"Universe (Let's Play Ball)" is a song recorded by South Korean boy group

NCT U NCT U (; ) is the first sub-unit from the South Korean boy band NCT. They debuted on April 9, 2016, with the double digital single "The 7th Sense" and "Without You" under the label SM Entertainment. The member line of NCT U is rotational, chan ...

, the first unit of NCT under the management of

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 ...

. The song was served as the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

of NCT's third studio album ''

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

'', and it was released on December 10, 2021, four days prior to the release of the album.

Composition and lyrics

"Universe (Let's Play Ball)" was composed by Carlos Battey,

Wayne Hector Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including " World ...

Breyan Isaac Breyan Stanley Isaac (born May 24, 1980) is an American record producer, songwriter and singer based in Daytona Beach, Florida. He has produced or co-written songs for numerous music industry acts, including Cardi B, David Guetta, Flo Rida, Pitb ...

Alexandru Cotoi Alexandru Cotoi (often simply Alex Cotoi) is a Romanian composer, Record producer, producer and disc jockey signed by Global Records. Over the years, he has worked with several high-profile singers including Delia Matache, Delia, Irina Rimes, Inna ...

, Marcel Botezan,

Dem Jointz Dwayne Allen Abernathy Jr. (born July 17, 1976), known professionally as Dem Jointz, is an American record producer, songwriter and singer. He has been credited with production work for artists including Kanye West, Rihanna, Anderson .Paak, Emi ...

, Ryan S. Jhun and Kenzie, with the arrangement held by Issac, Cotoi, Botezan, Jointz and Kenzie. It was recorded at two

's recording studios, SM Yellow Tail Studio and SM SSAM Studio, and was produced by Dem Jointz and Kenzie, SM's long-time frequent collaborators. The song was composed in the key of

F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp ...

, with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 180 beats per minute. Described as an EDM

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

song with catchy hook, clattering percussion, the lyrics, which were written by Kenzie and NCT U's member

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

, talk about "espousement of fearlessness in terms of pursuing what one deems as his destiny", and also "made abundantly clear that a romantic interest plays an all-important role in his perception of achieving that goal".

Music video

The music video, which was directed by Hong Jae-hwan and Beomjin, was released alongside the song by SM Entertainment on December 10. It features scenes of NCT U's members "challenging each other to a game of baseball, alongside shots of the group performing choreography".

Accolades

Credits

Credits adapted from album's liner notes. Studio * SM Yellow Tail Studio –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

digital editing In mass communication, digital media is any communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronic d ...

* SM SSAM Studio – recording * SM Blue Ocean Studio – mixing * Sound Pool Studio – digital editing * 821 Sound Mastering – mastering Personnel *

–

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

Lee Soo-man Lee Soo-man (, born 18 June 1952) is a South Korean business executive and record producer who is best known for being the founder of SM Entertainment, a multinational entertainment company based in Seoul. He has also been referred to as the "p ...

– producer *

Lee Sung-soo Lee Sung-soo (; also spelled Lee Sung-su; born November 3, 1979) is a South Korean music production director and A&R executive. He is the chief A&R officer of SM Entertainment. He was formerly the CEO of SM Entertainment and SM Entertainment U ...

– production director, executive supervisor *

Tak Young-jun Tak Young-jun (; also spelled Tak Young-joon; born January 17, 1978) is a South Korean business executive and the current COO and co-CEO of SM Entertainment. He is the CEO of SM Life Design Group and a representative director of SM Entertainme ...

– executive supervisor *

– vocals **

– lyrics * Kenzie – producer, lyrics,

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

– producer, composition, arrangement *

– composition, arrangement *

– composition, arrangement * Marcel Botezan – composition, arrangement * Carlos Battey – composition *

– composition * Ryan S. Jhun – composition * Junny –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

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 ...

– background vocals, music and sound supervisor * GDLO – vocal directing * Noh Min-ji – recording, digital editing * Kang Eun-ji – recording * Kim Cheol-sun – mixing * Jung Ho-jin – digital editing * Kwon Nam-woo – mastering

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2021 songs 2021 singles SM Entertainment singles Songs written by Dem Jointz Songs written by Ryan S. Jhun Songs written by Kenzie (songwriter)