Reaction to Mark's The Firstfruit Album: Did It Meet Predictions?

Happy Thursday, loyal followers! This week we are back to discussing Mark's album, The Firstfruit. Instead of this being a review, this is a look back on predictions from over a week ago seeing if the songs were going to be as others and I have anticipated. 

The Tracks That We Knew Would Be Connected to His Autobiography:

1. "1999"

After watching the music video, I would say that it meets or exceeds expectations as a K-Pop fan. It is more than a song, but an introduction to a life story. When I watch it with a different mindset, focusing only on the singing, these are the type of vibes that I feel through the lyrics. The dancing was cool and a standard practice in K-Pop videos, but I didn't expect that their was going to be references to late 90's computer culture with the bulky CRT monitor computers. What I did see coming though, was the hockey reference at the end. That is known as a very important sport in Toronto and Canada, and it makes sense that the producers would include that information about his birth city. I'm curious to know what others were excited about to see and listen to in this lead single of his. It is a fun an energetic music video, but it is not my favorite of Mark's music videos to listen to compared to some down this list because I prefer to listen to songs that evoke emotional, nostalgic and dramatic feelings. You should see my The Top 10 Most Emotional and Powerful Anime Intros   post to see why. Really glad that I watched his music video to see how it was going to turn out (SMTown, YouTube, 2025).

2. "Toronto's Window"

Yes, this song met expectations. The instrumentals and the lyrics were the key part of this song that struck an emotional chord in my heart. It is very moving and awesome to listen to and I like the Christian like message and the tie to his origins in Toronto, there were no disappointments here. This is my favorite of the album so far because of the depth of storytelling, the ties to Christian faith and the engaging instrumentals in the background. The song is enjoyable both for the fact that I am a Christian K-Pop fan and it has a deep and nostalgic story in itself. It makes the listener not only want to get into this song, but the whole album (and perhaps his other music with NCT) because of his storytelling talent (NCT, YouTube, 2025). 

3. "Raincouver"

No disappointments here! Like "1999" this song has a more playful and fun vibe, but takes a bigger focus on storytelling vs other elements such as dancing. Concerning fan engagement and the amount of views this music video has compared to "1999", it does seem significantly lower at day 10 of being out. Maybe people are more into dancing with some slight over-the-top elements shown in "1999" vs autobiographical storytelling. Neither are better than the other. It just all boils down to one's preference. Sometimes I may prefer upbeat songs like "1999" on some days and "Raincouver" on others. Again, not a review but rather an analytical look at trends in viewership. It's really interesting to see what fans like the most and how it compares and contrasts with my likes (NCT, YouTube, 2025).  

4. Fratktsiya 

This music video is about how I expected it to be. Before posting on the 6th in PST, I did not know that Lee Young Ji was going to be featured in the music video. I must have missed that when searching up the sources telling what the song was going to be about.  The music video was "about" how I expected it to be due to it hitting harder than I originally expected. It is the most viewed video of the soundtracks of his mentioned on this list so far and it has a lot of epic beats. It is no wonder it is more mainstream than "Raincouver" because these type of tracks tend to reach wider audiences. Finally, I want to say I like the name, it has a Russian or Slavic sound in my opinion. It makes it feel very mysterious to why the name was chosen and how it relates to Mark's story (SMTOWN, YouTube, 2025).

The Tracks We Originally Didn't Know That Much About

1. "Flight to NYC"

Looking back at the prediction post, I was wrong about this track on some parts. It was not how I expected the video to be like, and that is not at all disappointing or bad, it just means I was wrong! KPopStarz was right though that it was under two minutes, which Mark, the management and production team did such a good job on presenting to fans Mark's story (Source: KPopStarz). I also really liked the piano and hip hop beats, it made the video feel more dreamy and relaxing, I was wrong to think it would feature NYC itself (NCT, YouTube, 2025). 

2. Journey Mercies

It was expected that there was going to be a connection with Christian faith which I saw when watching this video. What I did not expect was the sound effects that went with his voice. Also, I did not expect that it was going to have a story board on the left. The music video met my anticipation and was very satisfying to listen to. It one of the most creative songs I have ever listened to (NCT, YouTube, 2025). As fans, we are wishing Mark well on his journey!

Conclusion

Well there you have it folks! This concludes my look at some of Mark's songs from The Firstfruit (I didn't talk about all songs from the track). It was interesting to note that the videos of his on SMTOWN got far more views than on NCT. I think that is because of non-NCT fans watching it because they are SMTOWN subscribers. Maybe they prefer faster, upbeat songs to story driver songs as well.

