Charlotte: WHO HAS THAT VOICE?! WHO IS HE?!! [Rossini’s Semiramide Overture plays] Umu: So now you’ll be reacting to the recently-debuted eight-member boy group called ATEEZ. Jordan: First, you’ll react to “Intro: Long Journey”, which is the first track off their official debut EP.
James: Cool. Umu: Their narration depicts the beginning of a journey, asking the listener “will you join us?” This can be interpreted to mean: will we join them in their debut, and follow them throughout their careers? Hugo: No.
Rachel: Oh. Umu: Wow, rude…
Rachel: That’s kind of…
Hugo: [chuckles] Sorry. U: This track is composed by Eden, Buddy, Leez, and Ahn Suwan. Charlotte: Okay… Aaron: ATEEZ? I like that.
Fiona: Cool. 3, 2, 1… [plays music] Rachel: Bird sounds.
Hugo: Seagulls… I like it. Thus far, very good song. Elizabeth: Okay, so this is interesting… having, like, the sea sounds, and the seagulls, and then like the romantic strings coming in… Davis: I like this orchestral-ass intro. Lindsey: This is so cinematic. [laughter]
Davis: Yeah. Fiona: The sea’s such a dreamy place, so it really goes with it, and the strings too. Aaron: Yeah, the strings are like, y’know, like they’re on, like, a ship? Fiona: Yeah…
Aaron: Sinbad! (F: Sinbad!) It’s like Sinbad in strings… Hugo & Rachel: [sing ascending string part] Rachel: Something’s coming… the drop…
Hugo: They’re… they’re actual strings though, not MIDI strings, which is nice. R: Okay… Pirates of the Caribbean…
H: Yeah, right? Fiona: That part sounded like they’re on a… like, on a cliff. Oh, there’s a cliff! [fake laughter]
A: They are on a cliff… (F: Haha, cliff.) ATEEZ. F: Kind of. Isaac: [tremendous laughter] [yells] NARRATION! Davis: Wow… Yeah, man… he’s goin’ for it. Dramatic reading! Lindsey: [laughter] D: It’s kind of… intriguing me a little bit? It’s sorta persuasive… James: It is very…
Elizabeth: [counting beats] 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3… It… is in compound meter, my friend! Kevin: Okay… this makes a lot of sense. Treasure and dreams. Elizabeth: Is that…
James: Those are real strings. E: It was Lydian! It was LYDIAN for a hot sec! L: Yes.
D: Aww, they needed like a… L: I’m intrigued.
D: They need some sort of, like, [claps hands] I don’t know… L: I’m enticed… that was enticing.
D: Yeah. Oh my gosh, that was so intense! F: So that, like, really set up, it’s like okay, this is… …pirate-y AF, ’cause it was like 6/8, and then the ocean sounds, and… the flag. Yeah… And it sounded so cinematic with the [sings] STRINGS! E: You got the effect of what they were going for…
J: Yeah… I wasn’t…
E: I mean they had, like, the sea shanty, like, compound meter… The fun thing about compound meter is: it’s very lilting, when you put it in this context, so it really does feel like… …being yanked from side to side on a ship. And… yeah, it did have a lot of… …similarities in the way they wrote the strings, to like the “Pirates of the Caribbean” soundtrack… J: Yeah.
E: …and those sort of, like big, epic… ideas… …those like big, epic movie soundtracks. (J: Yeah.) I think… I think they definitely had, like, a theme that they were going for. J: Yeah… While I am glad that they used strings — and not MIDI strings, like they actually… those were real strings, that you’re hearing… …and I’m glad they used them in that way, but… I wasn’t feeling it that much. I mean, I know it’s supposed to be an intro… it’s not supposed to be a standalone work on its own, but… …I just thought it was a little cliché. The epics… you know, movie music, string music… and then someone just, like, narrating, like… …epic words over it? Like it… like, that usually works. Like, that’s a formula that WORKS. But for some reason, I didn’t… I didn’t quite… fall into it with them… E: [consolingly] It’s pop music…
J: Yeah… E: They like… to pull on things that we… J: Yeah…
E: …know, and are familiar with… J: Oh, yeah…
E: Because… it automatically makes us interested… J: Yeah…
E: …because… we know that we like it already.
