Ateez came back and they said we are grown! We are fully grown! And it’s about time our music reflected that. It has been interesting to see their image evolve naturally and mature.

Golden Hour Part 1 was very chill and Golden Hour Part 2 is also chill but in a different way. It’s giving same writing different font. They did say Part 2 was about to be about love and they delivered on that. I was expecting something more romantic for the title track and for the B sides, however I like the direction they went in overall. Without further ado let’s jump in.

Deep Dive

Mingi’s verse hit deep. The way things get harder the higher you climb, that pressure but at the same time maintaining a façade where you’re happy or ok. Hmm, that spoke to me. My favourite line: ‘Hold your breath while hiding your anxiety’.

I know how to swim through this void.

They’re getting closer to the emptiness, diving deeper thus becoming more familiar with that feeling.

If I tie it in to the lore they have come off the high of leaving the fight in World Z with a small victory, now they’re back in World A, but scattered and finding it harder to keep their fire, their light, their passion. They’ve got the artistic blues and they’re getting used to the feeling.

Oh, but I should say, I haven’t read the recent diary entry yet. I have a post planned for the lore and I’ll save all my lore thoughts for there.

‘I just want to live a real life’

It’s rather abrupt the way it ends with Hongjoong’s rap as opposed to a chorus, but I quite like that.

Scene 1: Value

This one is short. Do you think they’ll make it a full song in the future? They did that once with Precious. I have seen Atiny calling for it to be a full song. At the moment it is an interlude. I guess it takes the place of the intro as the super short track.

Personally, I like it as an interlude. I don’t think everything needs to be a full track.

Is it just me or does the person on the radio, in the beginning talking to one of the members, sound Australian? And doesn’t the member sound like Wooyoung?

Ice on my Teeth

The title track! As I said it was not what I expected the title track to be seeing as they said the EP would be about romance.

The mv started out strong with the slow pan up from the towel to Yunho just staring at me! Oh my. Honestly, Yunho the whole music video. It is his era. Suits just suit him so well! They frame his body perfectly and it just goes to show, you can be sexy fully clothed just as much as you can be scantily clad.

I love the moment between him and Yeosang in the music video. Well, him, Yeosang… and the puppet. It was very flirty and for once Yunho was not the third wheel.

I love Gomez Hongjoong and his moment as a painting. The random goons in the background of the painting too were perfect.

We were all distracted by San’s mighty shoulders, yes, but did you see he pulled himself up the chandelier with one arm! (I’ve since seen the mv behind and see he was rigged up but still it was cool. I’m glad my eyes weren’t tricking me.)

I like the shot of the fire being in Seonghwa’s mouth at one point.

I loved the shot of Wooyoung chilling on the giant record. Him and Yeosang were honestly mostly chilling in the mv. Yeosang was chilling menacingly (because people were getting dragged around him serving face with an umbrella) and Wooyoung sexily. I guess they didn’t have much to do in their mission apart from distract the enemy.

The music video gives World Z vibes, them going on missions and freeing people to pursue their creative passions (the ballerinas). I’m not gonna lie I was expecting a more World A type music video. However, I love film noir so I let it go.

The lyrics I have nothing big to say. They’re talking themselves up, they buy diamonds at the dentist. These lyrics pertain more to real life than their lore, I’ve just realised. The same for Work. Hmm… that’s interesting. Also, there is a little bit of spice with Mingi’s line that only got worse in the English version! My favourite remix however has to be the Tell Me Bye one. It’s giving slow jam R n B and I am living for it.

Oh, and the violins. I love how chill the song is and how sombre it is. It’s more of a laid back song from them. It gives the same film noir vibes that the music video gives and I love film noir. Then the ending, oh I love it!

I also do love that Yeosang and Wooyoung got chorus parts.

Man on Fire

The way Yunho starts the song though, hello! *wiggles eyebrows*. The way he whisper sings is too good. Sir! Put him on an R n B track right now!

I really like this song, as you know I love my spice so this is right up my alley. I don’t just love the lyrics though, the song is my vibe from start to finish with the melody and that. I love how the beat builds to the chorus. They gave me plenty of time to reeve up my wine. I love the dance break especially, that’s when my hips really start swinging and I suddenly believe I can samba.

Back to the lyrics, Man on Fire is Desire’s older and more intense sister. I have picked out my favourite lines for your perusal.

