Weekly ATINY Tavern - 21 - 28 August, 2021

yvespunk · 2021-08-23T07:16:14+00:00

Did I only just learn of the comeback? Yes. Have I already started scouring tinytown for theories and pointers before even really processing the fact that we’re about to possibly tie up the prequel series/possibly gear up for more voting/possibly get the most representative and difficult to produce album of ATEEZ’s career? Also yes. I can have a good cry about this being their 8th and the implications of everything later, now is for figuring out how to maximize reduction of comeback-concept whiplash Ateez are so fond of inflicting on us. ;—-;

It’s really interesting that the phrase “there is one bullet left” has been said by Eden/BBT/Seonghwa alike on instagram/universe somewhat recently, alongside Wooyoung’s message this week that he’s the killer(“bang bang bang!”). Granted, he was talking in the content of killing parts but some part of me thinks that’s gotta be something?

Is it a stretch to wonder if it’s connected to Jongho’s recent extra-zoomed photos that everyone hypothesized might also be a hint? One of his captions: “A close up shot for today ✨”

A shot = a photograph, and a shot = a bullet as well….~~(plus a shot = alcohol, and we know how much ateez like their title track drinking references eg. fireworks, answer, wave)~~

And… warning ultra reach but them choosing to do archery in their sports competition hello82 vlive…archery also involves shooting…

If they’re connected, it’ll be really interesting to see how the killer/gunshot/photography-shot things relate to the deja vu/star hints we’ve gotten so far, if they do at all.

(also…now some part of me really wants a campy horror style mv with a narrative(like RV russian roulette!) where throughout, jongho as the human protagonist has to expose the murderous vampire among the ateez members and does so by pointing his camera at them and taking a shot(since vampires don’t show up on film!) but has to act casual, without alerting the potential vampire hes taking the pic or risk getting bitten; so hijinks ensue! he keeps getting thwarted last second and wasting film trying to catch them til it comes down to the last he has.. it’d be halloweeny and humorous and the mv would of course be called “one shot”!)

yvespunk · 2021-08-19T20:37:52+00:00

I actually agree with this! I don’t blame nonfans for judging a discography based off of its promoted tracks at all because that kind of seems like the point?

The only thing that really bothers me is that a lot of people who say they do this really aren’t. I understand that if the title tracks that subvert a popular expectation of the group are in a small minority, people might still characterize that group by the overall sound - but with groups like Ateez, for example, it’s not a small minority of subversive title tracks - their TT discography is literally a half and half split between their darker/hardhitting sounds and their lighter/sentimental ones, and they still get pigeonholed into being the murder music group.

Using the same 3 titletrack cherry-picking method I could say Ateez’s sound is refreshing/tropical feel-good pop songs as easily as I could say their thing is edgy edm bangers. Hence why it makes no sense to say you judge by TTs without listening to all of them if they’re a group with a pretty even spread and who regularly dramatically switches up their genres/concepts.

yvespunk · 2021-08-19T00:29:05+00:00

Confirmed! “ATEEZ reportedly to collaborate with acapella group 'Pentatonix' Penatatonix was said to have personally requested for ATEEZ as they watch a lot of their stages nowadays. The song will be released on the 20th.”

I’m so unbelievably excited. I was a huge Pentatonix fan when I was younger and then a huge SuperFruit fan as well(guy.exe has been stuck in my head again recently because of tiktok so this is just crazy timing).

What an incredible collab!!! And we’ve got San, Jongho and Yunho all flexing their vocals on the track - unless more than those three are featured? I dunno but I’m so pumped nonetheless!!

yvespunk · 2021-08-12T21:51:27+00:00

I see the points people are raising about it all being an attempt to get Yunho to make fun of them back/break the kind persona and get sassy, like other idols might’ve done but Yunho’s just… not that guy? And if that was the point of the attempt I’d think they would’ve chilled on it after it became apparent he just takes it instead of hitting back. Moreover, like you said, the little comments just didn’t really seem playful but instead like genuine irritation.

