Nu’est W show what’s new

South Korean quartet Nu’est W pulled off a hugely successful Thailand comeback with “Double U – Encore in Bangkok” at the Thunder Dome last Saturday, despite the fact that they were only here in April.

 

Nu’est W is part of the Nu’est universe, so to speak, and they’ve become more famous since the second season of “Produce 101”, the reality TV talent show back in their homeland. 

 

As a result, their previous albums have been selling better than ever, with many of the tracks climbing the Korean music charts.
The main draw is music presented in a fresh style, packaged behind a band name that breaks down as “new, established, style and tempo”. 

 

At the outset they were considered sensational power rookies with their techno hip-hop and urban electro sound mingled with dubstep. More recently they’ve adopted other genres, including ballads and electro R&B.

 

Core Nu’est W members JR, Aron, Baekho and Ren were back but Minhyun is jumping ship to join Wanna One for their final year of operations. The “W” stands for “wait” because they’re waiting for Minhyun’s return, expected next year.

 

The diminished lineup on Saturday nevertheless delighted the Thai fans, who were in their screaming, shrieking glory. 
The four boys took the stage dressed all in black under white suit jackets and immediately hit their stride with “Where You At” from the debut mini-album “W, Here”. The song was powerfully appealing thanks to strong vocals and rapping. 

 

The band vaulted on with “Deja vu”, “Overcome” and “Love Paint”, all of which has the ladies swooning and waving their red light sticks bearing the letter W.

 

“Deja vu”, featuring a Latin pop rhythm and highpitched chorus, comes from the second mini-album, “Who, You”, and is made for moving bodies.
After a break the guys said hello and other stuff in Thai, including a marvellous “Khid thueng jang loey” from JR and “Mai jer kan nan” from Baekho. Aron shouted, “Rak na khrub!” and made the Korean love gesture saranghaeyo. 

 

Then it was on to “Beautiful Ghost” from the third mini-album, “Sleeping Talking”, with great choreography and fiery special effects, and the temperature kept rising with “Climax”, “Face” and “Action” from their debut full-length album, “Re:Birth”. 
As is usual with Korean pop groups, the intermission was used to tell their story. That segued into solo routines by JR, who rapped through “With”, and Aron, who crooned “Good Love”.

 

The others then rejoined them at centre stage for “Look”, “Love without Love” and “Give Me A Shoulder”, to which the audience was obliged to sing along.
Ren next did a turn at the piano and hopped up to show off his dance moves on “Paradise”, while Baekho unleashed the emotions for the gentle pop ballad “Thankful for You”. 

 

The quartet reassembled in pastel blue suits for the jazzy ballad “Polaris”, highlighted by Ren’s quavering voice and a galaxy of lights spreading over the hall. That was followed by the heartfelt ballads “Good Bye Bye”, “Onekis2” and “Hello” as the lads sat on a propeller-driven turntable stage that rose up and moved around. 

 

The concert proper ended with “My Beautiful”, another ballad designed to showcase their singing and rapping. 
Prior to the encore, the W-shaped screens showed behind-the-scenes planning for it, which involved choosing just the right Thai song to sing as a surprise and practising the lyrics in Thai.

 

The one they picked was Ton Thanasit’s “Roo Yung” and the Koreans did a lovely job of it, but the bigger surprise was seeing them all loaded into individual carts to be rolled around the hall, bringing them very close to the fans. All the while they were throwing colourful plastic balls around. 
The sweet closer to the show was a most appreciatively delivered and received “Thank You”.