WayV leans deeper into their Chinese cultural connections than ever before on Vision Wings, the eighth mini album from the Mandopop subunit of K-pop supergroup NCT. Members Ten, Kun, Xiaojun, Hendery and Yangyang assign a Chinese character to each of the seven tracks, building on the Mandarin interspersed with English in the album’s lyrics. On the hip-hop title track, which blends a Chinese zither known as a guzheng with a jungle beat, that keyword is “鸢”, or “kite”. WayV uses the agile bird of prey as a metaphor for their own focused resilience, even in a storm. Given the name of WayV’s 2019 debut single album (The Vision), Vision Wings simultaneously signals a focus on the future and a link to the past that bleeds into the tracks’ sonic sensibilities. West Coast hip-hop-inspired “Blue Fever” and classic R&B track “Heaven’s Here with Me” wear their retro influences overtly, as does “Count It”, which opens with the scratchy whir of a phonograph before segueing into a modern hip-hop bounce. But it’s “Vision Wings” that is the most lyrically focused on the assignment, blending references to the 1,500-year-old Shaolin temple, dynastic warriors and an awakening dragon with modern slang like “I’m dialed in” and “’til the roof comes off” for its expression of WayV’s undying pop ambition.