NCT DREAM drops their fourth full-length album DREAMSCAPE today November 11 on all digital and streaming platforms, via SM Entertainment and Virgin Music. Physical albums will follow on November 15.
The 11-track album marks the next chapter in their storytelling from the “DREAM( )SCAPE” EP, released in March, demonstrating the group’s continued artistic growth and exploration of reality versus dream-like fantasy through their music and visuals. Listen HERE.
Where “DREAM( )SCAPE” bristled with darker realities and themes of growing pains, “DREAMSCAPE” is pure escapism – a utopian world they have built with vibrant and emotive new songs that blend pop, hyper-pop, house, and R&B.
Led by the single ‘When I’m With You’, a house-based electro-pop track, the tones of “DREAMSCAPE” are immediately clear – NCT DREAM are exploring the complexities and realities of falling in love. Featuring a rap verse written by member MARK, the euphoric tune is a tailspin of joy, confusion, and overwhelm that comes with love and dreaming.
Album opener ‘INTRO : DREAMSCAPE’ is a hyper-pop exploration of NCT DREAM’s alternate dream-like reality, or ‘dreamscape’. The bright, bubbly melody is interrupted by sound distortions and glitches, an intriguing preview to the album’s journey. ‘Flying Kiss’, written by member HAECHAN, is a mix of rhythmic pop and rock that paints a dreamy picture of falling in love.
The theme continues with ‘i hate fruits’, using hyper-pop synths to examine the ups and downs of love. Written by MARK, the lyrics compare love to an addictive sweet fruit you adore so much you almost want to hate it.
Further into “DREAMSCAPE”, the group delve into darker themes with ‘No Escape’, which explores a nightmarish reality filled with lies. The 80s pop-infused ‘Best of Me’, another HAECHAN-penned song, expresses the deception and allure of a dark reality. On ‘You (숲)’, they begin to seek light in this darkness, with a newfound determination.
On the hopeful ‘Heavenly’, the seven members come closer to their dream world with evocative lyrics that capture the child-like dream of flying in the sky. The track flows smoothly into ‘Night Poem’, using visuals of a deepening night to evoke feelings of a love growing just as deep. The payoff of such an emotional labyrinth is the album’s penultimate song ‘Off The Wall’, a disco-funk flavoured pop song that conveys the importance of letting go and having fun.
“DREAMSCAPE” concludes with ‘Rains in Heaven’, NCT DREAM’s English single released in August, co-written by MARK with Adrian McKinnon and British pop songwriter Bryn Christopher (who has worked with the likes of Sigala and Louis Tomlinson).
Further into “DREAMSCAPE”, the group delve into darker themes with ‘No Escape’, which explores a nightmarish reality filled with lies. The 80s pop-infused ‘Best of Me’, another HAECHAN-penned song, expresses the deception and allure of a dark reality. On ‘You (숲)’, they begin to seek light in this darkness, with a newfound determination.
On the hopeful ‘Heavenly’, the seven members come closer to their dream world with evocative lyrics that capture the child-like dream of flying in the sky. The track flows smoothly into ‘Night Poem’, using visuals of a deepening night to evoke feelings of a love growing just as deep. The payoff of such an emotional labyrinth is the album’s penultimate song ‘Off The Wall’, a disco-funk flavoured pop song that conveys the importance of letting go and having fun.
“DREAMSCAPE” concludes with ‘Rains in Heaven’, NCT DREAM’s English single released in August, co-written by MARK with Adrian McKinnon and British pop songwriter Bryn Christopher (who has worked with the likes of Sigala and Louis Tomlinson).
The album lands a day ahead of NCT DREAM’s final European show on their third world tour ‘THE DREAM SHOW 3: DREAM( )SCAPE’. Limited tickets remain for their show at London’s OVO Arena Wembley on November 12 here.
Spanning 36 shows across Asia, South America, North America, and Europe, the world tour is one more milestone for the multi-million-selling group’s career-defining year. “DREAM( )SCAPE” beat their own first-day sales record set by their third studio album, 2023’s “ISTJ”, which went on to sell 4.32 million copies, becoming the sixth best-selling album globally in 2023 (according to the IFPI Global Charts). “DREAM( )SCAPE” also marked the group’s fifth consecutive release to sell over two million copies, building huge anticipation for the keenly awaited new album.
Listen to DREAMSCAPE