The other day I watched a video by Jang Hyogyeong about the sugar daddy culture in kpop industry, then Mingi released Dinero and I spent two days just vibing to it, then while I was blasting it in my car this morning while going to work something clicked and a whole other layer of interpretation opened up in my mind.
Disclaimer 1: Iâm going to briefly touch đ themes regarding (of course given my intro) sex, consent and the way consent can be bought, so proceed only if you feel comfortable with those.
Disclaimer 2: Iâm entering the realm of rpf, because I don't personally know Mingi or YOUHA, I don't know what they really think or feel nor why they wrote their lyrics that way, so what's next it's purely personal speculation and it doesn't pretend to state some kind of truth about anything. I don't have proof or whatever, I'm just going wild with the vibes. Keep that in mind.Â
Now back to it under the cut.
Okay, so, the lyrics in question that stuck to me are âWe could make money, dancing with somebodyâ and âI said âNo,â it said âDineroââ.
To me the core of the songâs meaning is, at least in a way, about how under all the glitter of the kpop freaky friday party thereâs more and that the more is the tiredness coming from the grind and the hustle, to the point that stopping or resting doesnât even feel like an option anymore (âTurn down for what. The time is now.â and âSin descansoâ which translates to âwithout restâ and âìŹë ëČ ììŽëČë žì§â which translates to something like âI forgot how to restâ).
Mulling over the lyrics I realised that Mingi isnât really rapping about wanting dinero (so money, fame and so on), but about how, in a way, heâs being owned by it, by the machine heâs part of, to the point that itâs like the system has its own personality, its own volitions and its own voice (the âI said âNo,â it said âDineroââ in question). Inside this metaphor, then, the dance floor at the start of YOUHAâs lyrics isnât fun escapism anymore, it becomes one of the many other stages where the grind and the cycle continue (and this brings us to the âWe could make money, dancing with somebodyâ as in 'gotta work' and of course it's a work made also of networking).
The whole song, then, feels a lot more like a really personal confession than like a boasting celebration of what fame and wealth one has reached and thatâs why the other layer of meaning I was talking about suddenly popped up in my brain.
Now, in her video Jang Hyogyeong says stuff like âAre K-pop sugar daddies actually real? Honestly, yeah.â and âI think this kind of stuff easily comes to non-famous idols or trainees because they know that we aren't making any money. They all know.â.
So what if thereâs also another meaning to those two lines? We all know how often dancing with somebody on the dancefloor of a club can imply something else (sex), sometimes to the point of mimicking it, so stating âWe could make money, dancing with somebodyâ in my speculation could also translate to âwe could make money having sex with somebodyâ and thatâs why it had me recall the video I was talking about.
Have Mingi and/or YOUHA experienced something like that? Has someone proposed that kind of exchange to them or to someone they know? Of course we will never know, as I said in the disclaimer this is pure speculation, but it really fits within the themes of the song and the exchange âI said âNo,â it said âDineroââ, if youâre going to change the it with a he/she/they, Iâm pretty sure itâs something a lot of us experienced more or less directly in our lives in front of unwanted sexual advances. You donât have to take the âdineroâ literally for it to work, sure you can and it could be, but it could also be a metaphor for a lot more kinds of propositions.
And, on a side note, I love how the last bar in his rap leaves us with an open question, because sure, he built his paradise inside the machine, he did it by himself, with his sweat and his constant grind and networking, but is he actually living in it or is he too busy hustling for that? Itâs a really bittersweet end if you ask me and it makes Dinero so damn interesting.
Where am I going with this? I donât know, but I know that I have feelings, a lot of them, because once again Mingi hit us with a banger while hiding inside of it a whole lot of meaning, both in the mv and in the lyrics. Itâs honestly not a coincidence that heâs my bias, because not only I really vibe with his music style and his aesthetic of choice, but he also has a lot to say and he never pulls his punches. So yeah, you can at least consider this my love letter to Song Mingiâs craft if nothing else.
