ngọt (literally means sweet in english) is a vietnamese indie band that I started to listen to around the time I had a crush on someone back in middle school (around 2019, with cho being among the first songs). like many of the excrushes, he left, but the part of music that we shared stayed with me until this date. besides cunning songwriting that got me going write this down, write this down, write this down, they have this very caring attitude to their little fandom, which makes me adore them until this date.
ngọt's frontman is vũ đinh trọng thắng, who now also performs solo in addition to working in his band. he and his (original) bandmates met in middle school, and they started making music since then. throughout the years, their members come and go, but thắng and nam anh stayed from the start until now. besides the aforementioned members, phan việt hoàng and hoàng chí trung are current members or the band. except for the coming and leaving part, I feel like ngọt is strikingly similar to the 1975, in the way that I get to know the band as well as their humble beginnings.
from left to right: nguyễn hùng nam anh, phan việt hoàng, vũ đinh trọng thắng, hoàng chí trung
dissecting discography
ngọt's discography consists of four albums (and a few singles and extended playlists that I won't include here)
- ngọt (literally means sweet)
- ng'bthg (teencoded người bình thường, or normal folks)
- 3 (tuyển tập nhạc ngọt mới trẻ sôi động 2019), or 3 (collection of new and upbeat ngọt music 2019)
- gieo (literally means sow)
while lyrical gems are scattered throughout four albums, my favorite remains 3, as orange is my spiritual color at the moment (besides green and blue). the album consists of some decent hits like lần cuối (the last time) and nứt (crack), which speaks of the pitfalls of being an overachiever and regrets. lần cuối is more than a good break up song, for they are straightforward and honest at heart. it is about learning how to say goodbye properly, by living every day to the fullest due to the impermanent nature of life.
thắng's discography consists of his extended playlist giấy trắng (literally means white paper) and first album cái đầu tiên (literally means the first one) and some random collaborations that I wouldn't mention here to simplify all this . compared to the band's album, these albums are bitter and only sugarcoated in places, as they're written probably around and after the time of his divorce. I took a while to digest them.
ngọt at lê hồng phong festival 2023 (my first time seeing them live)
17 aug 2024 update
25 march 2024, the group disbanded, roughly 1 year after cá hồi hoang (wild salmon). it seems like after this time thắng’d go on with his solo career. thắng credited john lennon and the beatles as the first artist that he’d listened to their whole discography. this timely disband also sparks interesting correlation between his life and john lennon’s life, as observed by a fan below.
debut album at the ripe age of 21 ✅ ✅
inspired by the previous generation ✅ ✅
loved by the u20 generation ✅ ✅
recorded a master album at abbey road ✅ ✅
disbanded after 10 years ✅ ✅
son with his first wife ✅ ✅
cheated on his wife ✅ ✅
divorced ✅ ✅
round glasses ✅ ✅
there’s only 1 thing left
in therapie taxi and videoclub discography, I talked about supporting artists after their disband, where loss in listeners is often a direct result. however, I must admit that it’s hard in case of thắng, where ethical factors are at play.
I got scammed when trying to get an album from this band. it left me with mixed feelings.
my favorite lines
were I to write a bible using spotify.
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