Beautiful (NCT song)

"Beautiful" is a song recorded by South Korean boy group NCT 2021, the project of NCT under the management of SM Entertainment. The song was served as the second single of NCT's third studio album Universe, and it was released on December 14, 2021, same day of the release of the album.

Composition and lyrics
"Beautiful" was composed and arranged by brothers Yoo Han-jin and Yoo Young-jin, who also took part in writing the song lyrics. Member Johhny wrote the intro lyrics of the song, while Taeyong, Mark, Hendery and Jeno took each of their own rap lyrics. It was recorded at SM Entertainment's recording studio, SM Booming System, and was produced by Yoo Young-jin, group's long-time frequent collaborator. The song was composed in the key of C# major, with a tempo of 128 beats per minute.

Described as a pop ballad R&B song features some "electronic synths, pop strings, drums and piano", the lyrics talks about "expresses positive energy with a warm message to those having a hard time that they are all special in their own ways". Throughout the song, NCT wants listeners to "stop comparing themselves to others because they’re beautiful just the way they are".

Music video
The music video, which was directed by Kim Ki-hyun and Kim Hyun-soo, was released alongside the song by SM Entertainment on December 14. It "follows members of the boyband going through a day in their life, before gathering at the end to perform the track while it snows". The filming locations for the music video are the Noryangjin Baseball Stadium in Noryangjin-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul; Incheon International Ferry Terminal and Songdo International Business District in Incheon; Icheon Hyundai Apartment in Yongsan-gu, Seoul; Royal X in Gyeonggi; and Beijing, China.

Promotion
To promote the song, NCT performed it at the SM Town Live 2022: SMCU Express at Kwangya, with other songs from their sub-unit.

Credits
Credits adapted from album's liner notes.

Studio
 * SM Booming System – recording, mixing, engineered for mix, digital editing
 * Sonic Korea – mastering

Personnel
 * SM Entertainment – executive producer
 * Lee Soo-man – producer
 * Lee Sung-soo – production director, executive supervisor
 * Tak Young-jun – executive supervisor
 * NCT 2021 – vocals, background vocals
 * Johnny – lyrics
 * Taeyong – lyrics
 * Mark – lyrics
 * Hendery – lyrics
 * Jeno – lyrics
 * Yoo Young-jin – producer, lyrics, composition, arrangement, vocal directing, background vocals, recording, mixing, engineered for mix, digital editing, music and sound supervisor
 * Yoo Han-jin – producer, composition, arrangement
 * Jeon Hoon – mastering
 * Shin Soo-min – mastering assistant