My Fave NCT DREAM Songs

So what? We hot, we young 😎

Because I’m currently trying to get all my fave artists proper time to shine on ATK, we’ve got another fave songs post. I’m really enjoying this series. It’s giving me time to reflect on the music I love and share it with y’all.

I don’t think I’ve really talked much about my love of the Dreamies on here. I actually wasn’t much of an NCT Dream girlie until We Young era. Which actually wasn’t too far into the Dreamies career. Idk why it felt longer.

I think I forgot they debuted with “Chewing Gum” in 2016. And “We Young” was August 2017. They had a huge following from the start, so I guess I felt like I missed more time than I actually did. I was waiting for the song to hook me in, and I fell so hard for the concept of “We Young” and the song.

And really only since last year, I’ve loved almost all of their title tracks and at least two b-sides. I think in 2022, I got back into finding songs of theirs I enjoyed.

Today, I’ve narrowed it down to 12 of my favorite songs. I might revisit this concept and include some songs that just missed the fave tier. *Mark Lee voice* let’s get it.

We Young

You can watch the music video here if you haven’t watched it before. I literally watched it once and never looked at it again. It’s fine, but I would rather watch the live stage performances without the animation. I mostly wanted to include this particular performance because it was the first NCT Dream live performance I watched growing into a stan.

I remember seeing gif sets of this performance and thinking Jeno’s outfit is like the Gossip Girl school uniforms. Where there are kind of rules of how they’re supposed to dress, but students can put their own spin on it.

That’s Jeno, because why tf is his outfit sooo different from the cute salior fits everyone else has. It’s not that I hate his look, it’s much more sporty than the others. It just stands out so much, lol. I was also a huge fan of his platinum blonde hair and this blue sprayed look. I also really loved the dark blonde look on Renjun.

Side note, Jaemin was recovering from an injury, so he didn’t come back for some time. I remember his first full group comeback was my first comeback with ot7 dream and how exciting that was.

Besides nostalgia for this era, I really loved the bright summer vibes this concept gave us. I love the light tropical house sound “We Young” has.

The choreography for this song is so good too. I haven’t watched any performance of this song in ages, but I still remember the arm flexing dance move they do during the chorus. Good times, goood times.

GO

Aw yeah. This was like Dreamies in their villian era, and I love that for them. I gotta do a separte article for NCT 2018. To me when it comes to my favorite full group promo cycle, this era is still God tier. You had to be there. There will never be another time like it.

The music video for “GO” also has me shook years later. I love the nightvision shots, them runing around like hooligans and getting into trouble.

And when it came time for the Dreamies song, I knew I would love it from the teasers images. Then, when the instrumentals start, Mark’s iconic “change your ways”, Haechan jumping in with his vocals, and everything leading up to the call back to “We Young” with them all yelling,”we’re so young,” and finally leading up to the build up to “we be screaming goooo, go goooo”.

Chefs Kiss. I will never not be impressed by the way this song was crafted. It just comes together so beautifully.

1,2,3

*Screams in the distance* this is my favorite NCT Dream song. Period. Raise your hand if you’re NOT surprised to hear that, lmao. I looove a good R&B song and I love when Haechan is all over a song.

This IS his song, in my opinion. I was a NCT U and 127 girl before being a Dream stan, but something about Haechan’s delivery on “1,2,3” really opened the “we need a Haechan solo, and we needed it yesterday” flood gates for me.

This was also the song where I just love Mark’s singing voice on. I think this is my favorite song where he solely sings on, leaving the rap to Jaemin and Jeno. I think this song is also my favorite because of everyone’s vocals and what they bring to the song.

Like Jeno and Jaemin’s raps are short but to the point. Renjun’s vocals, which have always been my second favorite in Dream, flow so nicely.

Same with Jisung and Chenle. You get wrapped up in one member’s vocals then it jumps to another, but none of it feels jarring. I get excited for whose gonna sing/rap next. This song is so addicting and feels fresh every time I hear it.

I forgot how much I loved these SM studio/practice videos. I used to watch these allll the time. Like the moment I knew a new one was available, I was watching that shit.

I forgot this performance video they had on school uniforms. I love the styling and hair colors here. Zero complaints. Love this era. Minus the whole Mark graduating from Dream thing. That was stupid and never should have been a thing. *Jonghyun voice* Okay next.

Don’t Need Your Love

I love this song and I love this video. This is probably my favorite Kpop collaboration, next to Halsey and BTS for “Boy With Luv”. I love these collabs for the same reason, they work well together!!! They don’t sound like someone Frankisteined together two completely different songs, and don’t match up together well at all.

HRVY’s vocals and parts fit so nicely with the Dreamies. It feels like love and care was put into this song. And then them actually having HRVY in the video also shows the effort put in. If you enjoyed this song and video, I recommend checking out the behind the scenes video as well.

It was interesting seeing the interactions, and I’m such a nerd for this type of content. I love seeing how things are made. So if you like that type of stuff too, check it out.

If I remember correctly, Mark and Haechan were off doing their 127 duties at this time. So they didn’t participate in this SM Station. I’m still okay with that because it gave the remaining members time to shine.

Especially Renjun, whose vocals I just adore. And when it comes to raps, I really love Jeno and Jaemin’s performances here. I tend to ignore their raps, but I get excited for them on this song. Jisung is given time to sing, and I love his lower register? Is that the word I’m thinking of?

I love when they let him sing. And oh! Before I forget, in the music video, Jisung’s scene is my favorite layout. I love the neon lights in that setup. And his lil devil horns. So cute.

Chenle’s voice, I feel like, gets overlooked but is also really nice. It’s like whip cream. Do you need the extra sugar? No, but it’s nice to have because it adds to the flavor overall.

