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Days prior to Christmas, NCT 127 released a special Winter single, Be There For Me. It follows on from their October 2023 comeback with Fact Check and the commencement of their 3rd world tour – Neo City – The Unity.

The comforting feeling of warmth comes through Be There For Me, especially since this new single steps away from the likes of EDM or synths that we know NCT 127 for (i.e., Fact Check) and into more acoustic territory (the organ in the background at the start signals this for me). The acoustic nature of Be There For Me naturally allows most of the members to showcase vocals and melodies, which were very easy on the ears and enjoyable to listen to. Be There For Me does have some rapping (courtesy of TAEYONG and MARK), and it brought nice rhythm. But they aren’t the most memorable aspect of the song. Aside from being a pleasant listen overall, I don’t have much else to say. My only complaint about Be There For Me probably is a ridiculous one but I found the song to be quite paced and mid-tempo, which does make it feel a bit long-winded. But that doesn’t offset any of the appeal and enjoyment that Be There For Me brings.

The music video brought a smile to my face. But I am not entirely sure if that was because of the combination of music and imagery, or the cringy nature of what is happening in the video. We start off with JOHNNY and JUNGWOO playing ping pong. JUNGWOO accidently hits the ball a bit too hard and it lands in JAEHYUN’s cereal. JUNGWOO and JAEHYUN fight, before DOYOUNG gets them to resolve their conflict so they can all seriously plan out their participation in a furniture auction. They build a chair and some fast auctioning happens, causing the auctioneer to bang their hammer down a little too hard, smashing all the windows. It causes the debris to fly everywhere, mimicking snow, which leads onto a snowglobe transition. That is what I took away from the video. I did like the beginning, which felt lighthearted. But the video got odd from the auction setting onwards.

The choreography was pleasant and enjoyable to watch. Nothing too flashy or too hard.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 7.8/10