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Awaken (NCT 127 album)

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Awaken
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 17, 2019 (2019-04-17)
Recorded2016–2019
StudioSM Studios, Seoul, South Korea
Genre
Language
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • English
LabelAvex Trax
ProducerLee Soo-man
NCT 127 chronology
Regular-Irregular
(2018)
Awaken
(2019)
We Are Superhuman
(2019)
NCT chronology
The Vision
(2019)
Awaken
(2019)
Take Off
(2019)
Singles from Awaken
  1. "Touch"
    Released: September 16, 2018
  2. "Wakey-Wakey"
    Released: March 18, 2019

Awaken is the first full-length Japanese album (second overall) by South Korean boy band NCT 127, the second multi-national sub-unit of NCT. Released by their Japanese label Avex Trax on April 17, 2019, the album was the second major release for the Japanese market from the group and their first to not feature Winwin, who was on a hiatus due to his participation in WayV's promotion. SM Entertainment's founder Lee Soo-man served as the album's executive producer, with lyrical and musical composition contributed by Andreas Öberg, Sebastian Thott, David Amber, Jung Youth, Tony Esterly, Jonny Shorr, LDN Noise, Deez, Adrian Mckinnon, Mike Daley, Yoo Young-jin, Harvey Mason Jr., Dem Jointz, MEG.ME and others. A hip-hop and R&B-heavily dominant record, Awaken contains songs corporating elements from pop and electronic music, performing in Japanese, Korean and English in order to "continue" the story from their first Japanese extended play Chain (2018).[1]

Upon its release, the album debuted at number four on the Oricon Weekly Albums chart with 53,042 copies sold in its first week of its release, as well as at number 14 on the Oricon Weekly Digital Albums chart with 978 downloads, becoming the group's third top five entry on the former chart.[2][3] To promote the album, NCT 127 embarked on their first Japan concert tour, titled Neo City – The Origin. The album also spawned two singles prior to its release, namely the Japanese version of "Touch" on September 16, 2018 and "Wakey-Wakey" on March 19, 2019.

Background and release

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After making their debut in the Japanese market with the extended play, Chain, in 2018, NCT 127 released their first Japanese studio album, Awaken, on April 17, 2019.[4]

It was released in fourteen versions: a limited CD+DVD edition that reverts to a regular edition once depleted, a limited CD+Blu-ray edition that reverts to a regular edition once depleted, and nine limited CD member editions that revert to a regular CD edition once depleted. All limited editions came with one trading card of nine types.[5]

The music video teaser for the lead single, "Wakey-Wakey", was released on March 17, 2019, and the full music video was released on March 18, 2019.[6]

Promotion

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It was announced in August 2018 that NCT 127 would embark on their first nationwide Japan tour, Neo City – The Origin, starting in Osaka on February 2, 2019, with a total of seven stops in Hiroshima, Kanazawa, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Saitama and Osaka.[7]

Track listing

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Awaken
No.TitleLyricsMusicArrangementLength
1."Lips"
3:06
2."Wakey-Wakey"3:02
3."Chain"
3:42
4."Regular" (English version)
  • Mike Daley
  • Mitchell Owens
3:40
5."Touch" (Japanese version)
3:10
6."Blow My Mind"
  • Jonny Shorr
  • David Amber
  • Will Jay
  • David Amber
3:48
7."Limitless" (Japanese version)
  • Kenzie
  • Sara Sakurai (T's Music)
4:08
8."Long Slow Distance"
  • Natsumi Kobayashi
  • Lee Dae-hee (ZigZagNote)
  • Moon Sang-sun
  • Sean Alexander (Avenue 52)
  • Drew Ryan Scott
  • Lee Dae-hee (ZigZagNote)
  • Moon Sang-sun
4:25
9."Kitchen Beat"
  • Ume
  • Ronnie Icon
  • Jan Baars
  • Rajan Muse
  • Ronnie Icon
  • Jan Baars
  • Rajan Muse
3:29
10."Cherry Bomb" (Korean version)
3:56
11."Fire Truck" (Korean version)
  • LDN Noise
  • Jeremy "Tay" Jasper
  • Ylva Dimberg (The Kennel)
2:58
12."End to Start"
  • Amon Hayashi (Digz Inc.)
  • Jung Youth (DMP Group)
  • Tony Esterly (DMP Group)
  • DMP Group
3:30
Total length:42:54

Charts

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Chart (2019) Peak
position
French Digital Albums (SNEP)[9] 121
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[10] 4

Release history

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Region Date Format Distributor
Various April 17, 2019 Avex Trax
Japan

References

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  1. ^ "NCT Website". nct-jp.net. Archived from the original on 2020-09-17. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  2. ^ "オリコン週間 アルバムランキング 2019年04月15日〜2019年04月21日 | Oricon News". Archived from the original on 2019-04-24. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  3. ^ "オリコン週間 デジタルアルバムランキング 2019年04月15日〜2019年04月21日 11〜20位 | Oricon News". Archived from the original on 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  4. ^ "Awaken by NCT 127 on iTunes". iTunes. Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  5. ^ "2019年4月17日(水)発売 NCT 127 Japan 1st Full Album『Awaken』購入者特典<特典イメージ画像公開". Archived from the original on 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  6. ^ "本日、NCT 127 Japan 1st Full Album 『Awaken』リード曲の「Wakey-Wakey」ミュージックビデオを公開". Archived from the original on 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  7. ^ "NCT 127 1st Tour 'NEO CITY : JAPAN - The Origin'". Archived from the original on 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  8. ^ "Korea Music Copyright Association."마크 (10012921) on KOMCA"". Korea Music Copyright Association. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  9. ^ "NCT 127 - Awaken (1st Japanese Album): French Album Charts - Week 16, 2019". Snep Musique. April 19, 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-26.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2019-04-29" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
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