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The strange case of Mingi commenting on Dpr Ian post
In Ateez+ ep. 6 Mingi at one point talks about how there's a difference between music intended for the big public and music for the fans, the kind of difference that there's between (my words not his) music that catches your attention on the radio or having a casual look at a mv without needing to know who's singing and music you listen to not really or primarily because you like it, but because you're emotionally attached to the people who released it. Moreover Mingi recognizes how Ateez mostly lack that former kind of music and how they need to go towards it if they want a long career.
So. That had me thinking, but I hadn't really taken my time to mull over it when I watched it. Now I did it (because of something apparently unrelated as you can guess from the title) and I have thoughts. A small bit of them are about myself as an avid music listener and a lot are about Ateez, their future and Mingi in particular, because ofc I'm biased, sue me.Â
Under the cut my ramblings for whoever is interested.Â
Let's start with my experience. I think Mingi is utterly right. Most of the music I listen to with continuity over the years and most of the music I enjoy the most is from artists I don't really care about as people, meaning that I'm there for their art, not for their âpersonasâ nor their selves.
This is what makes my relationship with kpop a strange one because ofc idoldom is rooted in parasocial attachment and this inevitably has repercussions on how one perceives music coming from idols. To be quite frank, when kpop is involved in my listening I don't think I would have ended up liking a whole lot of songs I actually like if it wasn't for who was singing them. Is it a bad thing? No, it's not, but it's a thing, meaning that if you want to outlast your idol career you need to think about it.Â
And that's what brings me to Ateez and Mingi in particular. Saying that they need that kind of âcasual listenerâ music to last as a group feels not really disingenuous, because Mingi is really too transparent for his own good, but at least extremely curated, because they're in a variety show that will be watched by fans, so ofc he cannot exactly disclose what he really thinks or say that no one really thinks that Ateez will go on forever as they are now for real. However.Â
Small pause. Disclaimer time. Here we are entering the realm of rpf, because I don't personally know Mingi, I don't know what he really thinks or feels, so what's next it's purely personal speculation and it doesn't pretend to state some kind of truth about anything. I don't have data or intel, I'm just going with the vibes. Keep that in mind.Â
Now back to it.Â
However, if we look past the format of Ateez+ and past the obvious needs it brings with it, I'm pretty convinced that Mingi wasn't really talking about Ateez, or at least not only, but also about himself as a solo artist.Â
I say this prompted by the fact that at the start of the same episode he brings up the importance of creating an individual brand identity. He talks about how each member needs to know what they want out of their professional life and he frames it with the intention of making the group last for a long time.Â
He knows they're getting older. He knows their bodies will never sustain the stress of performing and the fast paced rhythm of their work the way they do now, not indefinitely. He explicitly states it, once again, in the same episode (if I recall it correctly) and that at the time he had me just agree with him, but now a really small thing happened that had me wondering.Â
The small thing is that he liked Dpr Ian's Instagram post announcing the release of the mv for The Show (along with Seonghwa, ofc, and Hongjoong). It could be nothing. It could be him just supporting one of Hwa's favourite artists, but he did something that not even Hwa did (up to this date), he commented on it. It's just a silly gif butâŠ
âŠbut it made me wonder. Because sure, it might be one of his usual gimmicks, but Mingi usually uses socmeds in a really clever way and heâs usually very intentional in how he operates on them, so. So it made me wonder if Seonghwa's fascination with Dpr Ian might have had Mingi dig into it and into the whole DPR thing. It made me wonder if the way he sees Ateez to outlast an industry where being young and cute and marketable to preteens is almost everything is by changing the concept of Ateez itself. Not a kpop bgroup anymore but a collective of people with multiple skills, sometimes overlapping in joint projects, most of the time working as solo artists, each of them with their particular individual brand. A collective of multimedia artists that could spread over creating and combining not only music, but also writing, visual arts (painting, acting, dancing, performing and so on), fashion, even DJing live music events. I can see him discussing it with Hongjoong. It doesnât seem so far fetched with them already creating their own logo. I can see him fighting for it during contract renewal (not for the whole collective idea, but for the one about giving a huge prominence to the single individualities of the members).
