The 7th Sense

"The 7th Sense" (Korean: 일곱 번째 감각; RR: Ilgop Beonjjae Gamgak) is the debut single by South Korean boy group NCT U, the first sub-unit of NCT. It was released digitally on April 9, 2016, through SM Entertainment. Musically, "The 7th Sense" was described as a future bass genre based on hip-hop grooves, with heavy bass sounds and dreamy vocals and rap.^[1]

"The 7th Sense"
Single by NCT U
from the album NCT 2018 Empathy
Released	April 9, 2016 (2016-04-09)
Recorded	2016
Studio	SM Blue Cup Studio Ingrid Studio
Genre	Hip hop future bass[1]
Length	3:34
Label	SM
Composer(s)	Timothy "Bos" Bullock Jeremy "Tay" Jasper MZMC Michael Jiminez Sara Forsberg Leven Kali
Lyricist(s)	January 8th Kim Dong-hyun Cho Jin-joo Taeyong Mark
Producer(s)	Timothy "Bos" Bullock Jeremy "Tay" Jasper
NCT U singles chronology
"The 7th Sense" (2016) "Without You" (2016)
NCT singles chronology
"The 7th Sense" (2016) "Without You" (2016)
Music video
"The 7th Sense" on YouTube

Background and release

On January 28, 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man delivered a presentation at the SM Coex Artium, titled "SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016." The label's plan was to debut a new boy group with an "unlimited" number of members with their "culture contents" strategy. They released a video called "SM_NCT#2 Synchronization of your dreams" where Taeyong, Hansol, Ten, Mark, and Jaehyun performed a dance, there was a song teaser vocal by Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Mark, & Haechan. The music video for "The 7th Sense" was released on April 8, 2016, released on SMTOWN's official YouTube Channel.

Composition

In an interview, the composer said he was curious about the new idol group's debut with the song and that a foreign reaction would be good. On the last day of the SM songwriting camp, a composer put out a beat, which came out very well, and eight or nine composers made it. Taeyong and Mark participated in rap making. The lyrics introduce the NCT score keyword, "Seventh Sense," which means a sense of feeling and understanding each other's dreams through music. It contains NCT's desire and aspiration to communicate powerfully with the public in the future.^[2]

Accolades

"The 7th Sense" on critic lists

Critic/Publication	List	Rank	Ref.
Billboard	The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s: Staff List	83	[3]
Dazed	The 20 best K-Pop tracks of the year	13	[4]
Insider	13 Best K-pop Debut Songs of All Time	Included	[5]
Medium	25 Best K-Pop Songs of the 2010s (Ciarra Gaffney)	25	[6]
Melon	Top 100 K-pop Songs of All Time	50	[7]
SBS PopAsia	SBS PopAsia's Top 100 songs of 2016	41	[8]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
South Korea (Gaon)[9]	111
US World Digital Songs (Billboard)[10]	2

Year-end charts

Chart (2016)	Position
US World Digital Songs (Billboard)[11]	25

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from album's liner notes.^[12]

Studio

• SM Blue Cup Studio – recording, mixing
• Ingrid Studio – recording, additional vocal editing
• SM Booming System – digital editing
• Sterling Sound – mastering

Personnel

• SM Entertainment – executive producer
• Lee Soo-man – producer
• NCT U – vocals
  • Taeyong – rap
  • Mark – rap
  • Doyoung – vocals, background vocals
  • Jaehyun – vocals
  • Ten – vocals
• Kim Dong-hyun [ko] – lyrics
• Cho Jin-joo – lyrics
• January 8th – lyrics
• Ju Chan-yang – vocal directing
• Timothy "BOS" Bullock – producer, composition, arrangement
• Jeremy "Tay" Jasper – producer, composition, arrangement
• Michael Jiminez – composition
• MZMC – composition
• Sara Forsberg – composition
• Leven Kali – composition
• Jung Eui-seok – recording, mixing
• Jung Eun-kyung – recording, additional vocal editing
• Yoo Young-jin – digital editing, music and sound supervisor
• Randy Merrill – mastering

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
South Korea	April 9, 2016	Digital download streaming Promotional CD	SM Entertainment
Various