J: Yeah… E: That’s fine.
J: Yeah. K: Well that was fun!
I: [excited noise] K: When Hans Zimmer… recorded “Pirates of the Caribbean”, it sounds so vast. And I know, like, their voices are more important, but I feel like there could’ve been a way to integrate everything together a bit… bit better. So… It’s a fun little cheeky track, that’s like… Yeah, if you… decide to stan them immediately, then this is definitely… something to get you excited. Yeah, about the long journey ahead… I: Oh, we’re playing “La Mer” by Debussy… so it was just, like, listening to… how he creates… imagery through… …composition. It’s very similar to here; it’s like in the beginning, it’s like you have strings… …just fluttering… and then, starting to get more commotion, so it’s like almost the water, just… …coming… up on the beach, and… retreating back. Imagery of the music was pretty… fitting. Umu: ATEEZ debuted with two title tracks, and now you’ll be reacting to the second one released, called “Pirate King”. Mixing space and sea travel, the song is about sailing towards a destination: “Raise the anchor, take the first step, and follow the pirate king… we can go anywhere together.” It is composed by Eden. F: Aye aye… pirates… Got it. (A: Aaargh…) We got it. I: One Piece! [sings “One Piece” anime theme song]
K: Oh, I’m sorry. I: [laughter]
K: 3, 2, 3… [plays music] K: Same key as the previous intro, how ’bout that?
I: and we got that-! I: Ooh… ooh. Charlotte: ‘Kay. Peyton: Whoooo! C: WHO HAS THAT VOICE?! WHO IS HE?!! F: Ohhhh, I love that! [sings part of instrumental] It sounds like electronic sea shells. K: Simple melody, but… lots of… instrumental action. R: Yeah, it’s hip…
H: Lot of high end… R: Yeah… like a pump-up… H: Mm-hm.
R: …thing. K: There’s like that bagpipe synth sorta thing going on. I: Bagpipes?
K: And it’s kind of in the same range as the voices… …so it’s kinda like… it’s like you’re listening to harmonics. L: [laughter] WHOA… J: Flat six… (E: Ooh…) It’s nice. F: I love that low-ness. A: I know… I’m a little turned on by it, I’m not gonna lie.
F: Dude, it reminds me of, like, great music. How can they just a HUMMING section so good? I: [imitating Hongjoong] K: Yeah, the [makes low guttural sound] and the [light, high, quiet laughter] I: The gruff
K: Lot of interesting stuff going on. C: [shouting] Ohhh yes, he’s back! D: Wow… L: [laughter] Oh my god…
D: Okay… that was like, one lit verse to the next lit verse! Like, we’re gonna keep the energy going… I like it. F: Okay, that just got really lit.
A: This is such a hype song! F: Yeah, this got hype…
A: This is awesome.
F: But it’s good, ’cause it’s not, like… …hype… all the time, like… it’s like, chill and hype… A: Yeah, they (F: …at the same time.) build up, and then they, like, use some micro-rhythm, and they’re like… [sings part of song]
F: Yeah, and it’s like… not… too much. L: I like how their… their motions, even… like in the pre-chorus, they’re moving very, like, slowly… And then, here we go…
D: Ooh. L: And then the… you know, like, now their arms are flying everywhere and it’s…
D: Yeah, now the camera’s… tilting a lot faster as well. L: Yeah… C: I like the half-time feel, (P: Yeah.) but the fact that they still dance is that they feel every single beat. K: Yeah, we’re going past, like, pop… …the… the boundaries of generic pop EDM. We’re… actually getting somewhat experimental here. R: Yeah, it’s SO much high end.
H: Yeah, it… there’s like NO bass in this. R: Yeah, where there would be, it’s him going [imitates low vocal part] K: Ahh, chord! Chord… chord, get some… …sharp six? C: Ohh!!!