They would need to grow and upgrade their skills a lot to really do it and make it work, but they have the drive and the potential and I don't think I have to say that I'd love for them to go that way.
I should be writing my horror ff but Iâm on week three of listening to the FIX OFF ORIGIN album on repeat and something occurred to me.
TLDR: I think his tag âFix onâ has changed meaning in time, or at least gained more layers of meaning, and it happened in relation with the appearance of the new signature tag that is âThe time is nowâ.
Under the cut my thoughts about it.
(disclaimer: this is pure speculation, basically rpf, since I donât personally know him or what he thinks and feels)
By now, as a fandom we associate Mingi to two signature sounds / phrases (well, three if you count the barking, but letâs not go there for now), itâs ingrained in our brains, we could say itâs trained, but thereâs a difference: while âFix onâ was there from the beginning, âThe time is nowâ exists only since ROAR, but starting from there it has become another constant. The exact same âThe time is nowâ present in ROAR has, in fact, been sampled by Mingi and used for the beginning of NOVA and then we have Dinero, with its new growled one version, meaning that since ROAR each and every song Mingi wrote and produced has it.
Mingi himself had us pay attention to the fact [ 260511 Fromm messages ]:
đ„: (in Eng) THE TIME IS NOW !!Â
đ„: ??Â
đ„: (in Eng) yessssssssssssssssssÂ
đ„: (in Eng) fixonÂ
đ„: A new signature sound ă Â
đ„: Means itâs coolÂ
đ„: From now onÂ
đ„: when I say âThe time is now!!âÂ
đ„: you have to say âFix on!âÂ
đ„: Can you do that?
So this made me think. If at the beginning âFix onâ was meant to signify âFocus on meâ (Iâm thinking i.e. of Lemon drop, where itâs made explicit in his verse), I feel like with the use of âThe time is nowâ as an introduction to it something changed.
To me now âFix onâ sounds a lot more like âStay focused on the goalâ / âStay on trackâ, meaning that it has become more and more a message to himself than a message to whoever is listening or watching.
I mean, if you think about Dineroâs lyrics itâs somehow explicit:Â
Turn down for what / The time is now / Fix on.
What am I trying to say with this? Iâm still unsure, Iâm mostly going with the vibes, but we all know how much Mingi grew up as a person and itâs interesting seeing how his view about his own music has changed as well.
Think about the last interview he released for Singles Magazine, there he said:
The genre I want to explore is EDM. I realized this at Coachella, but at DJ festivals, people don't look at the stage; they look at the person next to them. So, it's just me and that person having fun. Since I'm always the player, I perform while saying, "Look at me, look at my stage." But I found the concept of "You do the stage! I'm going to have fun with the kids" really cool. So, I became interested in creating music where people look at me when they want to, and where I can play along with the audience. (source)
Seems to fit really well with the new possible meaning of âFix onâ, doesnât it?
So yeah, what Iâm trying to say is that possibly, maybe, who knows, Mingi has realised he doesnât really need anymore to ask for people to focus on him, they do it naturally thanks to the persona he developed (and that he himself calls Fixon, just if you needed another layer of connections and meaning), to the point that entire crowds bark at him even before he asks them to. He doesnât need to beg for the spotlight anymore, he has our attention. What he needs now is not to lose himself, hence the new âFix onâ meaning.Â
(Once again, I really think the meaning of Dineroâs lyrics is extremely relevant, check this post if youâre curious about my all over the place rant about them)
I'm sorry but... was my meta post about how the meaning of Mingi's tag 'Fix on' has changed from its orignal one actually not total bullshit?
