“Hello Future” by NCT Dream

Perhaps we should have known from the onset that any K-pop track with a title like “Hello Future” is going to be optimistic in nature. And if one wants to take it there, this piece can be interpreted as being about a romance. But more to the point is it serving as a song of encouragement.

The vocalist is on some type of journey with the addressee. Perhaps it can be said, as presented, that their destinies are intertwined. And he is assuring this person that they will in fact reach the dream that they are aspiring for, or in the very least they should aspire towards it. Yes, there will be hardships along the way, as there apparently are in the moment. 

In fact there are some references to “war” and “peace” in the lyrics, which aren’t necessarily words to take likely via artists coming from a country like South Korea.

Together to the End

But taking all into consideration, what the narrator appears to be saying is that he is going to stick with the addressee through thick and thin, no matter what. And apparently part of the reason he is compelled to do so is because the vocalist feels that this individual(s) has a glorious “future” ahead of him or her. So even if interpreted as a love song, this would be one where the singer is expressing a lot of faith in his partner.

NCT

NCT is a group which, as a whole, currently consists of 23 members. So as larger K-pop acts tend to go, they occasionally split into subunits. At the moment, there are actually four, NCT U, NCT 127, WayV and NCT Dream. There is also a fifth sub-unit, NCT-Hollywood, forthcoming which, unlike the crew’s current membership, will actually consist of members from the United States.

There are seven members of NCT Dream in total. They are, in alphabetical order:

• Chenle
• Haechan
• Jaemin
• Jeno
• Jisung
• Mark
• Renjun

Hello Future

Thus far NCT Dream, which has been extant since 2016 (the same year NCT itself was introduced), has released one studio album, 2021’s Hot Sauce. During that same year, the said album was re-packaged – with three new tracks added on – and reissued under the name “Hello Future”. 

One of those three songs, i.e. the one we’re reviewing today, itself entitled “Hello Future”, which was released on 28 June 2021. And SM Entertainment, the label behind the band, first teased the song earlier in the month on 8 June.

The writer of this song is an established SM Entertainment mainstay known as Kenzie. And the producer, a pair of homeys from Sweden known together as Moonshine, also regularly work with the label.