Reload

Reload is the fifth extended play (EP) by South Korean boy band NCT Dream, the third sub-unit of the South Korean boy band NCT. It was released on April 29, 2020, by SM Entertainment and distributed by Dreamus. It marked the group's last record as a six-member unit following the termination of the age-based graduation system that was operated in the group. The album contains five songs including the lead single "Ridin'". Musically, the album incorporates several genres including trap, pop, hip hop, R&B and EDM. A music video for the lead single "Ridin'" was released to accompany the album release. Upon release, the album debuted at number one on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart and became the second best-selling album of April 2020. It also charted at number two on Japan's Oricon Albums Chart and appeared on the US World Albums chart at number 7. The band further topped the Billboard Emerging Artists Chart for the first time. In June 2020, the album was certified double platinum by the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA). Reload received generally favourable reviews from music critics, who praised the band's experimentation with diverse genres without losing their signature style. In order to promote the record, NCT Dream appeared on several music programs of South Korea, such as Music Bank, Show! Music Core and Inkigayo, where they performed material from the album. The band also performed on the world's first paid online concert series Beyond LIVE. Background and release Following the release of Japanese compilation album The Dream, NCT Dream went on a concert tour, The Dream Show which began on January 26, 2020, in Japan. On April 14, SM Entertainment announced the release of the band's upcoming extended play Reload with six current members Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung, by posting a teaser photo on the band's official website. It marked the group's last record as a six-member unit following the termination of the age-based graduation system that was operated in the group. The label further stated that when the promotions for the new album concludes, and NCT member Mark will rejoin the Dream sub-unit to bring back the original line-up of seven members. The band released a crew video and an album teaser photo on April 20 and 21. A poster schedule was released on April 21, containing multiple dates for the sequential release of four sets of track videos, video cuts, poster images, photo teasers and music video teasers.