P: Oh! P: I like the, like… middle eastern, kind of like…
C: Yeaaaah! P: …vibes… Ooh!
C: Ohh!! J: I love the off-beat percussion there. E: It’s like reggaeton, kinda… C: Ah! P: Oh yeah.
C: Oh!! P: These guys are good.
C: Ohh!!
P: These guys are good. C: Oohhhh!! C: Who IS that deep, sexy man? What a BOP! What a good time! P: [chuckles] C: What a rager! What a new favorite of mine!
P: They got ya! P: Thought it was, like… the way they… kept moving through each… I guess, variation on the beat. They kept taking the same vibe, and like, adding something else on it, something else on it, something else on it… And it’s like, the same song…
C: Variations on a theme. P: Yeah. I felt like I was listening to the same song, but I never got bored. Like, there was no, like… hard, like, [whiplash noise]… you know, and it’s just like… “oh, okay, where am I now?” You know, it was just like “oh!”, it’s like… the same thing, but different… and… I just kept feeling that, and it was like, never, like… corny different, you know… (C: Mm-hm.) which… …always kills a song… but… These guys are great. Also, the… video itself was really cool.
C: Yeah. D: Like you were saying, like, I could definitely listen to this… without the music video, because the song itself is just a bop… but… L: The video definitely adds…
D: The video is just, like, so… entrancing, how they, like… …how they made it. That was really cool. I would…
L: Variation? (D: Yeah…) First of all, like… They did such a good job of, like, building up to the chorus… D: Mm-hm.
L: …and it wasn’t the same exact build every time, because, you know, like, the last time, they didn’t do that, like, “will you be my friend?” (D: Yeah…) or whatever they… like, that weird… that weird thing (D: That was weird.) that I liked a lot. But… they didn’t do it that last time, so then I was like… is it… [confused noises]? But that kept me in suspense. And so they had, like, the variation, but yet it still kept, like… …the drive, even when they kinda, like, slowed it down a little… you know, the pre-chorus… They didn’t actually slow it down, but like… you know… slowed down the feel. D: Umm, also… I thought that… like I was kinda saying, like during the video, that their… The way that they sampled, like, the brass sound is really cool. And like, the subdivision of the cymbal was like… …pretty constant, and that, like, keeps, like, the energy of, like… everything else. It kind of acts as like a good, like, sub-texture, so that you… …aren’t paying attention it, but like, its presence is, like, always there. Like, I think… we’ve said that before in, like, other videos, where it’s like… You don’t notice it’s there, but if it wasn’t there, you would notice something was missing. Umm… I think the way they used like that, with other… the rest of the percussion too, I think… it… It created like a much more, like… whole-sounding song, that… like I said, for like the 1000th time, I like… …was so in tune to… like, I was SO, like, captured by it. It was… it was intense. E: There’s just like some…
J: Wow… E: These verses are just like very in-your-face, and very aggressive, so it kinda doesn’t make any sense to have a chorus… …where, like, everything drops out… you know what I’m saying? J: Yeah.
E: That was the chorus, right? I’m not crazy… J: Yeah.
E: Okay. It just… it feels weird. J: I liked it. Did you not like it? E: It’s not that I didn’t like it… it just, like… I don’t know, if I was gonna write… that, usually… Like when you think about… a verse, and a pre-chorus… those are all things that are, like… …taking a break from the chorus, so it’s like… less intense… or building up to the chorus. J: Yeah.
E: Right? And so, to have, like, a buildup… J: And then just that…
E: But, to… like… to not really resolve it fully? J: Well, to me, this… seems like more of a song that we would… …that would go great with, like… choreo. And, like, we had choreo, watching them, but when you have a big, like, lead-up to… what sounds like it’s gonna be a hype-y chorus like that, and you just get like, this, like, nice drop, and kind of this, like, minimalistic percussion. That’s more of like a… “ooh,” like, “watch them dancing.” ‘Cause like, it’s probably gonna be some, like, sick dancing. Like, one thing I really, really enjoyed was… not only in the music video, but also just, like, stylistically, they were using a lot of, like, middle eastern… kind of, like, influences. Like, it was… harmonic minor scale, like [sings scale degrees] one, five, six, five… Like, I heard a LOT of that… kind of, like, influence in there. E: I didn’t really feel… middle eastern, necessarily.
