic vocal color" and "extensively energetic" chord work and arrangement to bring out a "trendy and old-school" color to the song. The rap recording process for member Taeyong and Mark was mostly the two members doing their respective parts in one-take to their preferences, and proceeded to arrange all the qualified cuts later.

Music and lyrics

Musically, SM Entertainment describes the song as a "powerful" hip-hop dance record with heavy metal guitar riff and R&B elements throughout the song, while Tamar Herman of ''Billboard'' saw the track as "high-energy" with industrial beats, throbbing bass, whistling synths and chanting shouts. The song is composed in the key of G major and set in common time at a moderate tempo of 167 beats per minute. Excerpts of the song; including the harmonization and the main riff were also incorporated for the group's instrumental prelude, which was initially unreleased during its parental album release on March 6, 2020.

Lyrically, the song sings about how the members overcome their own "fears and traumas." The group also refers themselves like Bruce Lee when on stage, through chantings like "Bass kicks swingin' like Bruce Lee", amongst other references like jeet kune and the movie ''Enter the Dragon''. It was penned by lyricist Wutan, Rick Bridges and danke, the latter whom is part of the writing team lalala Studio.

Music video

Directed by South Korean director Oui Kim, the music video for "Kick It" possesses a martial arts-theme combined with the group's unique martial arts choreography and performance. Set in the Neo Oriental mood virtual space of "Neo Zone", the video expresses the story of repulsing trauma by itself, while seeing the members reborn as powerful "heroes", living up to the original Korean title meaning. The martial arts, action movie-influenced choreography was created by choreographer Koosung Jung, whom later revealed that member Taeyong also contributed some of the "action scenes" to the overall performance. Three other video versions are also available on the group's Youtube channel, starting with the visualiser version on March 8, the vertical version on March 16 and finally the performance-only video on March 19.

Promotion

Following the music video release, the group shared their first performance for "Kick It" as NCT 127 The Stage through their official channel on March 5. A day later, the group had their first music show performance on ''Music Bank'', followed by their promotion on ''Show! Music Core'' and ''Inkigayo''. NCT 127 eventually earned their first ''Music Bank'' trophy for the track on March 27, 2020. Along with other album tracks, "Kick It" was part of the group's setlist for ''Beyond the Origin'', an online live concert via streaming service by NCT 127's native label on May 17, 2020.

As part of the group's promotion in the United States, the song was first performed live during their gig on March 10 at ''Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo'', becoming the very first K-pop act to perform at the show. It was reported that the group would embark on their first U.S. arena tour; titled "''Neo City - The Awards''", to promote the single and the entire album starting from June 6 at New York City's Madison Square Garden, but was later postponed due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

Critical reception

Following its initial release, "Kick It" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Giving the song three stars out of five, writer Hwang Sun-eob of ''IZM'' noted the song was "going too hard", but complimented its "level of balance" with both the rapping and singing performance of the group. Tamar Herman of ''Billboard'' magazine called the track "high-energy", while Amber Miley from ''The Kraze'' agreed on how this song is the "signature sound" of the group. Jeff Benjamin of ''Forbes'' magazine also praised the noise-pop influence of the song as "impactful", while noting its R&B influence which eventually "set the stage" for its parental album.

Another review from ''SoundDigest'' called the track "rambunctious", while writer Alexis Hodoyan-Gastelum from '' Consequences of Sound'' noted the song's metal influence and its "darkness, anthemic" return to some of their early releases. Writer Vandana Pawa of ''Teen Vogue'' gave the song a positive review, citing "Kick It" as a representation of both the group's sonic origin and development in the near future. In an interview with the song's producer Deez, music critic Kim Young-dae said the song was a "masterpiece" that continues the legacy of "Cherry Bomb," while not being "as complicated" as the 2017 single. He also praised the song as "dynamic," "more airtight and dense" with intersected "thick texture and soulful verse of sophisticated harmony."

Commercial performance

"Kick It" saw an increase in digital performance comparing to the group's previous releases; the song debuted and peaked within the top five of all digital real-time music charts in South Korea, reaching number one position on Bugs and Naver. In one day of tracking, the song debuted at number 68 on Gaon Digital Chart in the week of March 7, 2020, before reaching number 21 where it peaked the following week. It became the group's first top-thirty entry on the chart. "Kick It" also landed atop the Gaon Download Chart for two weeks, becoming the group's first on the component chart. On the monthly Gaon Digital Chart for March, the song was ranked at number 36, and further ranked number 131 on the chart's 2020 mid-year issue. On the K-pop Hot 100, the song became the group's first top-ten entry for the week of March 14, reaching a peak of number nine, following 46-spot jump from the week prior.

Elsewhere, the song debuted at number three on the US ''Billboard'' World Digital Song, making it their eighth top-five entry and their third to debut and peak at the same position, following "Cherry Bomb" (2017) and "Superhuman" (2019). It also became their fourth appearance on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 and third on the New Zealand's Hot 40 Singles Chart, peaking at number eighty-four and number thirty-eight, respectively.

Remixes

With the subsidiary EDM label ScreaM Records announcing their ''iScreaM'' project on May 4, 2020, remixes for "Kick It" were released on May 8, 2020. It was the first single of the project, containing three different remixes from American DJ Valentino Khan, MINIMONSTER and label-producer Hitchhiker, the latter whom produced the album track "Mad Dog" for their second studio album.

Formats and track listing

; iScreaM Vol. 1, Kick It (Remixes) - Single
# "Kick It" (Valentino Khan Remix) – 3:09
# "Kick It" (MINIMONSTER Remix) – 3:47
# "Kick It" (Hitchhiker Remix) – 3:10

Charts

Weekly chart

Monthly chart

Accolades

Release history

References

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2020 songs
2020 singles
NCT 127 songs
NCT (band) songs
SM Entertainment singles