Kingdom Legendary Wars: Episode 3 (part 2 of 3) ATEEZ

Thanks for reacting to this immortal performance of our ATEEZ! XD To answer you question about WONDERLAND, it started life as one of ATEEZ's big title track hits from 2019, the title track off their album TREASURE.EP FIN: All to Action. And then, it was here on KINGDOM (during that middle-of-the-night pirate solo brainstorming/fever dream session of our sleep-deprived captain Hongjoong that he (prompted by the suggestion of ATEEZ's lead songwriter EDEN (Hongjoong's songwriting mentor)) came up with the idea of mashing up WONDERLAND with Dvorak's 9th Symphony, "From the New World." It was meant to be a special exhibition/arrangement of the song as ATEEZ sometimes does special for major events (like the rock versions of several of their songs they performed at Coachella) for Kingdom, but ATINY loved this and the other special arrangements of their songs they used during Kingdom that they actually released them officially for us later that year on their 2021 album ZERO: FEVER EPILOGUE. And since that time, they've usually performed this Symphony No.9 "From the Wonderland" (that's its official title, a play on the official title of the Dvorak symphony). Oops, I started writing all that before I got to the part of the video where you found all this out. ^^;;; Oh well, there it is again! Btw, the translation was slightly off about Jongho's "four high notes" -- EDEN actually said "can you go up 4 octaves?" as the secret weapon high note. That's our B5 ~ And yes, Hongjoong is the main producer among ATEEZ (and YES, we have video proof here that our captain was the genius who came up with the incredible idea to mash up WONDERLAND and Dvorak's New World Symphony (I know it too -- isn't it a pretty famous piece of classical music like Beethoven's 5th and Holst's planets suite/Mars? We played the New World Symphony in marching band in high school, so I knew it before hearing this mash up)), though Mingi also writes his own songs and has just released some solo work (plus released some original songs on ATEEZ's youtube channel too -- check out AUTOBAHN, where he collabed with an amazing female rock vocalist too). Hongjoong and Mingi are credited for lyrics on every, single ATEEZ song as they both write all their own raps. HJ also contributes music and lyrics for the majority of ATEEZ songs as well and has seven full ATEEZ songs that are his own, original compositions/where he is the primary songwriter (From, AURORA, Sunrise, Good Lil Boy, Celebrate, Rocky, All About You, and Selfish Waltz). He's also released a ton of his own arranged/produced song covers that he also sings and raps on on youtube, called the "BY.HONGJOONG" series. Also, yes, check out ATEEZ's in-depth "Behind the Scenes of Kingdom" miniseries on youtube that their agency KQ released showing just how freaking hard ATEEZ and their team worked during Kingdom, especially at the start when they were simultaneously promoting their FEVER: Part 2 album release (Fireworks was the MV/title track), all while a man down since Mingi was on hiatus. It's INSANE how hard they worked, and seeing/learning about all the ways small and large mnet (the network who put on KINGDOM -- probably due to pressure from the Big4 agencies to sabotage ATEEZ when they started absolutely killing it on Kingdom and "unexpectedly" becoming "actual competition" for the Big4 bands, which they didn't anticipate), disrespected (smallest/shabbiest dressing rooms, least time to prep, shortest behind-the-scenes packages on the show) and flat-out sabotaged them (didn't tell their agency the "outdoor activity day" was a sports/athletic event so they all showed up in jeans/couldn't compete fully, did an "invite another band to help you bolster your votes/guest star in your performance" round where the one band from the tiny indie agency that doesn't have any major fellow bands in their company that they can ask to guest star with them is at a CLEAR disadvantage (especially when the big4 bands summon the likes of BLACK PINK to guest star and get the voting boost of the huge blink fandom that week). Anyway, there's so much more that I and any atiny who lived through Kingdom could tell you about all this, but I'm really trying not to give spoilers/want to let you watch and judge for yourself. In any case, ATEEZ truly did create some incredible, immortal performances as a result of this crucible of a period.

Finally catching up after a bad time recently (including injuring my wrist) WONDERLAND is already a great song but the new version is SO EPIC it's what they've been performing on tour for years now - and it always brings the house down! I don't know about anyone else but I didn't think to recommend anything to stream since it happens at noon on a weekday when I can't see it

I've seen this song performed multiple times live at their shows and it never fails to hype me up. So good! I think the main reason their behind the scenes is shorter is because they were promoting their new album at the same time, so their schedule was completely packed. Most other groups didn't have as much going on as Ateez did.

IM IN LOVE WITH ATEEZ! IM SO GLAD YOU LOVED IT!

I now definitely feel like I've been slacking as an Ateez fan. I will do better on the recommendations! I think the comparison of original to show will probably be most interesting in later episodes where transformation is a key criteria in the challenge set.

Also, you are right about ATEEZ having a shorter behind the scenes segment. They were mistreated during Kingdom because they come from a smaller company with less influence in the industry.

Hongjoong is the one in the studio watching Pirates of the Caribbean and also comes up with adding Dvorak. He is the one who works the closest with ATEEZ's producer team Eden-ary. He is also the leader of ATEEZ, or the Captain, as everybody calls him. When ATEEZ debuted they had a pirate concept, so that's why Wonderland already sounded a little piraty before they changed it for Kingdom. The Kingdom version of Wonderland also became so popular they started performing it in concerts and at Coachella.

Finding the original is such a good idea please continue to do it!

What BtoB are wearing is Hanbok, it is a traditional wear but today, it's largely ceremonial, worn during weddings, first birthdays, and major holidays. (and you can see it a lot in kpop performances)