NCT 127 Celebrates New Era And Legacy With ‘BLINGY’

South Korean superstars NCT 127 has undergone many changes over the past 10 years since their debut in July 2015. Several members came and went, especially within the past three years, which really defined the remaining members – Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Jungwoo, and Haechan. The team has had to adapt to the changes, including Doyoung and Jungwoo currently serving in the military (both set to be discharged next summer). The group has now released their seventh studio album, BLINGY.

It has been two years since the group released an album and performed together as five (Taeyong was discharged from military service in December 2025 and Jaehyun in May 2026) as headliners for this year’s KCON LA. The group headlined Night 1 of M Countdown, performing their popular hits like “Lemonade,” “2 Baddies,” “Kick It,” “Summer 127,” “TOUCH,” “Fact Check,” “Walk,” and the live debut of their pre-release song, “Piñata.” Taeyong performed his solo set during Night 2 of KCON LA’s M Countdown, performing several songs, including from his recent album, “WYLD.”

Yuta recalls practicing their performance of “Piñata,” torn between focusing on the intense choreography and the live performance aspect, calling the song “Explosive energy.” When told the choreography looked tiring, he laughs, “Yeah, for me too.”

The team spent a long time preparing for their performance – and their upcoming World Tour – distributing the vocal assignments, allowing many of the members to showcase their vocal talents. Taeyong says what audiences heard at KCON LA was what they can expect from their new album.

“Because we’re now missing two members, we try to fill that void with different sounds,” Taeyong explains during the album’s press day in Downtown Los Angeles. “And what we did try was put the stronger sounds and more intense songs, but we don’t want to fill up the album with just intense songs. We try to put in a little bit of other vibe songs as well in the album.”

NCT 127’s BLINGY includes the group’s signature confident and strong “NEO” performance tracks like “Piñata,” their title track, “Blingy,” and the hip-hop-heavy song, “Legacy.” It also features rock, pop, indie pop, and ballads, like “Day After Day” and the sweet “127 Million Miles.” For the members, the album celebrates their pride and evolution over the past decade.

Haechan and Jaehyun, both powerful vocalists, have had to adapt to changing positions and vocal registers across past songs and the recent album. It’s part of the job, and they do it well, working hard to make it work.

“In the past, we tried to add in little elements of powerful vocals in between the songs because we had more members,” Haechan shares. “But now, we’re trying to fill up one song with just five members. We go with the flow to make the entire product.”

Jaehyun adds, “I’m an artist who has a wide spectrum of vocals, so I try to show different sides in individual songs. When I worked on each song, I tried to deeply understand each concept, whether it be an energetic song or whether I’m trying to convey a message.”

The group agrees that the songs represent them pretty well at this moment in their lives, especially with “Legacy” defining who NCT 127 is right now, and “Step Up” and “Piñata” helping them break free from limitations. This confidence and resilience were 10 years in the making, which helped them grow as a group and as individual artists.

“The mission this time around was to really showcase what kind of person we are individually,” says Johnny. “Even in ‘Piñata,’ each person has a character. In the end, we’re one team, but each person has their own character and their own way to handle certain situations. The whole album in general – each song – each person has their own character, and that’s what makes this album really interesting and fun to listen to.”

Johnny, best known as a rapper, sang more on the album, learning more about his voice type. He proudly reveals, “Well, you could say that I am a person with a deeper voice, and what that means is your vocal cords are thicker. For this album, and personally, if you have a deeper voice, everything is a lot slower, duller, deeper voice. Vocally, it’s very dull. It’s not sharp, but working on this album I noticed I have that kind of voice. To keep up with the beats and to make sure my voice stands out a bit, I had to train myself to make my vocal cords a bit sharper and thinner. That’s what I went through with this album, because the [vocal cords] are a muscle.”

Taeyong also found himself training his voice, especially during a moment in “Legacy.” He shares, ”There’s a part in the song ‘Legacy’ where I’m screaming my lungs out. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to hit it, but I think I pulled it off pretty well.”

His members begin egging him on to perform that part live. Johnny shouts, “You gotta do it live!” Taeyong smiles, nodding in agreement. Throughout the interview, the five joked with each other, commenting on each other’s answers. At one point, Yuta calls Taeyong out for lying. Taeyong responds, “You’re right,” before they both giggle among themselves. Despite their long days and sleepless, jetlagged nights, the members remain in good spirits with each other, showing each other the drawings they thought the press wouldn’t notice them doodling throughout the interview.