Here's How NCT's Mark Created His Solo Song "Child"

NCT‘s Mark just revealed how he created his solo track “Child!”

Mark released “Child” on February 4. “Child” is the first song to be released through SM STATION: NCT LAB.

| SMTOWN/YouTube

Mark participated in the writing process for the track, and he worked on the song with the producer Dress. He sat down with fellow NCT member Johnny to give fans a look inside the writing process for “Child” during a video entitled “MUSIC SPACE: ‘Child’ Live & Behind Story with JOHNNY.”

| NCT/YouTube

Mark said “Child” is a song about adolescence like the title suggests. He worked hard to include many childish emotions in the song that people would be able to relate to, no matter their age. He said, “I think that we all have that inner childish side of us, no matter what age we are, and whether it be a rebellious type or whether it be a lonely type or whether it be just being ignorant, all those ‘childish’ emotions are put in the song and that’s how it came to be.”

When Johnny said it was refreshing to hear more of Mark’s singing in “Child,” Mark revealed that he wasn’t sure if “Child” was his style when he got the instrumental track from Dress. Mark said Dress had the idea for him to show more of his singing voice, but Mark wanted to focus more on rapping.

When I first got the beat from Dress, I was like ‘I don’t know if this is me.’ I was very unfamiliar with it, but he kind of had that vision of me singing more than I did. Because I was like I want to rap more, but he was like we can do a lot more rapping but let’s try singing for once.

— Mark

Mark and Dress talked extensively before they ever met in person to work on the song together. The concept of “Child” came out of a conversation they had. They knew the lyrics had to have some sort of meaning without being too heavy to match the mood of the beat.

Mark originally wanted to name the song “Questions” because “question” was the “main theme” of the song. Dress had the idea to name the song “Child” because he felt like this title encompassed the questions posed in the song while still referencing the imagery Mark used in the song.

Clearly, Mark put a lot of thought into “Child” to create a meaningful song for his fans! While talking to Johnny, he also revealed that he intended for the song to be a gift for his fans. He originally intended to put a song out last year for fans, but his schedule got very hectic with award shows and other appearances. He said, “I felt like, in the middle of 2021, I feel like I should do something for my fans by the end of this year, but then things got even crazier at the end of the year. Like we had concerts and stuff, so it kind of got delayed, and so it came out now.”