''Cherry Bomb'' is the third

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

NCT 127 NCT 127 () is the first fixed and second overall sub-unit of the South Korean boy band NCT (group), NCT, formed and managed by SM Entertainment. They originally debuted on July 7, 2016, with their debut extended play ''NCT 127 (EP), NCT#127'', ...

, the

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

-based sub-unit of the South Korean boy band NCT. It was released by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

on June 14, 2017, and distributed by

Genie Music Genie Music (), a subsidiary of KT Corporation, is a South Korean company that specializes in the production and distribution of music content. Its music streaming service is the second most used in South Korea with 2.5 million subscribers as ...

. The EP includes a total of seven tracks. The EP was a commercial success, peaking at number two on the

Gaon Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Koreabased on their Record sales, physical sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, ...

. It has sold over 127,642 physical copies as of December 2017.

Background and release

On May 25, SM Entertainment confirmed NCT 127's comeback in June and stated that the group filmed the music video for their comeback in

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

. On June 5, at midnight ( KST), NCT 127's first teaser image of their comeback was released. The image features what appears to be an explosion of cherries. On the same day, the agency revealed that the EP is titled "Cherry Bomb" and is set to be released on June 14 at 18:00 (KST). From June 7 to June 9, teaser images of individual members were released. A group image was released on June 10. The group also released cartoon characters video on their official

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

page, also special message from the members. Subsequently, teaser clips was unveiled. The track-list was unveiled on June 11, along with a special clip of "Cherry Bomb". The EP was released on June 14. The music video for "Cherry Bomb" achieved more than three million views in 24 hours. The album's illustrations were drawn by Bang Sang-ho.

Single

"Cherry Bomb" was released as the title track in conjunction with the EP on June 14. It was produced by Dem Jointz, Deez and

Yoo Young-jin Yoo Young-jin is a South Korean singer-songwriter, record producer and vocal trainer formerly under SM Entertainment. He has produced and written songs for H.O.T., S.E.S, BoA, Shinhwa, TVXQ, CSJH The Grace, Super Junior, Girls' Generatio ...

. The single was described as a hip hop with a "complex synth and bass-infused" track with colorful compositions that meet the members' unique rap, vocals and powerful performance. The song also samples the lyrics from the popular American children's song "

If You're Happy and You Know It "If You're Happy and You Know It" is a popular traditional repetitive children's song, folksong, and drinking song. The song has been noted for its similarities to "Molodejnaya", a song appearing in the 1938 Soviet musical film '' Volga-Volga'' ...

". The choreography of "Cherry Bomb" is by

Tony Testa Anthony Joseph Testa (born 31 March 1987) is an American choreographer, creative director, educator and dancer. Early life Testa started dancing at age eight in his hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado at Westin Arts Academy & Artistic Fusion Dan ...

who choreographed NCT 127's previous single "Fire Truck". The song's "Performance Version", which has an added

future bass Future bass is a style of electronic dance music which developed in the 2010s that mixes elements of dubstep and EDM Trap music (EDM), trap with warmer, less abrasive rhythms. The genre was pioneered by producers such as Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, ...

section, is an alternate version of the song used in the group's performances as well as in the music video. The song entered at number 37 on the

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based on ...

on the chart issue dated June 11–17, 2017, with 39,006 downloads sold.

Promotions

"Cherry Bomb" was deemed "unfit for broadcast" by KBS due to mentions of violence in their lyrics, gory descriptions, and more, thus the group did not perform the song on ''Music Bank'', instead, they performed their B-side "O'Mile". NCT 127 kickstarted their promotions with a showcase, held on June 14. There were no entrance fees charged for the showcase, as it marked the group's first showcase since its debut. The group promoted on South Korean music shows starting from June 15 where they performed "Cherry Bomb" and "0 Mile" on ''

M Countdown ''M Countdown'' () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet from the CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. It features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. First hosted by Leeteuk ...

''.

Commercial performance

''Cherry Bombs pre-orders reached 101,444 copies, exceeding NCT 127's previous EPs ''NCT #127'' and ''Limitless''. ''Cherry Bomb'' debuted at number two on the

and ''Billboard'''s US World Albums, debuted at number 21 on ''Billboards

Top Heatseekers Albums The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

, and number 22 on the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...

. The EP entered at number two on the Gaon Album Chart for the month of June 2017, with 105,877 physical copies sold.

Critical reception

Fuse TV Fuse is an American television channel owned by Fuse Media, LLC, that was originally launched in 1994 as MuchMusic USA, a localized version of the Canadian cable channel MuchMusic, owned by CHUM Limited which was also the parent company of City ...

'' introduced NCT 127's "Cherry Bomb" describing it as edgy and explosive, and described the song as the most sophisticated track by the group so far. The lead single, "Cherry Bomb" was chosen by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' and ''

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolator or Idolater may also refer to: * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), a 2005 album by Blood Stain Child * ''Idolator'', a 1986 album by Ole Evenrud * "Idolater", a ...

'' as one of the best K-pop songs of 2017.

Track listing

Charts

Sales

Accolades

Music program awards

Release history

References

External links

"Cherry Bomb" music video
{{Authority control 2017 EPs SM Entertainment EPs Korean-language EPs Hip-hop EPs Dance-pop EPs Genie Music EPs NCT 127 EPs