ATEEZ: Eras

Hi! It’s Annie!

Firstly, I want to apologize for having such a late post tonight. As many people already know, the entire website was down earlier. But I’m not one to give up, so here we are again! When it comes to K-pop groups it’s not uncommon for fans to discuss particular eras of their comebacks. We’ve seen this conversation come up recently with BTS because of ‘Butter’ coming out and the callbacks to the ‘Run’ era. But the K-Drama starring ATEEZ is out tomorrow, and BTS has had so many eras that it would be difficult to list them all, so I kind of want to discuss all of ATEEZ’s eras and rank them just for fun. Trust me, I love all of their eras, their looks absolutely slay every single time. I apologize if I leave any out, but these are the eras I see the most pictures and content from. So, from my least favorite to my favorite, let’s get into my ranking.

Illusion:

Illusion was nothing short of an adorable era. This was so much of ATEEZ cuteness in one place. So why is it last, you ask? Because I think we all know that ATEEZ is the absolute best in the business when it comes to more punk rock and darker looks. That doesn’t necessarily diminish this one though. This is a very nice mix between a pastel horizon and the pirate roots that we all expect from the group. With an absolutely gorgeous setting along with all of them just being the most adorable, there is no getting over this era. The only reason it’s so far down is because I like the other eras just a bit better.

Say My Name:

Here we’re getting into their darker looks, but definitely not the darkest we’ve seen from them. This era has a lot more of a psychological thriller vibe to it. With the unknown hooded figures and the glass panels between the boys and unknown people, there’s definitely an emphasis here of trying to become more noticed. I feel like this was a starting point for some of the darker things they did after this. And it was definitely a good start. But, though this era feels like the beginning of something, it is a bit before they quite got their footing with these darker and more cinematic themes.

Answer:

Though every single one of these is tough to place, I feel like the eras from here on out are the absolute most difficult to try and rank. Answer feels like one of their most raw eras, and this also means that the acting for this era was absolutely phenomenal. This era also featured San’s skunk stripe hair which I think we can all agree is a superior hair look. Each music video and performance from this era feels emotional and their costuming and hair are often made to look as tough and ragged as the emotions of the song make you feel. Though this isn’t as dark as they are known to go and it isn’t one of their cuter eras, it still dominates. They tackled an entirely different feel and did it very well while still feeling like ATEEZ.

Pirate King/Treasure:

Ah, the first ATEEZ eras we ever got. And they really did come out swinging. Even though a group’s first music video is never their best one, this era was still amazing. Especially for a rookie group. The desert and the intense music along with the sporting of their flag gave everyone an accurate depiction of what this group would turn out to be. Completely badass and the pirate kings of K-pop. I still can’t imagine what it must have been like for them to film their music video in the desert while they all were wearing long sleeves. Just goes to show you how badass they all are.

Wave:

This is probably my favorite of the more pastel cuter concepts that ATEEZ has done. Here we got the bright hair colors and the beach, all things that just make it feel like summer. This era heavily featured blue sky, water, and the members goofing around with each other. They seriously all looked like they were having so much fun during this era. It’s difficult to get over how free this era came across. And ATEEZ also proved here that they can do fun summer anthems just as well as they can do their fast paced beats. There’s seriously no better way to describe this era other than saying that it just looked like so much fun.

HALA HALA:

I think we can all agree that this era was different in the best way possible. It was definitely one of their darker themes and it was done so well. While most K-Pop groups make sure that their idols are recognizable through each era, ATEEZ decided to go with a more stylistic approach. Many of the pictures that came out in promotion of this era were all of the members wearing identical hats and masks. Though it might take you a while to pick out which member is which by just catching glimpses of their eyes, it’s entirely worth it. The uniformity works, especially in the music video when it makes their dance look so seamlessly in sync it almost feels impossible. This is also one of their more complex dances, so it has several different parts featuring different members. While the looks here were more uniform, it fit its purpose extraordinarily well.

Fireworks (I’m the One):

While ATEEZ has always had a more revolutionary style, and by that I mean they’re literally a group of men about to start a revolution in many of their storylines; it has never been more prominent than this. Right now I’ve been watching their performance of ‘Rhythm Ta’ over and over again which also has this revolution theme. I think it suits them well no matter which way they do it. I also firmly believe that the looks during this era fit the members more than almost any other era. They all look individual and unique in ways that make perfect sense for their individual personalities. And though we do see some well placed color here, the rock themes are what pull this all together. Seriously, can we talk about Yunho’s lip ring? I think this era is possibly the start of more revolution ATEEZ, and if it is I can confidently say that I’m all for it.

Wonderland:

I think everyone was expecting this. ‘Wonderland’ is most people’s favorite era, and for good reason. This is the era that gave them a lot of their fans now. This era is exactly the definition of duality. Firstly, we have a really nice mix of their individual looks and also the uniformity that I was talking about before. This era just has it all. Also, if you thought the members of ATEEZ were cute before, you see just how badass they can be here. They are so much of both. During this era they even released a video of them performing the song in different styles that, among Atinys, has become known as duality the video. They perform the song in cute outfits with cuts to them performing it regularly in it’s original darker style. This is the danger of ATEEZ. Don’t ever underestimate their ability to be absolutely adorable or their ability to completely upend the entire K-pop industry. Nobody does cinematic theming and storytelling like ATEEZ.

Obviously, all of these eras hold a special place in my heart. I have fallen in love with all of them. ATEEZ has always been excellent but they just get better and better. I feel like every group has a cinematic music video in their arsenal, but it can be difficult to translate that on stage. I don’t exaggerate when I say I think ATEEZ is the absolute best in the industry at bringing cinematic to the stage. And they all look great while they’re completely destroying my perceptions of what can be done on a stage in a concert setting. They are nothing short of insanely talented. And I can’t wait to review ‘Imitation’ as soon as I can get my hands on it!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie