NCT 127 Opens Up About Overcoming the Stresses and Challenges of Their Growing Careers (Exclusive)

With their North American tour wrapping earlier this year, and their recent performance at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last month, the hit K-pop group NCT 127 are quickly becoming one of the biggest bands in the genre, and they are trying to make the most of their meteoric rise.

ET's Denny Directo recently sat down with bandmates Mark, Taeyong, Taeil, Doyoung, Yuta, and Johnny, and the young singers opened up about what it was like traveling around the country together in a massive tour bus.

"It was an unforgettable experience," Yuta said, as translated by Johnny.

The group is part of the massive K-pop wave that has permeated American pop culture -- alongside groups like BTS, Blackpink and EXO -- in a way reminiscent of the so-called British Invasion of the 1960s, when U.K. bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Kinks became the chart toppers of the U.S. 

"I am actually very, very happy to be part of it," Mark said of the rising popularity of the genre for American audiences. "We feel a responsibility for showing more of K-pop. There's never been a time like this for K-pop, for it to go wide and spread, so we're happy."

"We want to take this opportunity to show what we've got and what the culture of K-pop is," he added.

However, with their growing fame comes increased stress and pressure, as well as a lot more time performing on the road. And when it comes right down to it, the group says that there's really been one thing that's helped them pull through.

"Teamwork," Johnny explained.

"We're always traveling with the same people, it's important how we can sometimes lean on one another, [since] we eat together, we're all in the same house together," Johnny added. "And it kind of shows in our performances as well."

"We're pretty much family," Mark shared. "We see each other more than our [actual] family."

Most recently, NCT 127 dropped the music video for their most recent single, "Highway to Heaven," and Mark explained what the song meant for them as a band, in terms of the experience they wanted for their fans.

"We wanted to really deliver our free-spirited energy through this one, because we've never really had an energy like this ever before," he shared. "We wanted to encourage our fans to kind of forget their stresses and, through our music, just enjoy and go to the highway to heaven with us."

Fans, however, are clamoring for more, as always, and Johnny said the band is "always working on new music.

"When it will come out, we can't really say, it's a little bit of a secret, but we're getting ready," Johnny added. "So [fans] can always have their hearts a little ready."

"When it does [come out] though, it'll be good!" Mark added with a smile.

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