ATEEZ’s growing J-pop discography has had its share of original tracks, and most of them fit comfortably within their established Korean sound. Not Okay is the latest to join the party, and leverages familiar sounds — for better or worse.
I haven’t been shy about expressing my distaste for much of ATEEZ’s recent output. What once was thrilling and fresh now feels predictable and increasingly obnoxious. I desperately want to form some sort of Robin Hood-esque squad to break into KQ HQ and steal whatever software they use to slather on their incessant vocal effects. I physically cringed when Not Okay‘s opening line emerged. Over the years, the sound of these effects has become so off-putting it makes it hard to enjoy the actual music.
Not Okay is bolstered by plenty of drama. A choir-like backing vocal underlines the verses and the track twists itself into a thumping dance beat for the chorus. Its finale is big and rousing like a battle scene from an anime. But this is all in service to dull melodies and a lack of cohesive structure to build upon its best ideas. I can’t be the only one who feels like ATEEZ’s melodies have fallen off a cliff since their first few years. It’s incredibly frustrating, because the building blocks are all still present but the songs themselves just aren’t appealing.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
Grade: C-
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
You mean 7?
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Haha yes… 😜
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The best part of new Ateez’s tts is when they end and I proceed to listen to Wonderland for the 4541554th time.
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Scout’s honor when I queued up this song this morning and heard the first swath of autotune, I murmured over my coffee: “Nick is gonna hate this.”
I’m like, shrug. Most of ATEEZ’s Japanese tracks sound like they were written by ChatGPT trained on KQ’s archive. (The exception is last year’s “Diamond”: I love it; I’m not sure it’s up your alley, but I think we might agree that, at the minimum, it was a coherent pop song that an actual human sat down and wrote.)
Overall, I don’t know who would win the Frustration Olympics between you and me where ATEEZ is concerned. The success is killing them, musically speaking. What makes it so maddening is that the flashes of former greatness are all still here: Jongho’s escalating, wild soprano; the killer post-chorus; the epic dance break; the wistful bridge. Lack of coherence is the obvious problem (which I think is about a lack of time for the composers), but I’m starting to think that problem is made out of 2 more specific problems: 1. Lack of a synthesizing chorus that can pull all the unique parts together and build them to a satisfying climax (there are too many cooks in the kitchen now, and EDEN doesn’t have the time he would need to make a satisfying stew out of all those ingredients), and 2. The boys being run ragged performing; thus, more and more autotune being needed to cover up vocal exhaustion.
On the one hand, I’m happy for them. Playing Coachella is what they’ve wanted. On the other hand, at what cost? On many levels.
On Tue, Feb 27, 2024 at 7:30 AM The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussi
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Well said!
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I’m sorry, but the beginning at first made me think of some trying-to-sound-swag-but-is-actually-cringe-as-hell Bollywood party, hip-hop-ish song with the autotune and all (source: am Indian) 😭
What’s with KQ and abusing the autotune feature? It’s like Eden (or whoever produces this song) keyboard-smashes the sound effects button or whatever is done to enhance the sound effects. This (+the chipmunk chorus) already ruined Bouncy for me to put it in low-6s at best, mid-5s at worst. KQ, I promise you these guys CAN sing, and they don’t need autotune all the damn time (same goes for xikers too, but that’s for another story)
But seriously, they OWNED 2019-2020 with bangers like “Inception”, “Answer” and so many gems, but I hardly listen to their post-2021 releases or don’t bother to do so (am a casual listener of them). This song sounds so meh, just one listen and then I’d forget they even released this, nothing stands out unfortunately minus the autotune 😕
I hope they go back to the “Inception” or “Answer”-esque sound again, cause they own that sound (+ a year worth of vacation cause they’re working nonstop istg).
6.75 for me (7, 7, 7, 6).
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And yes, I’m aware this might come off as hella dramatic, especially for a Japanese comeback, but I just wanted to share my frustration towards some of their songs in general nowadays (will come back with a new rant for their next Korean comeback if it ends up being like this) 😅
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I like the song but I feel like it could be better.
7.75/10
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Make some noise. ugh. In my part of the world, the only purpose of a song that uses such a phrase is to try to get on the regular list for sports arenas. As rare as a turnaround jump shot with 2 seconds on the clock. Then its royalties forever. Whoever did that 10 seconds of “everybody clap your hands”, clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap, the one even my kids know, that person does not need to work a real job ever again.
Its like a dance songs which tell you and order you to dance and put your hands up without actually having a beat to dance to. Cmon everybody, put your hands together!
Here is a suggestion: if you want to get loud, first you have to be soft. If you want to be shouty, first you have to be whispery. Or have a perfect 10 seconds clip to applaud the ground hit double runners on 2 and 3 before the next batter is up, then you can Make Some Noise, but only for 10 seconds.
Since it is almost March Madness, an oldie but goodie, one for the kids here. ’https://youtu.be/Uo3G2MfOYeA?t=18
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There is also a new MONT out today. MONT of “come into Ice Age!!!” which is still among the best bonkers debut songs ever. This song here today sounds a bit like N.Flying-lite.
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I think you might have mixed up MONT with MCND, who had the debut song you’re thinking of (Ice Age), but I dont blame you, the people naming boy groups need to stop using three/four letter acronyms 💀
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Ah yes, yes I did.
MONT yasss MONT my favorite snotty punk indie kpop boy band =how could I forget you=!!!
I played the shit out of this song a few years ago. Sharing, because sharing is caring.
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I got into Ateez around the time they released Answer and Say My Name + Hala Hala remain my favourites among their title tracks. I’ve definitely lost interest in them in recent years. I’ve liked basically everything they releaseduntil Deja Vu, but Guerilla was the last title track of theirs I liked and I couldn’t even finish listening to Bouncy. It’s a bit of a conflicting feeling seeing artists whose music you used to like find success with things you don’t connect to at all.
I didn’t hate Not Okay on first listen, but I also don’t know if I particularly want to listen to it again or if it’ll grow on me.
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it feels like forever since we’d heard from ATEEZ I wish it was different a bit more of a beast of of a song something to ignore the hungry for a summer bop no chance there. I miss good kpop. 😞
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I’m actually a firm believer that this style of music and sound really does suit them as a group, it is after all what’s caused them to grow the most rapidly in popularity. But obviously everyone has their own tastes and preferences when it comes to music. In my opinion I think the song I’d a great solid 8/9 (held back by some mixing issues and choppiness from verses to prechorus and chorus).
I think the main problem is how they’ve stopped experimenting as a group after finding this sound. Everything from the beginning of their discography in the Treasure series up until the end of the Fever series was all very diverse and spanned over multiple genres and styles of music. I’d even go as far as to say that Guerrilla was an experimental track for them (that took off so well they stuck with it) which was caused their music to go “stale” in a way. And as much as I still love their music, I can agree it’s caused the group to feel stagnant; I’m just hoping we can get a Wave style tt sometime again 🙏
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