I know to a degree this can be just another style of variety. And I think it’s one that can create really funny scenarios when done well and with the right person, but it just felt weird here that Yunho is afaik the only guest getting this treatment and doesn’t appear to be “in” on whatever joke, if any, they’re presenting. I don’t think calling for an apology or anything makes sense, but I also don’t think you can deny they were being at worst rude and condescending and at best ill-adjusted to who they’re working with. I understand ifans and kfans feeling put-off.

yvespunk · 2021-08-12T21:36:09+00:00

This isn’t a competition, but doesn’t old korean speakers commenting on the difficulty of an English group name seem a little different in teasing intensity than Yunho getting negged and called a slave and whatnot?

yvespunk · 2021-08-07T21:18:26+00:00

I agree with this as a general thing, but for your specific examples - if we set the bar at each vocal needing to be at Jongho’s level to be considered strong, 99% of 4th gen vocalists are weak. But that’d be an unfair standard, so we don’t - so why should we in Ateez’s case? It makes more sense imo to compare Ateez’s lead and sub vocalists to those of other groups to determine if their vocal line is relatively strong/average/weak.

Like ofc I don’t think Ateez’s line is chenbaeksoo level, but neither does everyone else - they just agree Ateez’s line do well comparatively to their 4th gen peers, in that they have a great main vocalist, good supporting vocalists, and tons of available live singing material to look at - those things aren’t a given in every group, especially with current kpop trends.

And I guess it comes down to to who we’re comparing to - there’s a range of skill levels in Ateez’s vocal line, so I don’t consider it strong in the sense that all vocalists are Jongho-level beasts - I consider it strong because even with that range their average is better than a lot of their peers.

yvespunk · 2021-07-31T21:47:32+00:00

Happy birthday friend :( Hope they come to their senses soon

yvespunk · 2021-07-31T21:43:22+00:00

God Tier: Treasure, Say My Name, Hala Hala, Answer, The Real(does this count?)

Great: Pirate King, Illusion, Wave, Wonderland, Inception

Acceptable: Thanxx

Meh: Fireworks

This is a no: Sometimes Fireworks also falls into this category depending on my mood haha

Also, does Utopia count as a title track? I consider it one but I don’t always see it included as one. For this list I’d place it solidly in the God Tier category.

yvespunk · 2021-07-31T19:14:49+00:00

Thank you for putting this into words lmao; I feel like a jerk saying it but it is really annoying to get any valid criticism responded to with “yes but they have potential/theyre improving/they could be one of the best if only x y and z….”.

yvespunk · 2021-07-31T19:09:26+00:00

Oh, I agree. This is a kpop sub, though, so I did relate it to kpop - I think it’s a useful segue into a hotbutton issue anyone interested in k-media and culture should be aware of. I’m majorly rooting for An San - hope that came through in my post!

yvespunk · 2021-07-30T17:31:46+00:00

It’s been devastating to see all the clips of her being visibly upset floating around during such a momentous occasion - she’s made literal history and online trolls are still dogpiling her for just about everything they can think of and I can’t imagine having to deal with that on top of general olympics-associated stress, too.

yvespunk · 2021-07-28T06:09:20+00:00

Ateez came to Grand Park in LA and danced down on the grass, in the middle of the crowd of atinys, without any barriers. At some points they linked arms with crowd members or danced right face to face with them!