J: But I could… I… E: I’m not… I’m not sure “middle eastern” is the vibe they were going for, though, especially because it’s, like, “Pirate King.” We can’t just, like, keep equating the harmonic minor scale to the middle east for the rest of forever. J: No, that’s true… but at the same time, like, the whole music video was like… in a desert. Like, it was very…
E: There are deserts in many places… (J: No…) you know that… There’s deserts (J: No!) in the United States… [laughter]
J: No, I know, but like… That was kinda just the vibe I was getting. And… at least for me, it felt like it was, like, an explicit reference to it. We’ve all got different ears.
E: That’s true… that’s very true. (J: Mm-hm.) E: And there’s so much going on in this, that you really can hear… (J: Yeah.) whatever the hell you want! J: Totally. (E: Yeah.) I thought it was great. E: Well, ’cause, like, the percussion changed with every single… (J: Mm-hm.) section. (J: Yeah.) H: I’d have to listen to them… more… and hear different songs, ’cause in that song… Well, because they were really bringing out the high end… it also meant that their timbres kind of all sounded the same. R: And it all was a lot of that, like, scream-sing-y stuff, where you’re just like… like… [imitates vocal style of song] H: Which ends up sounding the same no matter who you are. If you have similar ranges, which… …I’m guessing that most of them do… and you do that scream-singing type of thing, it all… A, ends up sounding the same… then when it’s produced… which… this song was heavily produced, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing… R: Yeah, it all just, like… (H: But when it IS heavily produced…) equalizes it to the same… H: It kinda… (R: Stuff…) you lose a little bit of that… we were talking about how it’s high end… That depth that you get, if you don’t have just a high-end pass on it, is kind of what makes up the timbres… R: Yeah.
H: Of these voices. So then, when you take that away… …you lose a lot of the timbre.
R: And if it was pitched at all, then the… you, like, your vibrato… is different.
H: Yep! F: Yeah. But they were FEELIN’ it. They knew this song was lit, and they danced like they knew it was lit. A: And it definitely has, like, elements of pop culture… that we… see in the United States, with like… F: The [sings part of instrumental]
A: Just like… yeah, like (F: in the [sings low-pitched instrumental part]) the breakdown… …the, umm… I like the… the rapping, when they… turned more into, like, 16th note rhythms… (F: Mm.) They used syncopation, kind of, to like… for like some sexiness. Y’know, I don’t know! Like, that’s what I got from it… I was like… hm. I loved it.
F: I loved it too. A: It’s a song you can have a good time to. (F: Oh yeah.) Let me tell you, mm. I: More electronic music is like… you… do have to create more variation, and they definitely did that, umm… …with rhythm. The instrumentation’s so WEIRD. It’s like, beginning, you have like this weird drone that just hovers between two notes. And it just slides up and down, and you have this [sings part of instrumental] …clucking noise. And just… going straight down. Quite interesting. It’s like… you have, like, this… like, showing the direction of it. And then they’re all… They’re all trying to go downwards, so it’s like… everything went with the… …the image they’re trying to create. K: It’s GREEEEAAAAAT! I remember the first time reacting to it, thinking how long the song is. The second time… having the idea in my mind that “it goes places”… feels more its run time. But it still feels quite epic, and like… it’s definitely… there’s just so much to listen for. It invites you… and the more you listen, the more you can pick stuff out. Very cool stuff. Umu: Hello everyone! I’m Umu, ReacttotheK channel creator, and I’d like to thank you for watching this video. I really hope you enjoyed, or learned something, from it. If you’d like to support us, or help ReacttotheK grow, you can do so by visiting our Patreon, and help us out by pledging any amount you can. BIG tip of the hat to our Superstar Idol patrons — thanks for the love. ‘Til next time!