Quick Thoughts: Mark -The Firstfruit

I’m not much of a solo Mark music fan. He’s had a couple of solo singles like “Child” and “Golden Hour” that I listened to once… And that was about it. No desire to listen to them again. Not because they’re unlistenable, but I like Mark in a group or duo dynamic the most. Or at least that’s what I’ve always thought. I enjoyed The Firstfruit much more than I expected to.

I saved four songs from The Firstfruit. Which, is four more than I expected, lol. But two of those have features. I feel like this album is a grower for me. When I go back to the songs off here I connected with instantly, the more I see potential in the other ones.

The Firstfruit is a great album for those who love Mark’s solo music and want more of that sound. I’m going to focus more on the songs that did hit for me in this article.

SM did a fantastic job with the visuals for Mark’s album. I love how detail oriented Mark was with all this. The Leo jumped out for sure. I really enjoyed the video loop for this song. In the teasers leading up to The Firstfruit, we see Mark on a plane and this works as an album sampler for the songs on The Firstfruit and a visual teaser of what’s to come. It’s absolute cinema.

Raincouver

Starting with “Raincouver”, I have to say, this is a crazy track run, songs 6-9 on this album. Maybe that’s why it’s my favorite part of the album. There’s so much going on. It’s so catchy and I love the pacing.

“Raincouver” has such a cheery instrumental for a song that has both rain and the Vancouver in the title, which, like Seattle, is known for being a super rainy place. There’s a nostalgic sound here too as well, since lyrically, Mark is reflecting on time when he was a kid in Vancouver. It’s a sweet yet sad song at the same time.

Loser

Slapppps. I love that Mark had so much variety on this album. It’s very well-balanced between slower songs like “Loser” where he’s singing, and the more upbeat songs with him rapping in his typical NCT, Hip Hop heavy sound. This is hands down my favorite “solo” song of his.

It’s him, his guitar and very few other instruments in the background. It’s such a stripped down song and, like “Too Much”, the album ender, shows a more vulnerable side that’s appreciated in this solo albums. Authenticity is underrated and appreciated until you hear albums without it.

Mark is saying so much on this song and album, without blatantly spelling it out to us, the audience. It’s very much “the ones who get it, and the ones who don’t, don’t” energy.

Watching TV (Feat. Crush)

This scene in the travel guidelines video took me out. Mark running through the plane with a Crush cutout is hilarious. Such a smart and creative way to have Crush visually there.

This song feels like it was placed here for me. I know the girls love rap!Mark, but I need some R&B. NCT is known for their Hip Hop, yes, but we must acknowledge the R&B side as well. So I appreciate the crumbs here. We have 13 songs on this album, and not a lot of room for deviation.

I noticed here the same people who worked on “Loser” also worked on “Watching TV” so that makes sense to why I love both so much. At this point, if Crush is on the song, it’s gonna be a fave for me.

+82 Pressin’

Another banger. We got a lot of pre-releases leading up to the release of The Firstfruit. I’m so happy they kept this one close to when the full album dropped. Unfortunately, this just makes me want a Markhyuk official subunit even more, lmao. They both sound flawless on this track.

It also reminds me more of how desperately I need the HOLO (Haechan solo). Also, I’m realizing I never listened to Doyoung’s solo. While listening to Mark’s solo music, it naturally has me thinking about the other NCT solos. I meant to listen to Doyoung’s and I don’t really have a reason for why I haven’t apart from I guess I’m a fake NCTzen, lol.

It’s been 9 years since NCT (U) first debuted with “The 7th Sense” and everyone had a solo album released.

I think the timing of that is beautiful. It really does feel like three or four years ago, baby Mark hit us with that, “and that’s a long ass ride” line and changed music forever . Such a full circle moment.

So even though presently, I have like 4/13 songs saved, I’m still going to buy a physical copy and I do highly recommend checking out the album. There’s so much here I adore, and I can’t even fathom what the next Mark album will be like. I’m praying we can get him a music show win or two from this album. It’s so well deserved.

So what are y’alls thoughts on The Firstfruit and the multiple sides and sounds Mark showed us on it. I didn’t talk about the concept photos in this article. But omgggg he looks stunning. You can see those here. The stylist(s) did the damn thing. Chef’s kiss fr.

Idk what the next article will be on. I gotta do some content planning over the weekend. And I still gotta figure out this issue I’m having with my new email marketing company I’m using to distribute the newsletter. So that’s currently on pause until I get that worked out. So make sure you follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, & BlueSky for updates on the blog.

Take care,

Ash