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NCT Golden Age: 20 Members, Baggy Jeans and a Stadium Tour in Japan

  • Category: Album & Song Guide
  • Artist: NCT

KPOP NO1 Editorial · Sources checked October 22, 2026

In August 2023, NCT gathered for their fourth full-length album and called it Golden Age. The timing matched the title. The same month, NCT played a stadium concert in Korea, then sold out four stadium shows in Japan for 220,000 fans. And the title song featured 20 members singing together, something the Associated Press called a rare feat.

The rollout

SM shared a timeline poster on August 10, 2023, with teaser thumbnails shot around the world. Over the next weeks, each member got a teaser set in a different city or landscape: SM: timeline

  • New York for TAEYONG and TAEIL
  • Los Angeles for YUTA and JUNGWOO
  • Mongolia for KUN and XIAOJUN
  • Paris for JENO and JISUNG

Then came the music, in three steps:

Date What happened
August 23, 2023 Golden Age, the group song, released early with its video
August 26, 2023 NCT NATION : To The World stadium concert at Incheon Munhak Stadium, with the album’s new songs performed for the first time
August 28, 2023 The full album and the Baggy Jeans video, at 6 p.m. KST

Two title tracks

Golden Age has double title tracks, and they couldn’t be more different in scale.

Golden Age is the group song, released five days before the album. The AP, quoted by SM, said that 20 members took part in the song, which by itself was a rare achievement. SM: international press

Baggy Jeans is performed by five members: TAEYONG, DOYOUNG, TEN, JAEHYUN and MARK. That’s the same lineup as The 7th Sense, NCT U’s 2016 debut song. SM describes Baggy Jeans as a hip-hop dance song with a heavy bass line, minimal drums and dreamy synths. The lyrics compare a cool confidence no one can copy to baggy jeans. The video shows the members breaking free of stereotypes and moving through the world in their own style. SM: Baggy Jeans

Our take: Start with both title tracks back to back. Golden Age shows the scale of NCT, and Baggy Jeans shows one tight five-member unit. Together they explain the whole NCT idea.

Ten songs, many combinations

# Song What SM says
1 Baggy Jeans Title track (TAEYONG, DOYOUNG, TEN, JAEHYUN, MARK)
2 Call D A hyperpop duet by TAEYONG and TEN, with sounds that feel like a phone call. The lyrics are about being drawn to a doppelgänger who looks like you.
3 PADO Compares strong feelings of love to waves (pado means “wave”), with jazzy piano. Sung by JOHNNY, TAEYONG, JAEHYUN, MARK, XIAOJUN, HENDERY and HAECHAN.
4 Interlude: Oasis A dreamy mid-tempo R&B song about moving toward a golden future, with YUTA, JAEHYUN, WINWIN, JAEMIN and CHENLE
5 The BAT Hyperpop that compares a black car speeding through the night to the Batmobile, with TAEIL, JOHNNY, YUTA, JUNGWOO, HENDERY, JENO and JISUNG
6 Alley Oop —
7 That’s Not Fair Hip-hop that samples Bach’s Fugue in G minor, BWV 578, with a dark, dystopian mood
8 Kangaroo Breezy pop about living free, as if every day were your birthday, with TAEIL, KUN, RENJUN, YANGYANG, CHENLE and JISUNG
9 Not Your Fault —
10 Golden Age Title track, the group song

Track order: SMTOWN &STORE listing · Song notes: SM on Call D, PADO, That’s Not Fair, SM on Oasis, The BAT, Kangaroo

The album opens with the five-member title track and closes with the 20-member one.

How it did

SM reported:

SM also quoted NME, which said NCT had spent seven years bringing an experimental color to K-pop, and that Golden Age was an album that surprises everyone.

NCT NATION: the stadium tour

The album came with NCT’s biggest group concerts. After Incheon, NCT STADIUM LIVE ‘NCT NATION : To The World-in JAPAN’ played Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka (September 9–10) and Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo (September 16–17). All four shows sold out, for 220,000 fans in total. SM said it was NCT’s first stadium tour in Japan and their first group concert there. SM: tour finale

According to SM, the Tokyo shows ran about four hours and 40 songs. The setlist mixed NCT history (The 7th Sense, BOSS, Black on Black, RESONANCE) with the new album. The members sang Golden Age together during the encore.

After the last show, NCT told fans that playing a stadium had been a big dream, and that they wanted to play more and bigger stadiums. Kang Byung-jun, the general director of NEO Production, which produces NCT, said the concert summed up NCT’s seven years of activity.

How to listen for the first time

  1. Watch the Golden Age video, then Baggy Jeans. That’s the order they came out.
  2. Play the album from Baggy Jeans to Golden Age. It runs from five members to twenty.
  3. Try That’s Not Fair. See if you can hear the Bach sample.
  4. Compare Baggy Jeans with The 7th Sense. Same five members, seven years apart.

Where to go next

Sources