Another song and video that still hold up.

Fireflies

Remember when the dreamies became Boy Scout ambassadors and made a song? Pepperidge Farm remembers. I was living for these random ass collabs Dream was getting in 2019. The more music and videos, the better.

I think the partnership was also such a cute and fitting choice, considering the Dreamies are seen as like the little brother group out of the NCT units.

“Fireflies” isn’t their best song, I wouldn’t even rank it king tier, but I just love it. It’s a cute tune. Fun and upbeat. It makes me smile. I almost never skip it when it pops up on shuffle.

It’s also completely in English. I think this is still their only song completely in English.

BOOM

My second favorite NCT Dream song. Y’all don’t understand the HYPE, the genuine awe I was in when they droped this song. Like this is the follow-up to We Go Up? Which side note, again, I do like “We Go Up” but I love “1,2,3” more, so “We Go Up” isn’t on this list.

I’m ignoring Chenle’s cornrows like I did back in 2019, lol. I’m still not sure why they felt so confident to have him have that look in the music video. Everyone else looks amazing and that hair is distracting!! I will never forgive SM for that. I did love his orange hair that’s on the album cover.

But I loveee the styling this live stage has, omggg. They look so polished and handsome. This is like them at their most enhanced visuals. And we know I love a sparkly group look.

We Boom is my second favorite Dream album. Idk how to describe “BOOM” as a song. It’s definitely a pop dance track. The instrumentals piqued my interest and by the time we get to the harmonies in the chorus, I was completely sold on it.

I do think some of the verses are a bit weak flow wise compared to a typical sounding Dream song like “We Young”. But I think it’s because of how the song is structured.

You have more raps and talking sections compared to other Dream songs. So it wouldn’t surprise me if you love most of the Dreamies music, but don’t like this one. Or “Go”.

STRONGER

This hair is the one I was talking about earlier with Chenle. “STRONGER” I didn’t realize until writing this article, but is also structured differently than what I normally think a Dream song would sound like.

I’m glad they promoted this with “BOOM”. They’re similar songs in structure and sound, but exciting to your ears.

The phone ringing in the background still catches me off guard 4 years later. I don’t listen to this song that frequently, compare to my other faves on this list, but I love it a lot.

119

A banger!!! I love these in your face, assertive NCT Dream songs. I know it’s the opposite from where they started.

But I just love it. I love seeing them mature as artists and the concepts changing with them. Instead of just dragging out the cute school boy thing out forever.

This is another song that doesn’t pop up much on shuffle. I think I gotta listen to this and some other Dream songs I haven’t heard in a while. *Mark Lee voice* change your ways.

Ridin’

Oh man, I love “Ridin” but sometimes I forget it exists. The styling here I love, again. Actually, NCT Dream don’t typically get styling I hate. I’m usually pretty satisfied with their looks.

Sometimes they get a bit experimental, like with “Beatbox”. While we’re on the topic of visuals, I really love Haechan with auburn/reddish brown hair. It suits his complexion so much.

Anyway, back to the song. I love this song, but it never pops up on shuffle. I guess I gotta seek it out more. It’s not an in your face song, and has that cool vibe to it like “BOOM”.

This album, Reload from a music standpoint, is my favorite NCT Dream album. So far, at least. So it’s strange I hardly revisit this album compared to their previous ones.

Quiet Down

The chorus. THE CHORUS!!! I think it’s what makes me so excited about NCT Dream songs. When they have a good setup, it’s like when the dopamine hits. It’s so addicting and worth the wait. You can’t help but want more.

I never watched this teaser video around the time they were promoting this album. But the cut-off right as the song gets good, wow. Just WOW. It’s soooo smooth and satisfying.

7 Days

Revisiting this album is making me remember how much I love it and why. We’re putting this back in rotation, stat. Maybe my subconscious made me forget about this album, so it wouldn’t completely destroy my Spotify Wrapped, lol.

“7 Days” is another suuuper catchy song. I love when songs start off with the audio altered. Either making it sound older like it’s playing from a record player, or muffled like it’s underwater, It scratches an itch I have in my brain. If I made music, I’d have a song or two like that.

I like “7 Days” too because it’s like an old Dream song, but with a maturer sound to it. I’ve said this before, but I love seeing them evolve.

Dive Into You

Alright, we’ve reached our last song for the article. Interesting song to end off on. It’s incredibly similar to “7 Days”. I definitely have a type when it comes to NCT Dream songs, lol.

I didn’t care for Hot Sauce the album or “Hot Sauce” the song. So I was quite surprised to hear something like this song on this album. Same with Glitch Mode. I only care about “Teddy Bear” and “Rewind”.

I gotta talk about Renjun’s two-tone hair here. It’s sooo cute on him! One again, the Dreamies styling is on point.

And we love seeing Mark back with them. It gets to a point where if Haechan or Mark isn’t there, I just assume they’re either doing 127 duties. Well, or SuperM duties back when that was a thing for a bit, lol.

Lately I’ve been enjoying random b-sides on these Dream albums. Hopefully that’ll be changing here soon. I miss loving more of their music and being excited about the promotional period.

Okaaay, we’ve finally done it. I’ve got my favorite NCT Dream songs out of the way. There will be more NCT faves post on the way. I’m thinking about covering more NCT127 albums first. Then probably cover WayV. We’re a bit overdue on covering WayV on here, like a full article dedicated to them.

I haven’t forgotten about the Taemin articles. In fact, the next like three days will be all about Taemin. So I hope y’all are ready for that. Let me know what y’alls fave NCT Dream songs are in the comments.

December is gonna be packed with so many articles, y’all will be sick of me, lol. I appreciate y’all sticking with me through another chaotic year. Let’s finish off strong!

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Take care!

Ash👑