Kick It (NCT 127 song)

After wrapping up promotion activities in the United States by the end of November 2019, SM Entertainment uploaded a music video for "Dreams Come True", along with the release announcement for Neo Zone on January 27, 2020. The label further confirmed that member Jungwoo would eventually join the group and participate in promotion activities following his initial hiatus from August 2019.[1][2] On February 12, a "timeline" video for the album was announced on all social media platforms of the group, including a release schedule and the title of the lead single to be "영웅 / 英雄 (Kick It)".[3][4] Following the video previews of other album tracks, the music video teaser for "Kick It" was uploaded on the official SMTOWN channel on March 3, 2020.[5] The song had its official music video premiere one day later, while being released digitally along with its parental album on March 6, 2020.

Directed by South Korean director Oui Kim, the music video for "Kick It" possesses a martial arts-theme combined with the group's unique martial arts choreography and performance.[14] Set in the Neo Oriental mood virtual space of "Neo Zone", the video expresses the story of repulsing trauma by itself, while seeing the members reborn as powerful "heroes", living up to the original Korean title meaning.[15] The martial arts, action movie-influenced choreography was created by choreographer Koosung Jung, whom later revealed that member Taeyong also contributed some of the "action scenes" to the overall performance.[16] Three other video versions are also available on the group's Youtube channel, starting with the visualiser version on March 8, the vertical version on March 16 and finally the performance-only video on March 19.[17][18][19]

Following the music video release, the group shared their first performance for "Kick It" as NCT 127 The Stage through their official channel on March 5.[20][15] A day later, the group had their first music show performance on Music Bank, followed by their promotion on Show! Music Core and Inkigayo.[21] NCT 127 eventually earned their first Music Bank trophy for the track on March 27, 2020.[22][23] Along with other album tracks, "Kick It" was part of the group's setlist for Beyond the Origin, an online live concert via streaming service by NCT 127's native label on May 17, 2020.[24]

As part of the group's promotion in the United States, the song was first performed live during their gig on March 10 at Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, becoming the very first K-pop act to perform at the show.[25][26] It was reported that the group would embark on their first U.S. arena tour; titled "Neo City - The Awards", to promote the single and the entire album starting from June 6 at New York City's Madison Square Garden, but was later postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.[27][28][29]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
IZM[30]

Following its initial release, "Kick It" received positive reviews from music critics. Giving the song 3 stars out of five, writer Hwang Sun-eob of IZM noted the song was "going too hard", but complimented its "level of balance" with both the rapping and singing performance of the group.[31] Tamar Herman of Billboard magazine called the track "high-energy", while Amber from The Kraze agreed on how this song is the "signature sound" of the group.[32][33] Jeff Benjamin of Forbes magazine also praised the noise-pop influence of the song as "impactful", while noting its R&B influence which eventually "set the stage" for its parental album.[34] Another review from SoundDigest called the track "rambunctious", while writer Alexis Hodoyan-Gastelum from Consequences of Sound noted the song's metal influence and its "darkness, anthemic" return to some of their early releases.[35][36] Writer Vandana Pawa of TeenVogue gave the song a positive review, citing "Kick It" as a representation of both the group's sonic origin and development in the near future.[37] In an interview with the song's producer Deez, music critic Kim Young-dae said the song was a "masterpiece" that continues the legacy of "Cherry Bomb," while not being "as complicated" as the 2017 single. He also praised the song as "dynamic," "more airtight and dense" with intersected "thick texture and soulful verse of sophisticated harmony."[6]

"Kick It" saw an increasing digital performance comparing to the group's previous releases as the song debuted and peaked within the top five of all digital real-time music charts in South Korea, eventually reaching number one position on Bugs and Naver.[38][39] With only one day counted towards the first charting week, the song debuted at number sixty-eight on Gaon Digital Chart for the week of March 7, 2020, before reaching number twenty-one where it peaked the next week.[40][41] Not only did the song surpassed the group's previous high with "Cherry Bomb", which landed at number forty-seven in 2017, it also became the group's first top-thirty entry and their best charting performance to date. "Kick It" also landed atop the Gaon Download Chart for two weeks, becoming the group's first chart-topper and by far one of the few male idol songs in 2020 to spend more than one week atop the aforementioned chart.[42][43] It later appeared as the 36th best chart-performing single on the March issue of Gaon Monthly Digital Chart, and eventually landed as the 131th biggest hit on the 2020 mid-year issue Gaon Digital Chart.[44][45] On the Billboard Kpop Hot 100, the song became the group's first top-ten entry for the week of March 14, reaching a peak of number nine following a massive 46-spot jump from last week.[46]

Elsewhere, the song debuted at number three on the US Billboard World Digital Song, making it their eighth top-five entry and their third to debut and peak at the same position, following "Cherry Bomb" (2017) and "Superhuman" (2019).[47] It also became their fourth appearance on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and third on the New Zealand's Hot 40 Singles Chart, peaking at number eighty-four and number thirty-eight, respectively.[48][49]

With the subsidiary EDM label ScreaM Records announcing their iScreaM project on May 4, 2020, remixes for "Kick It" were released on May 8, 2020. It was the first single of the project, containing three different remixes from American DJ Valentino Khan, MINIMONSTER and label-producer Hitchhiker, the latter whom produced the album track "Mad Dog" for their second studio album.[50]