It’s been one step forward, two steps back with ATEEZ lately. After a promising 2025, a pair of early-2026 tracks succumbed to some of the group’s most frustrating instincts. That slump continues with new title track Bad, which lives up to its name.
I mean, this review almost writes itself, right? Replace the “she’s” in Bad‘s chorus with “it’s” and you’ve got an apt hook for this track: “it’s so bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.” I wonder if Bad would be more charming if we hadn’t already heard a million of these phonk-influenced K-pop songs over the past few years. I see a reality where this works as some silly novelty track. We’re not meant to take it seriously, right? But in a year of Boompalas, and It’s Mes and Acais and Sh-sh-sugar highs I’d really love the chance to appreciate a K-pop song in a more serious way again. There’s a point where this “ironic” fun stops being fun at all and starts feeling like an exhausting marketing ploy that cares little about constructing music that might appeal longer than a week or two.
The sad thing is, Bad slowly grows into a more dynamic piece as the production fleshes out for its finale. A monotone repetition of “bad bad bad bad” will never be my idea of a great chorus, but as long as the production compensates for a lousy hook (see: RIIZE’s recent grower), I can at least ignore a song’s shortcomings. Bad‘s first two minutes are hopelessly dull before the instrumental stops spinning its wheels and actually does something. The structure of Bad‘s hook gains new life here as well, making me wonder why this energy couldn’t have driven an entire song.
| Hooks | 5 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 6 |
| Bias | 6 |
| RATING | 6 |
Grade: D-
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Uhhh, idk how to feel about this one.
The production’s decent, nothing too innovative, but the actual song… man, the performance is so affected and the pronounciation of “bad” in the chorus is an earworm (in a neutral way) at best, gimmicky and annoying at worst. Sigh, their worst since Bouncy, and looks like KQ is really struggling with their music so far this year.
Rating’s the same and I smelled it from a mile away lol
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Also, can we ever find an actual good Baile funk song? C’mon kpop, utilize the groove, give us some groovy catchy hooks and melodies for once!
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Also, it amuses me how recent KQ title tracks (OKay and Bad) really lived up to their names. Hope one of them names their upcoming title track “Banger” and the song is, well, an actual banger!
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Well it’s just as i expected it to be. I hate it. I already hated it from the preview even as an Atiny myself
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now I WISH we went for the mean girls concept instead of…phonk throwaway song #41968.
props to them for self awareness I guess
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Yeah I agree with everything you just said, you should check out Mamacita, I actually liked that one.
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The song already turned me off from the start. Starting off the song with rap shooting left & right just did not work for me. The beat and production were actually kind of nice with phonk elements mixed in, but the song never went anywhere so it felt exhausting to listen to. The hook was definitely BAD, not catchy or silly at all. Boompala or Its Me at least had its fun moment and Adrenaline had its energy to rely on, but BAD had no enjoyable listening experience at all. The reason they chose this material as title track was really beyond me.
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awwwwwwwfuuuuuuuuuuul
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I’ll wait for the next comeback. This one isn’t really my thing 😂
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I am so happy to see people with actual common sense. I don’t know why atinys are forcing themselves to like it when it’s so bad. As an atiny myself, I am so deeply disappointed. I wish ateez would gain their originality back.
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It’s because they’re in a cult, and you’re not.
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thanks for letting us know beforehand, Ateez… it really bad
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You know it’s bad when not even reddit likes it😭
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THIS!!!
I was scared to see a metric fuck ton of Atiny’s gaslighting people to like whatever this was. Thank god that wasn’t the case.
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This really was not necessary. Please no more of these songs, it cant even be a guilty pleasure song.
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It’s the Latin CLIK CLAK!
I kinda like it. I actually appreciated CLIK CLAK too, the minimalist approach with a flare at the end has some appeal to me, but those lyrics were such a turn off. This is more tolerable. I give it a 7.5
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I’m an Atiny through and through, but yeah this song is almost cringey to listen to.
The album as a whole (except Mamacita) is pretty underwhelming. The other three songs don’t sound new and the use of autotune in Bad and Fallin’ is not doing it for me.
tbh, I would’ve dropped Mamacita as a single and scrapped the rest of the album.
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I think this will join The One as a least favorite Ateez song. I suspected as much when I heard the sampler and those plonking opening notes. There are other songs on the album I prefer, but I loved the last two albums and this feels like leftovers. And will The Golden Hour ever end?
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Uninspired and lethargic. The rest of the album isn’t much better. Adrenaline and NASA aren’t their best, but at least they are earworms.
Could’ve ended the series on a high note with Part 3 repackage but why stop when you can beat a dead horse.
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Please let the Golden Hour end! It should have ended with In Your Fantasy.
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Tragically, they are committed to their lore and from what my Atiny friend who’s invested in the lore said, the music represents their lore and series will prolly continue on until enlistment begins… sigh, since when did fuckass lores became more important over the actual music… 🚬
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Fuck edenary, fuck ATEEZ and fuck ATINYS. I knew this would happen when ‘Work’ released back in 2024 just after ‘Crazy form’ and ‘Bouncy’ that they’d resort to not singing in their choruses again. They should have called ‘Work’ for what it was, an uninspired, ai-generated piece of shit work. They should’ve torn the group to shreds so they’d know not to pull this shit again, and they’ve done so for the past 4 releases. ATEEZ and Edenary have no shame, fuck them. Edenary, if you read this, stop. You’re not a good producer, You never were. You don’t know how to use the members voices properly anyway, so just stop producing.
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Sorry, that was directed towards Eden. But it can apply to the rest of the team too.
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I heavily disagree. It’s so fun and the minimalist production really tickles my ear in a nice way and the percussive breakdown climax ties it together pretty well. The rap rhythms are rly catchy and the chorus pronunciation and that little vocal chorus in the back just scratches a really nice itch in my brain. I’m not sure it’ll age well but i really like it right now. 8.5 for me
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I immediately know there’s a problem when it only takes one listen and I’m saying it was worse than their last single. Keep in mind, I wound up binging Adrenaline and I think it’s their one decent single through the whole GH run.
Chorus feels dead, I find it weird that they just neglect the vocals minus 2 people, and it ultimately suffers the opposite problem from Adrenaline: I was only underwhelmed by the ending because it didn’t do much. Bad is a slight slog with an ending that picks it up some. But is it worth it having to work through everything else for an ATEEZ finale when I can just discover authentic Latino music through an online radio station?
4.75 (4, 6, 5, 4) Can they end this Era so we can get a stronger, more cohesive body of work, please? FEVER was what got me onto them but now it’s like, if this is what’s put in for their A sides, why listen to everything else?
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Correction: I forgot In Your Fantasy existed.
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this sucks, really no other way to put it. the song is directionless and the hook is atrocious. what a waste of strong vocalists…
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All this does is remind me that Weird Al released a parody of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” titled “Even Worse”
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I did not hate it as much as everyone else here. I’m not saying I love it, but I definitely have come to terms with the fact that ATEEZ will do this type of silly/cheeky/irreverent songs and sell them with performances. My brain rejected it at first listen, but the mv made me smile, and that opened my mind a bit. Lets see how it ages.
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Yup, it’s bad.
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Okayyyy, I I hated the chorus, I absolutely hate these repeated word choruses BUT I loved the verses, they are cringey but fun nevertheless and the rap verses have an energy that makes me wanna listen to it, I wish I could mute the chorus while listening to the song.
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