When Is NCT DREAM's Comeback? DREAM AFTER DREAM, "Boogie Woogie" and the Group at Six
NCT DREAM release their sixth studio album, DREAM AFTER DREAM, on Monday, November 9 at 6 p.m. KST on all major music platforms. It has 10 tracks, with "Boogie Woogie" as the title track and the October single "The Sun" as its opener, and it is the group's first album as six members: Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung.
What Is DREAM AFTER DREAM, and When Does It Come Out?
Last updated: October 31, 2026
DREAM AFTER DREAM is NCT DREAM's sixth studio album, a full-length record rather than a mini album. SM Entertainment announced it on October 16 and opened physical pre-orders the same day at online and offline record stores. The album arrives on Monday, November 9, at 6 p.m. Korea Standard Time, across the major streaming and download platforms, and the physical album is released the same day.
If you are not in Korea, 6 p.m. KST is 9 a.m. GMT in London, 5 p.m. in Singapore, Manila, Beijing and Taipei, and 4 a.m. on the US East Coast. Clocks in North America and Europe have already gone back for winter by then, so the gap is one hour wider than it was in the summer.
There are 10 tracks. The title track is "Boogie Woogie," an up-tempo dance song that sets the vintage feel of 1970s disco funk against modern synthesizers, driven by rhythmic percussion and a grooving bassline. Jaemin co-wrote the lyrics, which celebrate the members' ten years together and ask you to enjoy the moment you are in. The opening track is "The Sun," which the group released on October 20. SM has also introduced two more songs: "Dream After Dream," a bright contemporary pop track that builds to a festival-size finish, and "Skydive," an electronic hyperpop song about finding the courage to move forward again after a period of wandering.
The idea behind the album sits in its name. NCT DREAM debuted in 2016, and this release lands in their tenth year. SM describes the record as a look back at a decade of growing up together on stage, and as a statement about chasing the next dream beyond the ones the members have already reached. The title reads like a reply to the group's own name: the dream did not end when it came true, so they are starting another one.
The teasers began on October 29. The first concept images show the six members as gardeners tending crops, a picture SM ties to the moments the group has grown over ten years and the stories still to come. On October 30, a teaser video cast them as party hosts inviting fans to a dinner to say thank you for the decade together.
The premiere time of the "Boogie Woogie" music video hasn't been announced yet. We will update this page as SM and NCT DREAM's official accounts announce more.
"The Sun": The Song That Opened the Era
The first piece of DREAM AFTER DREAM reached fans three weeks before the album. "The Sun" came out at midnight KST on Tuesday, October 20, with a music video on SM's SMTOWN YouTube channel. It is a pop ballad built on warm synthesizers and electric guitar, and its lyrics look back on ten years of chasing dreams while leaning on one another.
The video carries the same idea. You follow the six members on a road trip in a cream camper van, through open green fields and a roadside bus stop under power lines, toward the sea at sunset. Nothing is staged as a big performance. Most of the video is small moments: someone filming a selfie through the van window, someone laughing in the back seat, someone waiting alone at the bus stop for the others to pull up.
NCT DREAM's own channel followed with a behind-the-scenes film from the shoot on October 23. It shows how loosely the shoot was run, with the director asking the members to just act naturally and let the scenes happen. If you want to understand the mood of the album before November 9, watch the video and the behind film back to back.
Putting a ballad first is a deliberate choice. NCT DREAM made their name with bright, energetic singles, and "Boogie Woogie," a disco-funk dance track, takes them straight back to that energy. Opening with "The Sun" sets the emotional frame first, so the title track arrives as the celebration after the reflection.
Who Is in NCT DREAM Now?
NCT DREAM have six members: Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung. All six are now in their twenties. Renjun and Chenle are from China, and the other four are Korean. Haechan is also a member of NCT 127, so he works in two NCT groups at once. Jisung is the youngest, the member fans still call the maknae.
The group was seven until this spring. On April 3, SM announced that Mark's exclusive contract with the agency would end on April 8 and that he would leave all NCT activities, including NCT DREAM and NCT 127. The agency described the decision as a mutual one reached after long discussions about his future. In a handwritten letter to fans, Mark said he wanted to keep making music in his own way.
That makes DREAM AFTER DREAM the first NCT DREAM album recorded as a six-member group. The six-member lineup has already been on stage together, at the 10th anniversary fan meeting in August and on campus festival stages this year, so the November release is not a first meeting. It is the first time the six will present a full album.
If you are new to the group, the easiest way to learn the members is the official content around this album. The "The Sun" video gives each of them a short scene, and the behind film captions the members by name as they talk to the camera.
Ten Years In: The Tour, the Anniversary and the Road Here
NCT DREAM debuted on August 25, 2016, with "Chewing Gum." The group was first built as SM's teenage unit, with a plan for members to graduate when they reached adulthood. SM dropped that system in 2020, and the group has continued as a fixed lineup since then. Songs like "My First and Last," "Hot Sauce," "Candy" and "BTTF" carried them from that teen concept into stadium-size shows.
The last two years built up to this album. In November 2025, the group released the EP Beat It Up. Their world tour, The Dream Show 4: Future the Dream, opened at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul in July 2025 and closed with six shows at KSPO Dome in Seoul in March 2026, the group's last concerts as seven.
The anniversary itself came in August. NCT DREAM held a 10th anniversary fan meeting, The Sweet Dream Hotel, at Inspire Arena in Incheon on August 22 and 23, just before the debut date. The official channel has since posted stage videos and a behind-the-scenes series from the event, including a new staging of "My First and Last," one of the songs most closely tied to the group's early years.
Other SM acts have been releasing through the autumn too. If you follow the label, RIIZE's "Insomnia" is another recent release from the same company, a quieter single ahead of a bigger record.
Where to Listen and Watch
On November 9 at 6 p.m. KST, DREAM AFTER DREAM goes live on Korean platforms such as Melon, Genie and Bugs, and on global services such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music. Physical albums, on pre-order since October 16, are released the same day through online and offline record stores. In Seoul, large bookstore music sections and K-pop record shops usually stock new SM releases in release week.
For video, SM's music videos premiere on the SMTOWN YouTube channel, as "The Sun" did. The group's own NCT DREAM channel carries the behind-the-scenes films and variety content. Right now that includes OFF TO DREAM, a travel series filmed in Mukho, a small port town on the east coast. Comeback stages usually follow on Korea's weekly TV music shows in release week; the group's official accounts post the schedule.
If you want to see NCT DREAM live soon after the release, they are on the first-night lineup of the Melon Music Awards at Gocheok Sky Dome on Saturday, November 14. Our Melon Music Awards lineup guide has both nights and how to watch the stream. For the rest of the year-end season, see our guide to K-pop concerts in Seoul in December, which covers the award shows and broadcast stages that follow.
Sori's Note
What stays with me is how this group was designed to end. NCT DREAM began as a unit you were supposed to leave at twenty, a group built around being young. Ten years later, the members are past that line, and the album they made is about what you do after a dream comes true.
That is why I would start with "The Sun" and not the title track. A ballad about friendship is a strange opener for a group known for loud, bright singles, and that is the point. Listen to it before November 9, then let "Boogie Woogie" land as the party after the long drive.
