ATEEZ- 'Lemon Drop + ARRIBA + DJANGO,' MBC 251231 Quick Take

Yessss been waiting for more ateez!

Oh Tim, there's NO ONE like ATEEZ in all of kpop -- that's one reason they were able to break out and reach the very tops of the kpop echelons despite being an "indie" idol band (i.e. not from one of the Big 4 agencies that dominate the charts/kpop industry, which every other band you've ever seen comes from). ATEEZ's incredible, across-the-board singing and acting (AND dancing!) ability makes them like a supergroup. Two things: 1) You MUST react to the "Symphony No. 9 From the Wonderland" KINGDOM performance by ATEEZ. Just *wait* till you hear what note our incredible, Broadway-caliber (yeah, I said it) Jongho hits there... and he does it again at Coachella at the *end* of their 50-minute set... and he does it again EVERY WEEK during their Towards the Light concert tour where this version of Wonderland was on the set list! 🔥🔥🔥 2) I think Mingi is like half a foot taller (he's over six feet/humongous in the kpop world) than Felix? So I can never get the two confused + Mingi is an unmatchable BEAST onstage. Just watch him flare to life during ATEEZ's Coachella performances and swagger like he's been selling out stadiums for years.

Thank you so much for watching my recommendation. ATEEZ did a lemon drop fake out because the song Arriba is like a celebration song and they’re at the bar cheering by saying “Arriba.” So since lemon drop is an alcoholic drink it’s like they’re cheering with it. Hopefully that makes sense. Unfortunately, there’s no music video for Arriba or Django. Just performance stages. They’re also pretty theatrical with a lot of their songs. They also have more fun songs like Arriba. There’s just so much to recommend. This stage, not including lemon drop, was what they performed at Coachella, Mawazine, and their towards the light concert tour. I hope one day you will review their Towards the light concert or Coachella stage. It’s pretty long though so I don’t know if it’s doable. Also, I would love to see your analysis for Wonderland. There are two versions. The first release from 2019. There’s a music video. Then there’s Wonderland Symphony no.9 (2021) that they performed on Kingdom. I’d love to see your reaction for their performance Kingdom and their most recent performance at SBS Gayo Daejeon. If there’s any vocal improvement from 2021 to 2025 for a specific part. You’ll know what I’m referring to when you see it. I don’t want to spoil it. 😄

Haha I don’t really see ppl compare Felix and Mingi. It’s usually Felix / Yeosang and Han/Mingi. But I absolutely see it when you describe it that way.

I believe the Lemon Drop fake out was a hint for their next comeback. They've done a lot of glitchy-esque things and seem to be moving out of this era of their music, which was somewhat slower (but still intense) songs. People tend to compare Felix and Yeosang more than Felix and Mingi because Yeosang is also very sweet-looking with a deep voice vs Mingi having a more imposing appearance (and height, since he's 6'0"). Their theatricality and intense choreography is why they're known for their performances. This was definitely more theatricality. Examples of intense choreo include Guerrilla, HALAZIA, and Fireworks (I'm the One). I'm glad you'll be looking into ARRIBA! It's such a cool song!

"This is like watching a musical!" YES! And if you want a ton more of that, there are many of us begging for a reaction to Road to Kingdom, Kingdom: Legendary War & RTK: Ace of Ace. You watched a SKZ performance from the second one; it's a competition show where every performance has an insane budget and is crazy big.