ATEEZ: Realizations

Hi! It’s Annie!

Obviously the ATEEZ concert was a few days ago which we have a full overview on already if you haven’t checked that out yet! But I wanted to talk about some of the things that I personally experienced at the concert and the way that some of my opinions changed after that. Because the concert really gave me an entirely new perspective on ATEEZ, which I find is usually the case after you finally see a group live in concert. And this was one of my favorite concerts that I’ve ever been to. They were all so happy to be there and so happy that Atiny was there and I miss them so much already! I sincerely hope that I’m able to see them in concert when they come back around this year! But I have such a greater appreciation for some things that I’m probably going to return to even more often than I did before after all of that. And there are just some general observations I had at the concert that I want to share. So, I’m just going to get into it!

‘Imitation’:

The more I’ve watched of recent ATEEZ variety show appearances, the more I’ve heard them mention ‘Imitation’. And the way they do it is absolutely my favorite. Because they have absolutely no qualms in making fun of it. Yeosang is constantly teasing San over how few lines he has, Hongjoong is always mixing up which character San played and which one Seonghwa played, and at the concert they yelled “Finally now, it’s my time” at Yunho which caused them all to burst out into laughter. Not only was I really happy in the moment that I understood all of these references, I liked that they were all making fun of it in their own ways too. Like how little screen time some of them had or how many people poked fun at “Diamond”. Yunho and Seonghwa even danced to it at the concert! If you’ve read my reviews for ‘Imitation’, you probably know that it wasn’t my favorite, completely on the account of the writing being a bit all over the place. But I think I probably took the show too seriously. Though the writing for the show wasn’t great, it was still a cute show that had a happy ending. It almost makes me want to go back and watch it. I stand by my thoughts that there were a lot of things that didn’t make any sense at all, but that doesn’t necessarily have to make it unenjoyable.

“Still Here”:

I’ve always loved this song, and recently it became something of a comfort song for me. The song itself talks about how ATEEZ is always there for us and always will be, and Yunho takes so much of the chorus that I was blown away the first time I heard it. And hearing it live was very emotional for me. It made me love the song more, but it also gave a new meaning to the song. It’s one of many from the concert that now I’ll probably cry when I hear, like “Star 1117” and “Turbulence”. But I think this one stuck out to me because I’ve been listening to it so nonstop. So while my opinion on the song is still that it’s amazing, it is now also so much more emotional for me.

ATEEZ and LA:

I don’t think it fully hit me how much Los Angeles means to ATEEZ until they started talking about it during the concert. Yunho talked about how they had started their journey in LA as KQ Fellaz and what being back meant to them. Hongjoong even introduced us to the new KQ trainees, though Atiny remained loudly loyal to ATEEZ. But the emotion they all had over being back in LA was insane to see. Yunho started crying at the end of the show which made me absolutely sob. Just thinking about how this is where they viewed their career to have started blew me away and I hadn’t really thought about it that way before this point. Not only that, but it has actually become a hot topic in South Korea how much popularity ATEEZ experiences in the US and the UK. For some reason, that I will never be able to understand, ATEEZ isn’t as popular in South Korea. Netizens discussed their popularity overseas after it became known that ATEEZ was going to stay in LA for longer than people expected to market themselves. I don’t know how much longer they’re staying here, but their music is some of the best and most relatable I’ve heard. They deserve to be just as popular everywhere.

ATEEZ Choreography:

I seriously have no idea how these men survived until the end of the show. This was the most intense choreography I have ever seen live in my entire history of concert-watching. They performed a good amount of their discography and only a couple of their songs didn’t feature intense choreography. A lot of their songs are also hype songs with strong beats, so the entire audience was dancing. I was tired by the end of it from just dancing where I was standing. I think we all take for granted just how much these men do and just how much they put into all of their performances. They barely looked tired at the end of the show, which was absolutely insane to me. They perfected that choreography, and even Jongho gave it his all even though he was injured. The fact that they even performed “To the Beat” shocked me, but the choreography for it, especially at the end, was more than I ever expected. Going to an ATEEZ concert is exhausting in the absolute best way.

“Fix On”, “Jongho”, and “Captain”:

Ok, so I found out pretty early on in the concert that none of them really take themselves seriously. When Mingi tried to be serious he would just end up giggling, especially after we all started chanting “Fix On” when he started speaking to us. Hongjoong also got flustered when we chanted “Captain”. But nobody got as flustered as Jongho when we chanted his name in support for him because of his injury. What I’m really trying to say here, is that all of these boys are just as down to earth in real life as they seem to be. They all got flustered at the fan reaction to them at some point or another, and seeing them all giggle and smile at the chanting is something I’ll carry with me forever. Seriously, these boys are so sweet.

I love these boys and after seeing them in person I love them even more. With the announcement that they’re coming back this year, I’m already planning to see them again. I seriously hope that I can see them again. And I will definitely cry that time too, because I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing them in person. Seeing them gives you such an appreciation for what they do and how much work they put into everything. And it also makes your voice disappear the day after.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie