caitlinbenson patreon

MARK LEE - THE FIRSTFRUIT ALBUM REVIEW

🕑 Added 2025-04-22 13:00:25 +0000 UTC

Comments

Adoniah Gabrielle

sameee! those are my top 3

Alexia Gray

my top three always changes but today it would be: 1. too much 2. journey mercies 3. righteous anw thank you for the video!!

Alexia Gray

love it when caitlin says guitar idk why sonically it's satisfying to my ear lmao

Adoniah Gabrielle

Hey Caitlin...Idk if you know this but i thought u would find it interesting...that Mark's dad is a pastor! He confirmed it in the episode interivew he did with Youngji and NaPD... also his mom is a jazz piano teacher...and she's playing the piano in the Mom's Interlude track.

Alexandria T

Thank you, Caitlin! I remember Mark (and also Johnny) saying that everyone should at least listen to the album, even if it's not their favorite (probably for the reason you mentioned of it being so personal and not 'for the general public'). I think Doyoung liked "Raincouver" and Johnny liked "Righteous". But both of them did also like "1999". There's a very heartwarming/funny video from Johnny (feat. Doyoung and Mark) about that on the NCT YouTube Channel. It's like...a very long video, so if you want, you can watch it in your own time or whatever.

Carmen Terry

Yes it’s Seoul I got it from the Apple Music Summary but it’s ok we know it’s Seoul

Alexandria T

I thought the "+82" code was for Seoul specifically because that's where Mark trained and where SM is (? I think, unless SM moved, I know they got a new building a few years ago), but I could have confused Seoul (capital of South Korea) and South Korea itself. You didn't do anything wrong, I just saw it and was like "is that right, am I tripping?"

Alexandria T

The music for "Toronto's Window" was made by a famous guy (Korean guy) named Code Kunst. I don't know if that man is also a rapper or just a producer or maybe both, but yeah, Mark was excited to have him on the album. "Righteous" reminded me of "2 Baddies" (the opening, like you said, Caitlin) + "Skyscraper" (the fast rapping took me back to that) + "Punch" (the whispering only).

Carmen Terry

Hey Caitlin there a back story about the Album he moved four from Toronto NEW YORK,Vancouver and Seoul Korea the Album is in section of the cities Writing the lyrics for this one was actually really, really hard. I think I had about five drafts," he says. "The song really focuses on that feeling of being reborn, the subject of rebirth. And you can take it literally, but it's really just figuratively speaking, like a new understanding." MARK moved from Toronto to NYC when he was in elementary school, a moment sonically recreated in ambient skit-track "Flight to NYC." "Righteous" and "Fraktsiya," a rap collaboration with LEE YOUNG JI, round out the album's New York chapter. In "Raincouver," "Loser," and "Watching TV" (feat. Crush), MARK's focus moves to Vancouver. "In my heart, I think Vancouver feels the most home to me," he tells Apple Music. "I'll kiss the rain drops, oh," MARK croons in the sentimental, easy-listening track "Raincouver." He would stay in the city until 2012, when he passed an SM Global Audition and moved to Seoul to become a K-pop trainee. With "+82 Pressin" The Firstfruit shifts location for a final time. The confident hip-hop track, which also features MARK's NCT co-member HAECHAN, is a reference to the country code needed to call South Korea. "200," "Journey Mercies," "Mom's Interlude," and "Too Much" round out The Firstfruit's Seoul story. "This is the city where my musical journey really begins," says MARK.