No because that's what the wall of text says:
Fixing one's gaze on the unfixed
Before the blue-toned images, we encounter not a completed figure, but the traces left behind. (MINGI BLUEPRINT) follows the gaze, sensibility, and evolving inner world of artist MINGI through images and everyday objects personally documented by him. In this exhibition, cyanotype functions as a key visual language. Originating from the blueprint process, this analog technique reveals traces of light, time, and memory through deep blue imagery.
"FIX ON' does not refer to a fixed identity. Rather, it reflects an attitude of staying connected to one's true essence amid constant movement and change. Blue-toned imagery, sound, and sensory traces scattered throughout the space overlap and connect into a continuous flow. Fragmented images and blue traces unfold the e anfold the ever-expanding world of "Artist MINGI" through a sensory experience. Visitors are invited to encounter their own authentic selves that remain unchanged through constant transformation.
Are we talking about this? Have I missed the meta? If so please redirect it to me because Mingi insisted more than once that he had his hands in everything so this feels really intentional, especially because the Dinero mv is a really meta one.
I got hit by this song and mv really hard and I still have to recover, so my head is mostly empty and only filled with vibes, but one word stuck to me since first viewing. NORMAL. The others are stereotypical, in a âok we get it youâre coolâ way, but normal (and in part empty but I donât have the brain power to go there rn) really is not what I was expecting. And still. Still it's the best word possible. He knows it. We know it. But what changed is that now heâs proud of it. Heâs not the textbook definition of normal and along the years he morphed it from a weakness to his strength and Iâm so in awe because he grew so damn much, both on a personal level and on an artistic one.
Iâm sure thereâs more to say about this bunch of secs, again, it feels really intentional, but I seem to be unable to have coherent thoughts about this song, so Iâll leave it at this.
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TLDR: Halazia, because it's not only a mv, it's a work of art, a painting in motion, an exquisite exercise in storytelling and has masterful use of metaphors and symbolism.
(Even if Guerrilla and Yeosangâs Legacy were fierce competitors for exactly the same reasons.)
Under the cut a huge rant with a bit of visual references where I try to explain why Halazia is IT.
Iâm going to try and not talk too much about how great Halaziaâs mv narrative is, how itâs like watching a whole movie in less than 5 mins, because itâs already been said tons of times. It is true tho, and the fact that it's a cinematic masterpiece really counts for something, and not only as a starting point for my rant.
I'm also not going to talk about how they opened a whole lot of new lore discourses with it, because others already said it way better than I ever could. Again, still relevant tho.
Iâm going instead to start rambling a little bit about the religious imaginary, cause, yeah, I know, itâs already been said tons of times, but itâs so well done and it ties so well into the mv storytelling (and iâm not even touching atzâs lore here, Iâm talking about the storytelling accessible to whoever simply watches the video, even without knowing shit about ATEEZ).
While you watch the mv it seems like they're creating a whole new cult? A whole new theology? Whatever, idek how to express it, but consider these:
- the bell and organ sounds and the ritual drums;
- the opening setting with the religious-like effigy procession;
- the hooded figures that reminds me of medieval monks;
- the prayer-like chanting of the chorus;Â
- the whole neon pink installation behind Hongjoong while heâs rapping resembling a votive candle stand;
- Seonghwaâs iconic shamanic possession (or whatever that is) that has his eyes rolling back inside his head;
- Yunho crossing himself (you can only see half of it in the video, but if you've watched the choreoâs practice you know);
- both Seonghwa and Hongjoong (and the scarecrow obviously) standing at some point with their arms spread like they're on a cross;
- the last dance break, that seems more like religious rapture than anything else, since itâs like theyâve been seized up by a higher power and convulsing because of itâŠ
I mean, I could go on, but I suppose you already understand what I mean.
