So I'm a nctzen and NCT are currently my ults so obviously I'm keeping up with them. They've been called flops ever since and they debuted and it's honestly been confusing me for some time now.
I could see why people would think that for the first half of their careers, however, I've seen people call them flops even recently and I don't thing that term can be applied to them anymore. I mean, and correct me if I'm wrong, they've had consistently good album sales and the fasebase has grown to be really big lately. Their doing pretty good in Korea and internationally NCT has become really popular. Also, NCT's title tracks pretty popular, plus a few members are really well known among the Kpop community (i.e. Taeyong, Jaehyun, Mark, Lucas).
I would even say that their at Monsta x's or ikon's level of popularity (I know it's a bit of a stretch but maybe even Seventeen) which are both groups that are acknowledged often. I know for SM standards their kinda underperforming but calling them flops is completely incorrect. It's like saying that just because a group isn't at exo's or BTS's level then their flops which is a terrible way to measure a groups popularity.
Feel free to disagree with me because everyone is entitled to their own opinion but this is just my way of thinking.
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The people who thought that just because NCT is a group from SM that they would automatically gain popularity and amass a fanbase to rival EXO were fools imo. Everything from how complicated their concept is to how many members they have to the fact that they arent really consistent in the genres of songs they put out means that it will of course take them a bit longer to gain traction and have people become familiar with who they are and what they are about. I think people often forget as well that NCT is still very new. Many of the members have had less than a handful of comebacks and are still trying to figure out what their place is in the group. You can look at a member like Jungwoo who literally has come out of his shell and almost become a new person in the past couple months to realize that so many of the members have so much potential (and talent) that just hasn't been realized yet and from a fan's perspective, it makes me really excited for the future and to be able to watch them grow and seeing what they do over the next 5 years is going to be a ride.