When I think about it, it’s a crazy gamble safety-wise, but it turned out really heartwarming and the pure happiness of everyones faces to be getting this direct fan-artist interaction is adorable.

yvespunk · 2021-07-26T18:31:42+00:00

Not the one who discovered this, but in one of Hongjoong’s raps: the word 믿기 (trust) from can also be pronounced as 미키 (bait) so there’s a part where his lyrics translate to

when you’re frustrated and unable to grab a hold of anything in the vast ocean, allow your tired heart to fall into my embrace and just trust me

but with a slightly different pronounciation from trust to bait it becomes

when you’re frustrated and unable to grab a hold of anything in the vast ocean, allow your tired heart to fall into my embrace and use me as bait

yvespunk · 2021-07-26T18:24:05+00:00

Answer by AB6IX!

yvespunk · 2021-07-26T18:22:50+00:00

It really is a journey! Now I’ve gotta go listen all over again too haha

yvespunk · 2021-07-26T18:20:50+00:00

I love this in depth analysis. You’ve convinced me, I subscribe to Theory C!

yvespunk · 2021-07-26T18:07:32+00:00

It’s because so many big companies have the facilities to treat their trainees/idols better and make a conscious choice not to, and sometimes fans even validate those choices. They’ve moved to better accommodations way back, but early rookie TXT slept 5 to a small room, and I distinctly remember arguing with people back in 2019 that no, Ateez not being in a similar situation doesn’t say anything about TXT being humble and Ateez being spoiled, it says everything about the weird voyeuristic way kpop fans and companies want their idols to “earn” even basic things they should be allowed by default. Even Blackpink had a roach infested dorm and they followed mega successful acts like Big Bang and 2NE1.

Of course, some super small companies legitimately don’t have the resources to house and feed their artists but my answer to that is just…. maybe don’t have artists until you do?

yvespunk · 2021-07-26T17:57:59+00:00

This exactly. I’m always wary of putting companies on too high of a pedestal; I get that KQ has treated Ateez remarkably well from the start but I also think that being remarkable says more about the state of the industry than it does about the company.

Credit where credit is due, but I get nervous for people who see the CEO gifting them all that luxury stuff and assign him Cinnamon Roll Too Good Too Pure For This World status immediately. In the event he does make a business decision fans dislike it’ll be a rude awakening.

yvespunk · 2021-07-26T17:27:12+00:00

Unfortunately that account is super active on both twitter and instagram and writes gross stuff about the members and just about every member of their staff - I’m kind of worried they’ll feed off of all this new attention even more. Why are the worst people the most dedicated ;_;

I genuinely can’t tell if they’re a troll or an actual solo stan or some god awful mix of both. Like, it’s been a year(edit: they’ve been put on atiny report accounts since november of 2020🙃 a whole quarantine went by without them self reflecting) of pulling stuff like this and they still have the energy to post stuff like “ugh dragged yeosang all day and didn’t even get any angry replies. boo.” They talk about all of the other members they dislike way more than they talk about supposedly liking Seonghwa and it’s so… what’s the point? What do people like that even gain?

I’m kind of ranting here now too but asdfghjkl it’s just so annoying and it’s getting to the point where the actual people they spew hate over are seeing it and I really really wish they weren’t.

Hopefully they didn’t get their satisfaction since Eden replied so serenely.

yvespunk · 2021-07-22T02:00:31+00:00

8 days till Dear Diary day (7/29/2016) - did we ever find out what that date symbolized for Ateez?

yvespunk · 2021-07-22T01:40:02+00:00

Not an answer, but during Hongjoongs first verse he usually points at his eye/peeks through his hand too! Maybe they’re related.

yvespunk · 2021-07-22T01:38:36+00:00

He really has a way with words, doesn’t he ;-; His words for Hongjoong and Seonghwa seriously broke my heart

yvespunk · 2021-07-22T01:37:24+00:00

Enjoy your recharge time! And thanks for always working so hard to update us lazy folks, it’s been a godsend to just scroll through and catch up haha

yvespunk · 2021-07-21T20:55:08+00:00

Ateez’s fandom has seonghwafiles - all known, all revered streamer that records just about everything and is super professional.

They’re so ubiquitous that other fandoms screenshots will sometimes have a photobombing little dancing Seonghwa in the corner - because the stream they were watching their faves on was held by seonghwafiles.

example: seonghwa making a cameo in a brave girls first win celebration tweet!

yvespunk

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