And I purposefully said that it seems like theyâre creating a whole new cult or whatever, because in the end the message is about the exact opposite, is about abandoning the higher powers to take control back and focus on the self, so the mv is such an exercise in dichotomy, it lures you in with a false premise, the religious like procession, the bell ringing like calling you to Mass, but then it brings you towards its opposite, towards the burning of the effigy first and the taking down of the sphere in the end.
Itâs just masterful. Itâs peak narrative through metaphors use. Itâs extremely poetic. (And tbh to me, born in a hyper-chatolic country and hating how religion and religious morality inform not only my countryâs culture and society, but also its politics, is so damn satisfying.)
Leaving this aside, let's also talk about scenery, imaginary and cinematography, so the more visual components of the video.
First thing first, you can screenshot a whole bunch of frames and youâll have some beautiful painting-like shots that perfectly set the scene and the themes of the narrative.
^
I know, my bias is showing, but listen to me: in most of the shooting for the mv there are actually lots of brilliant colors, yet all those colors are purposefully washed out in post production to represent a bleak world devoid of them, so devoid of emotions. It sets the mood from the beginning, hence this particular screenshot.Â
^
Moreover if you still didn't catch up with the narrative plan, the mv gives you the perfect dystopian vibes with the city landscape and the storms raging between the rundown skyscrapers. It obviously speaks of dystopia, but it also hints at turmoil (the storms), giving you a key point toward meaning and interpretation. Plus, see the green of the rail? Should be green, but as I said...
^
Then you got chains and with them the whole symbolic system of meanings associated with them: oppression, captivity, despair and - in this context - no passion, no emotion (see the no colors above). But, since the setting is atop of a building caught in the storm, also turmoil, so a desire to escape, a yearning for freedom. (Damn, I love how much symbolism is present in this mv, it's delightful.)
^
(maybe not the best screenshot possible for this, but anyway)
Add to this the gorgeous low-angle shots from inside the mall we get through the whole mv to give it scale, showing how all of the themes the narrative is building on are so much bigger than the single individuals. Yeah, sure, the struggle starts from them, but itâs a struggle that actually invests the whole humanity.Â
^
Then there's the fact that often you can see them near light sources, but almost always facing the darkness (see the direction in which their shadows touch the ground?), so confronting it face to face. Again, if you were in doubt about where the story is going, just the visual symbolism is guiding you towards the understanding, you don't even need the subtitles for the lyrics tbh. They're going to fight the darkness, they're going to free themselves, but since they're going to free themselves from the illusory freedom coming from entrusting oneself to a higher power (of whatever kind) while forgetting about the self in doing so, of course they're not only facing the darkness, but also almost always giving their back to the light⊠it's so damn poetic and it manages to hold a killer double meaning with such visual simplicity.Â
^
So yeah, fire. Fire is charged with so much symbolism that Iâm not going to go deep with this, itâll take too much time. That said, hereâs the summary of whatâs in my mind rn: fire it's not just about sacrifice, not just about rebellion, not just about change, for it also represents persistence (since it's still burning at their back) and rebirth from destruction. This is such a complex shot in its simplicity and could be read in so many ways⊠and still is also just beautiful to look at.Â
^
Then you have the people finally taking things in their hands and bringing down the sphere. Again, a masterpiece of symbolism. I have not the words to express how much I love this mv and why but Iâm gonna try anyway. I already said it in my Day 7 entry: imho the whole The World series narrative arc message is about how our biggest enemy is not really the system and/or the higher powers (the sphere), but our own self every time it pushes us to repress or alienate our selves one way or another, so we donât really need someone to save us (i.e. the Black Pirates, represented here by the scarecrow effigy), because, in the end, we have to be the ones saving ourselves (so the burning of the scarecrow first and the taking down of the sphere then). And itâs done by the people. Sure, the focus is on San because in the end itâs still a kpop mv, but heâs not doing it alone. I already said before that itâs a struggle that actually invests the whole humanity, but here they are taking it up a notch: not only is about everyone, but we can overcome it only by working together, itâs about the power of the collective (damn if it doesnât sound like something akin to marxism and/or anarchism, gods I love them).