‘Burn it all. Bear it all, only I desire, the red sun that is you’ – the red sun makes an appearance again.

‘I got no way, I swallow the sun called you and burn up, a song of unbearable longing’ – tell me about it, I can feel the yearning from here.

‘Move, move I’m gonna plunge deeper, jump up without fear’ – Mingi!

‘When you look at me, your irises burn’ – may need to see a doctor for that.

‘When you touch the opposite sex’ – to the point, so I am picking up what they’re putting down.

‘I want you without resting’ – without resting… I see.

As you can see Mingi’s Ice on My Teeth lyrics have nothing on Man on Fire! I do like that the song is literally about them burning with desire. They are men and they’re on fire! A song about lust.

I find it funny that I like these kinds of songs when I’m demisexual.

Selfish Waltz

My favourite, my baby boy (he’s not a baby just a figure of speech), Yeosang! You better sang! Thank you Hongjoong, we say in unison.

The song was made in 2021 and is one of Hongjoong’s creations. I do love that we are getting to see more of his songs and the extent of his talents. To think this has been in the vault all this time makes me excited for his other works in progress.

Wooyoung in the chorus makes me want to scream! His voice is perfect and matches the rhythm of the song perfectly. The falsetto gives me Scissor Sister vibes, do you know the band? This might be too niche of a comparison.

This song feels House.

They went from f*cking in the previous song to fighting in this one. Sometimes, passion leads to arguments. However, this song is about a very different stage of a relationship, near the end. They can’t agree on anything, they’re always fighting and eyes that looked at each other with love are now cold.

‘Our love song sounds like war’

I find it funny though that this song is another Hey Ya because although I know the lyrics are melancholy they put it to a bumping beat so amma dance.

Enough

This is an English song, apart from the raps. Kind of like the English version of Take me Home.

This song makes me want to go to the beach.

Yeosang got lines and… and adlibs! We are on the up!

‘Don’t ever lose yourself, you are enough, in a world full of doubts never doubt it’

It is an uplifting song encouraging you not to give up, and to keep moving forward. It also makes the point that if you can’t manage to carry on by yourself and you’re finding it difficult,  that it is ok to reach out for aid from a friend (them).

They sing this song in cap locks, I feel like. That fits with the message of the song as it gives the impression that they really want you to listen to their voice and that they’re literally uplifting you.

The album gives me winter vibes. We talk about summer songs and autumn songs a lot but the songs on this album definitely gave me winter. Even the spicey ones, we all need a little spice to get through the cold, dark months. And for those of you who love winter, if it doesn’t apply let it fly.

So far I like the songs, Man on Fire and Selfish Waltz the most. I love house music and I love a bit of spice, this is well documented. Also the melody of Man of Fire is real good. So yeah those two are fighting for top spot in my head. (It’s been a while since promotion ended and they’re still my top favourite… so I guess I have two favourites this time.)

It is interesting seeing Ateez venture out into more mature content (lyrics) now that they’re reaching their mid to late twenties. I wonder if they’ll go the Monsta X route or the BM route. I’m kidding they’ll definitely go the Monsta X route. I just can’t see them being as bold as BM. BM is an idol too but he’s managed to carve out that bit of freedom of expression for himself and has gained fans that side of him and in fact encourage it. However, that doesn’t mean the Monsta X route is safe and boring, no, it’s still spicy. It’s just more of a innuendo type of spicy. They talk about sex but in riddles where if you call them out they can lie and say it’s about driving. However with BM his flavour of spice is, if he’s talking about sex you will know it as he’ll say it explicitly. I like both kinds, it depends on my mood really which I listen to.

Thus, I think Ateez is going to continue to turn up the heat, especially as idols who have always marketed themselves to be down to earth and human like. That sounds odd to say but it’s like they reject being put too much on a pedestal. So, my prediction is their spice level will go up as far as it can within the confines of kpop and they may surpass Monsta X.

It is exciting though, I genuinely don’t know what they have in store for Part 3. Golden Hour has been full of surprises.

P.S.: omd it’s been a while since I’ve done this. I used to do this all the time back in the day. Anyway! They have said they’re going to be doing more solo projects and that, and Mingi has mentioned wanting to swear in his songs. He did in that one Fix Off track. So, in their solo or duet or sub unit stuff we may see BM level spice. I mean, Look at the way I ride.