If there is a certain song of his you would like me to discuss that I did not on this list, please leave a comment or reach out to me at my blog email. In the next post, I may return to a formula from the past, add a short post or add in something new and creative that I never tried before. Thank you all so much for reading my update post about NCT Mark's The FirstFruit!

Mark’s ‘1999’: NCT Rapper Drops His Solo Anthem—Here’s Why It Will Be a Great Success

Greetings to my current and new blog followers. There is exciting news coming up in the K-Pop world that I am sure many of you are aware of. Mark, rapper from NCT is coming out with a new album titled The Firstfruit featuring his lead single, "1999" named after his birth year. What's especially interesting about his upcoming album is that it's essentially like an autobiography of his life growing up in Canadian cities such as Toronto and Vancouver (Source X: @joyfulmarkly).

The Tracks and Their Connection to His Autobiography:

First, let's take a short look at some of the tracks that we know will be connected to his life story. 

• "1999"- this is an obvious track that connects to both Mark's birth year and his birth city of Toronto (Source X: @soompi ). If you have not watched the teaser yet, I embedded it below. It is a very interesting preview of his upcoming album and I really like his message at the end. The guitar in the background adds to the excitement of the upcoming single and album because it makes it feel like we are in for a compelling narrative as fans in addition to the rest of the approaching smash hits (NCT, YouTube, 2025). 

• "Toronto's Window"- this is going to be the first track of his album. Though it is the first song, it is not the flagship track of the whole album. In contrast to "1999", this track is probably going to be more instrumental courtesy of Code Kunst's piano skills (Source X: @joyfulmarkly). "1999" seems more like it will include both pop and rap elements in it.
• "Raincouver"- as the sixth track of Mark's album, "Raincouver" will touch on his pre-teen years (perhaps other parts of his childhood too) growing up in Vancouver before moving to Seoul in 2012 (Source:Kpopmap X @cry4lmk). We know so far that it will contain soft beats to match with the reflective vibe of the song in addition to fitting in with the weather of Vancouver (Source: X @joyfulmarkly). What a creative and descriptive title to give to a song! It sounds like it will be another reflective hit in the album!
• "Fraktsiya"- this is the fifth track that will take a different focus compared to the previous three mentioned. In "Fraktsiya", Mark will tie in many hip hop elements, 808 bass and synths; but what I am especially excited for him tying in some Christian undertones in the song because I know that he is a Christian and I am a Christian fan of K-Pop and J-Pop (Source: Genius.com, X @r/NCT). This is overall very exciting news.

Tracks We Don't Know That Much About Yet

• "Flight to NYC"- this is the third track of the album and so far there are no sound clips or teasers. The skit that was done for this song hints that it may be shorter than two minutes (Source: KpopStarz). It could be about a literal or figurative trip of his to New York City. In many K-Pop and J-Pop music videos, I see many of cityscapes in the background, so for this music video, I am expecting it will be about the flight and show a lot of details of his experiences in New York City. I expect this to be a quieter song compared to "Fraktsiya".
• "Journey Mercies"- this is the eleventh track of the album and we know less about this song than we do about the others (Source: X @markfcore). We can guess based on the name that it is about his journeys in life such as overseas to Seoul or around Canada/the U.S.. We can also guess that it will tie in more about his Christian faith because of the word "Mercies". Since we do not know that much about this song yet, it makes me very excited to listen to it when it comes out soon.

Why "1999" and All of the Tracks Will Be a Great Success

So a recap on "1999", just based on the video and the information that Mark presented to the audience about his faith and life story, we can predict that it's going to be very successful. The video has over 300k views since March 23rd showing that it is trending in the K-Pop world (NCT, YouTube, 2025). The hype and suspense brought about by all of the tracks (including the other five I listed here) is going to make fans want to listen to the album as soon as it drops (Source: X @xneojunx). For those who follow NCT as a whole or those who are big K-Pop/J-Pop fans, but have not heard of or followed Mark's music yet, I think that many of them will be interested in this album just based on the quality of its story telling, singing and background music. 

My hope also as a Christian K-Pop fan is that Mark's music influences them to draw closer to Jesus. What are you all looking forward to in Mark's soon to be latest album? What song or beat do you think you will like most? Feel free to voice your excitement in the comment section below either before or after the album comes out. If after, you can just simply write which song you liked the best. Head's up everyone, Mark's The Firstfruit album will be out April 7th, at 6:00 P.M. Korean Standard Time!