^
The power of this image, istg. San standing there at the end, simply watching up to the sky, the water getting still. Where did the sphere go? Did San sacrifice himself for the cause, hence the toll of the death bell as the end of the song? Is the bellâs toll for the death of "god" instead and has San become the light, so "god" itself? I personally prefer this second interpretation, especially because of what I just wrote here and also (I already said it somewhere else) because I see a lot of Nietzsche's philosophy alluded to in their works. In this particular case I'm thinking about Nietzsche's Ăbermensch, which is strongly tied to the themes of godâs death and of returning to the self and living freely not only one's life, but also one's emotions. Anyway, this ending scene leaves you with a sense of openness, of possibility and, tbh, also of persistent dread, cause the sphere hovering above them is no more, but you still donât know for sure where it went.Â
(And I'm going to talk a bit more about this pervasive sense of impending doom next, because to me itâs one of the foundational themes of the whole mv and maybe even of their lore, but who knowsâŠ)
^
So, another thing I love is the massive use of oblique camera angles (idk what the technical term is so please make do with this), to convey to the viewers a sense of unbalance and precarity and I mean, understandable if some of the themes are turmoil, rebellion and change. (I screenshotted only a bunch of them but theyâre really everywhere.)
To me, tho, they also set an undercurrent sense of danger, like they're maybe doing something they're not supposed to, like they're maybe toying with something they'd best not to (and this opens a whole rabbit hole about the interpretation of their lore, about foreshadowing - if I think about IYF diaries - and about the meaning and consequences of the creation of Sopro, like trading a "god" and external power of coercion for another one, but I'm not going to delve into that, cause it's really too much to tackle rn). Anyway, this kind of cinematography instills a really unsettling set of feelings in whoâs watching and itâs beautifully done.Â
^
Then, speaking of oblique angles, wanna talk about Yunho and the hourglass? I love this transition so much I HAD to clip it specifically for this prompt. The matching cut on the rolling tilt of Wooyoungâs hand and Yunhoâs scene inside the broken hourglass is top tier and the use of motion to convey meaning is awesome, because it enhances the message of the narrative, combining the persistent sense of unbalance present in the whole video with the concept of change (the turning of the hourglass), setting also a pivotal point in the storytelling, both visually and metaphorically. Again, masterful. Iâd really like to talk with the director and the screenwriter of this mv, cause they really did a phenomenal job and Iâd love to know their insight about it.
^
To conclude, cause this rant really has become huge as fuck, just another little notation. I really love (gods Iâm abusing this word todayâŠ) how they chose to use an abandoned mall as that which becomes a sacred space, cause - if you put atzâs lore aside for a sec (and not even that much aside tbh) - it lets you have also another level of interpretation of the mv. I mean, you know what most people worship in these times, be it corporations and/or malls and shopping? Yeah⊠letâs take them down.
A lot of their work serves to me as a reminder of the stuff I believe in and/or the stuff I'm working on to better myself, so yeah, I could say they inspire me in not giving up on both of those.Â
As usual, a lot of - I hope - mostly coherent musing about it (especially about lore!Hwa tbh) under the cut.Â
If weâre talking about the stuff I believe in and how itâs portrayed in atzâs art, I already talked about a bit of it in some of the previous prompts, especially in Day 7 (fav quote) and Day 21 (fav mv), so go check them out if you're curious, cause Iâm not going to write about it in depth again. Â
What I still have to fully tackle, instead, is the weight Seonghwa (as well as atzâs lore more in general) has for me on an emotional and personal level and in relation to my existential struggles. Then I could maybe add in the end a small final digression about some of their more âmotivationalâ songs and how much I treasure their message and find it inspiring.Â
So yeah, let's talk about Seonghwa and the lore first.
