Ahead of their upcoming comeback ISTJ scheduled for release next month, NCT DREAM has released a pre-release single titled Broken Melodies. This is the group’s first release since their Korean comeback with their remake of the single Candy and their Japanese comeback Best Friend Ever (review to come). The group is also in the midst of their The Dream Show 2: In A Dream world tour.

Broken Melodies successfully eases us into their upcoming comeback and easily excites fans and casual listeners of the group for what is to come. Personally, the song is fairly simple with its straight forward pop rock influences. While the simplicity side of things can be problematic in some cases, that was not a concern for NCT DREAM here. The group managed to make Broken Melodies dynamic and stunning. The two main elements that really jumps out at me in Broken Melodies is actually the pop melodies of the song and the vocals that bring said melodies to life. We all know how capable the vocal line of NCT DREAM are their vocal abilities and they did not disappoint. But the rappers really surprised me with how stunning their vocals were during the solo moments in the verses and choruses. However, that doesn’t stop the rappers from being incorporated later on in the song, delivering a powerful rap line which hurls Broken Melodies upwards towards its peak. The pop rock instrumentation in Broken Melodies felt refreshing and nostalgic at the same time, reminding me of similar releases that I grew up on in the 00s. But the best parts of Broken Melodies has to be when the instrumental doubles down and intensifies via dynamic and cool drumming in the bridge. This adds to the memorable factor of Broken Melodies. I also like it was paired with the shouted “Broken Melodies” at the end of the choruses, which was a successful last ditched effort to get me back into the song right as it wraps up. As mentioned above, everything in Broken Melodies works wonderfully in setting us up to the next release from the group, which will come out mid-July (i.e. a little under a months time).

One of the vibes that I got from the song that I didn’t mention above was that there was a pleasant and warming tone to the vocals, which complements the song’s message of wanting to protect a love no matter what, expressing that they will overcome the numerous emotions they feel while being separated a great distance from the person they love (taken from Soompi). That’s why we see a bunch of scenes of the members talking on the phone with a smile, or sending messages to their partners with a smile. I also liked how the members were dressed up in school uniform and the location of the music video was predominately at a school or college field. I prefer to think of a college setting, which aligns with the group’s more mature image. But the potential to take us back to slightly younger years doesn’t hurt the group, and complements their youthful concept that they began and built their image with.

The choreography that we do see in the music video looks great. But I won’t factor it in the final rating until we get a live performance of Broken Melodies, as what we do see is quite limited.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9/10