Is NCT 127's “Ay-Yo” One Of K-pop’s Most Perfect, Powerful Performances, ever?

Oh, HELL yeah…

I listen to a lot of K-pop.

But I’m not a fan. Not the kind you’re probably thinking of, anyway.

Let me explain. You see, I spent most of my 20s and early 30s as a features reporter/rock critic for a “major metropolitan daily” so I’m admittedly more than a little bit jaded.

So, as I’ve said here before, it takes some special “sauce” to get me to take a second taste. You gotta bring the heat, the beat and show me something I’ve never seen before.

Happened just the other night. Out of the blue.

There I was, looking for something, anything, to watch on TV because I wasn’t quite ready to call it a night yet. And YouTube dropped “Ay-Yo,” the new NCT 127 joint into my feed as if they knew…

And for the next…six hours or so, I sat there, jaw dropped, watching other people lose their sh*t over the video and the song while I did exactly the same thing. Over and over and over and over and over and over…

Now, I’ve told you how jaded I am. I’m also old. Which is why a lot of K-pop and…well…almost everything from music to movies, kind of rolls off me like water off a duck’s back. If I stop to Google a band, or even look up to get a name to Google later…that’s a very big deal.

When a band makes me stay up until dawn listening to the same song over and over again like that…

I don’t even.

I’m going to admit that NCT 127 has almost made me do that before.

I was listening to one of the K-pop stations/playlists I love when I heard what I learned was one of their most controversial songs, “Sticker.” Here’s the dance version I like best from Studio Choom:

I’ve heard people don’t like the Asian flute and … some other things. I, on the other hand, ran out of the shower to find out who the bloody hell that was and why I hadn’t heard it before. And spent an hour or two checking out all the various videos of the same song later on, just thrilled to death that there was a current Kpop band that deep — musically and otherwise.

It had a bounce and bravado I’d never seen before. Like they knew their fans were going to freak out but just couldn’t hold back any longer. The beat is wonky and wonderful — a smorgasbord of sounds and samples all funked up and ready to bump.

You have to know some stuff about what came before to make what you’re doing now so drop-dead devastating. And I don’t know if it’s the boys in the band or their producers and other handlers who’ve got all the knowledge, but these boys groove it like they “get it.”

And this “Ay-Yo” has … Jeezus, everything. Everywhere. All at once.

Yeah, I stole that. Cause it fits.

The visuals stunned me senseless. The savagely relentless beat — same.

The choreo … OMG, feets be movin’ like, “Ay-yo, how is that even possible?!” No, seriously, there are moments when feet and beat meld into more than the mind can comprehend, even.

And the more I listened…the more I liked. Never got old.

I’m told it had 12 million views on YouTube in three days. It was up to 16 million the last time I looked, after about 8 days. And I’ve never seen quite so many reaction videos dropping left and right as I watched. Hence, the all-nighter I pulled trying to keep up.

If you’re looking for more stuff about the band…go fish. That’s what Google’s for.

Nope, I don’t know their names. Don’t have all the deets. The faces are gasp-worthy, for sure — SMTOWN, the outfit that put the entire NCT universe together, got hella good eyes. And ears.

For “Ay Yo,” every single boy in this band had to step up, several times. And there were no weak links. It’s absolutely seamless. Nonstop, “Are you kidding me right now?” good.

And that bridge, though. Slows everything down and gives you a Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get It On” kinda moment — made the room spin. And then they got right back on the good foot and I just didn’t know what to do with myself…

Light years ahead, NCT 127.

May they stay that way. Fiercely. Forever.