In Day 1, speaking about why he's my ult, I said that his lore persona feels to me like a big ass metaphor for Nietzsche's conflict between Apollonian and Dionysian and about how that could be also valid if used in analysing his idol persona too, so let's dive in a bit.
In Nietzsche, Apollonian basically represent the attempt (futile in N.âs opinion) humans enact trying to control what really life is (i.e irrational, chaotic, full of suffering and without any metaphysical or otherworldly meaning) by giving it rigid forms and both trying to hyper-rationalise it and giving themselves up to the care of an (artificial in N.âs opinion) higher power.Â
On the other side, Dionysian is the approach of who's able to accept life for what it is, with its overwhelming irrationality (and so overwhelming emotions), with its pains and sufferings and absence of sense. It's basically the way of the ones being able to say âyesâ to life without putting conditions to it or refusing to accept part of it.Â
Lore!Hwa imho is the perfect embodiment of this existential struggle, of the exertion of extreme control over oneself not to drown in what life is at its core, while still yearning for the freedom of the self at the same time.Â
If you think about the pivotal encounter with the dancing girl, it becomes obvious why for him the message to be free and her spontaneous dance hit so hard, it's a cry for liberation, a plea about letting go of his self imposed inhibitions, a cry that resonates from his own internal self.
Everything around me froze for a moment. The only thing I could hear was the sound of music coming from her earphones. She was moving as if nothing mattered anymore.
Common sense, rules, and this tough world didnât have power over her moves. Right this moment, my world broke along this snowy road. Something changed in me, but I stayed still and couldnât say anything.
She dropped a bracelet that had âBe Freeâ engraved on it. Ever since that day, I went to the same place at the same time.
But, she never came back. I didnât know her name or address. Just like the âBe Freeâ bracelet she wore, she freed herself away. Since then, music never sounded the same again. I can no longer distinguish the structure, code, or genre of the song. Only the lingering feeling of that day remains.
[Zero : Fever pt.1 diaries]
And yeah, music and dance have always symbolized freedom, rapture and giving free reign to emotions, just think about the bacchanalia (dedicated in Rome to the god Bacchus, who in ancient Greece is none other than - oh look - Dyonisius).  Â
Moreover, if you think about it, all of this âstruggle between two extremesâ metaphor that is at the core of lore!Hwa could also be true for idol!Hwa, since I've rarely seen someone so controlled and in control but at the same time so unhinged and chaotic.Â
Where am I going with this? I'm going back to my Day 7 entry. One of the core messages in atzâs music and lore is imho that to heal ourselves we have to accept our inner self first, especially our emotions, and that taking control means in truth to let go of it and let ourselves be free to feel (this barely scratches the surface, if you want a bit more of depth go check out that entry). Canât you see the potential parallel with Nietzsche? As I already said, Iâm obsessed with it.
And yeah, to me Seonghwa really embodies all of this, and all this discourse about control and emotions is really dear to me because it's years by now that I'm struggling with them and working on finding a balance between those two extremes so⊠so yeah, I can say atz really are inspiring me in keeping it up.Â
I could also open another huge parenthesis and talk about how and why Seonghwa (in particular, but also atz in general) is really inspiring to me in terms of gender and queerness and more in general of self acceptance, but both @thirstkanaphan and @nonon0pe have already covered those topics beautifully, so go read both of their posts instead (here and here) and give them some love.Â
So⊠on to the second topic before this gets really too long. Still related to todayâs prompt but not really Hwa-centric, I think ATEEZ have really inspiring âmotivationalâ songs in relation to the âkeep it up / donât give upâ theme. And yeah, this is true also for their more lore heavy ones, but sometimes it's good not to have to interpret layers upon layers of metaphors and lore and just listen to the lyrics.Â
I'm going to try and not be verbose here, let's just atz speak for themselves. Have a couple bites of my favorite inspiring âmotivationalâ lyrics (in no particular order).Â
â Wait, stop this
Let it happen and flow like tears
Pain's nothing
We gon' get over like no fear â
~ Still Here
â (Grow up) It won't be easy but I can't stop, oh yeah
(Row up) Out of breathe, row up, row up, row up, go faster
No matter what Iâm going my way
To the place I've dreamed of every night
Donât worry we just going our way
Don't forget we can do everything
Don't be afraid
Dreams are everywhere
Just keep going as I always have, this is my way â
~ My Way
â No matter what some people say
No matter what some people hate
No matter what the things that make you sick
Just keep it up â
~ SunriseÂ
â Sometimes, you gotta move forward
Just take it step by step
And then you'll notice
You've found your place
Hold on to your ground
Doesn't matter how
They don't even care
So then, why should you?
Don't stop believing how you got here
Hold on to that feelin'
Gonna make it far enough â
~ EnoughÂ
â If you think you're trapped
You're in that box you built yourself
I'll help you break it
And I'm gon' catch you when you fall or when you're sinking
TLDR: the extremely brief and honest answer is none, but if - for the purpose of this challenge - I have, gun to the head, to choose, Iâd say their grey versions from Aniteez in the calling pop-up.
Under the cut the usual explanation and a pseudo-meta digression (caus I really have the need to talk about it).
I donât really vibe with the companies habit of assigning mascots to kpop idols, because itâs usually one of the many ways they use to infantilize them and that is something I cannot really stand, at all. I donât particularly believe this is the case for atz (at least not for the most part), but, because of that, in the years I developed the habit to not interest myself in that kind of stuff and so I did the same with Aniteez and basically ignored them. So yeah, they're cute, but I donât really have a favorite one because I donât really know nor care about them. I can say that their recent grey versions from Aniteez in the calling pop-up is more up to my tastes than the others, but thatâs it, about Aniteez I donât really have anything else to say.
I have, though, a lot of thoughts about the new official merch from Ateezâs 8 rooms pop-up. I confess that when I saw the images I was flabbergasted, because I had no idea there was some kind of pre-Aniteez symbolic association for the members. Ofc the fact that Iâm a really recent Atiny is to blame for it, but once I discovered it I did my homeworks and after some research I can say Iâm utterly fascinated.
To my understanding some seems to be, with variable degrees, a creation by atz themselves, i.e. Yeosangâs Hehetmon and, maybe (?), Hongjoongâs tiger theme, while others seems to be something more similar to fandom assigned symbols/memes, i.e. Mingiâs squid/octopus imaginary or Wooyoungâs fox one (if Iâm wrong please educate me, I yearn to know more about this topic and instead I found almost zero info about it).
If I have to be honest, in terms of concept and aesthetic I think I like them better than Aniteez, but what I find really fascinating is whatâs behind the scenes (and yeah, I know we will never know it, but still).
I mean, when in 2024 they decided to create Aniteez why something lingered and something else not? Whatâs behind the choice of maintaining some of the symbolic associations and instead trying to rewrite some other ones after more than 5 years? Was it because of some possible negative or harmful impact on their idol image in relation to some of the symbolism that I donât know about yet? Was it because KQ and the members wanted to take control of the narrative about their idol persona, about whatâs being connected to it and possibly start a shift in it? Was something else entirely?
And even more, why go back now after just over a year from Aniteez birth? Yeah, I know, marketing, because nostalgia sells really well and theyâre still first and foremost a business, but why spend energy and resources to change the image of some of the members only to go back in such a small timeframe, even if only for the short time of the pop-up? A big chunk of the fandom (me included) is really new, so it basically had no problem with consistency in this regard and yet now they decide to create it themselves. Itâs so damn fascinating.
Does someone know anything about all of this? Does someone have some kind of theory? Iâd very much like to know if youâre willing to share.
End of the pseudo-meta rant. Cannot say Iâm sorry, cause I needed to get this out, but yeahâŠ