I will do my best to help you understand the ATEEZ storyline. A combination of my own thoughts, ideas, and observations, as well as theory channels and the general fandom’s. Here it is all compiled in one place. I wish you the best in understanding!
Dedicated to our Captain, Hongjoong.
Some key links:
ATEEZ THEORY MASTER POST
Youtube playlist
Modified Spotify version of the above
Join the Discord server!
My YouTube channel
Donate to the Polished Man Campaign
Good luck on your journey, ATINY!
*TW: A reminder that ATEEZ’s story includes mention of/themes of suicide, insanity, death and graphic violence, guns, and similar elements/themes which will be found on the blog (but rarely in detail).
**Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, this blog may not be accessible due to analysis being conveyed through images, not text, and other factors eg. Abbreviations. If you need anything further explained, put in text or voice, please send me a message.
ATEEZ Theory TidBits Ep 2 - Which positions do the members have on the ship?
So we all know that ATEEZ have a pirate storyline (duh). So, it makes sense that they would all have roles which correspond to the real roles of crew members on a ship (duh).
Some of these are obvious, but some of them, less so. How much do they mean to the storyline? Goodness knows, and probably not much, in most cases (ie. most cases excepting HJ, SH, and maybe Mingi occasionally).
But it’s still interesting to explore, as a concept, and just in general.
Some are conciously picked up by the fandom (Hongjoong being Captain) and some are more subconciously absorbed by the fandom (Yunho as second mate). The subconscious ones, like Yunho, also come at least partially from that particular members’ role in the group IRL, as the roles of the members IRL and in the storyline are purposefully matched/very similar. For instance - we see Yunho in the group as an enthusiastic and kind/pure soul who encourages and loves everyone. And in the storyline, we see him playing a large role in keeping all aspects of the ship together and running - like the ‘glue’ of the crew.
Now that I write that out, it doesn’t seem very similar at all. But we see Yunho enthusiastically pointing (metaphorically) towards the future of ATEEZ, and we also see him enthusiastically pointing (literally) towards the horizon/the Treasure/ATEEZ’s goals in the storyline.
For a perhaps easier example, Hongjoong is the Captain of the ship, and is also the leader of the group. In both situations, he is keeping everyone on task and organised, is the mediator between members and between the group and other parties, and decides the goals + how the group will reach them.
The list is currently incomplete, because, in this stage of my analysis, I will need more information to allocate a role on the crew to each member, and to have evidence to back it up. I’ll update the post as I figure out the other members. I’ll leave a summary below, if you’re looking for your bias.
Hongjoong - Captain
Seonghwa - First mate/Quartermaster
Yunho - Second mate/Sailing Master
Yeosang - Pilot/Helmsman/the dude who looks after the loot
San - Master-at-arms/Gunner
Mingi - shantyman/coxswain
Wooyoung - undetermined
Jongho - undetermined
Hongjoong and Seonghwa have pretty clearly defined roles, while Yunho, Mingi, and San are pretty easy to pick up if you stare a little. But the other three - Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Jongho, are much harder. I’m getting there slowly with them. This person on reddit assigned roles to each of the members and gave reasoning. Some of it is pretty accurate, like Seonghwa as Quatermaster, and I can certainly understand their arguments for YS, WY, and JH, but this post is based more on personality than the storyline. And I just don’t have enough evidence to assign the last three members to roles yet… especially Wooyoung. I know he likes cooking, but I don’t think he’s the cook on the ATEEZ ship.
I’m sure we’ll get there eventually. Maybe if I watch the Diay Film again…?
I’ll likely update this on my YouTube channel in the future ☺️ I seem to oscelate between TXT phases and ATEEZ phases and I’m currently in a TXT phase lol.
I miss the days when we used to get hours-long storyline anniversary concerts, but I guess they’re (thankfully) too popular for that now.
I may not post about them as much anymore, but I can assure you my love for the ATEEZ storyline is still very existent (keep an eye on my podcast for that).
It's that season again, everyone! Polished Man season, where I do my best to rally ATINYs to support this important Australian charity with a unique mode of raising awareness - inspired both by my own Aussie-ness and Hongjoong/ATEEZ's support of them.
As part of my campaign, I will match donations made to my page up to a cap of $300, and this has been decently successful for me - last year (if my memory serves correctly, which it probably does) we raised over $300 for the charity. This year, I'm back doing the same thing.
October 1st is a double donation day, which means that if you donate, Polished Man will automatically double the donation. Now, keep in mind that I will also double your donation, and my donation ALSO gets doubled, so if you donate $5, it will be increased to $20. Aka, quadrupled. Kind of crazy.
You can find my donation page below!
A painted promise to end violence against women and children
Just in case anyone had any doubts about whether Hongjoong still paints a nail for Polished Man, here is a bad screenshot showing that yes, he still does. (Fun fact: he favours his pinky finger for this. I personally favour the ring finger which is also the primary symbol of the campaign, but I also switch to pinky and pointer fingers occasionally).
Hush Hush was a very interesting music video, but it's not ATEEZ storyline related (although it did have a similar aesthetic), so I won't be discussing it.
I had no clue who BE:FIRST were, and even after reading their profiles I'm not sure why they and ATEEZ did a collaboration, but it was definitely interesting.
Just for funsies - here’s my nail right now. I coincidentally matched with Joong.
It’s Polished Man season again! As usual, I will be doubling your donations, and, since Polished Man themselves are doubling donations until the 30th June, your donation could be quadrupled! Even the smallest donations can add up!
Polished Man is an Australian charity that aims to reduce and prevent violence against women and children worldwide.
Here is my campaign page;
A painted promise to end violence against women and children
Yet another ATEEZ music video released while I'm at work - love it....
Another thing I'm not keen on is the song itself. I haven't been super impressed with several of ATEEZ's new title tracks, musically. Luckily for ATEEZ, I don't really follow them for their actual music (although it is a shame that the newer stuff hasn't been my style). I'm especially unimpressed with the chorus, which reminds me of a combination of Australia's anthem, Down Under, and Bills, neither of which I am super keen on... I know ATEEZ's recent comebacks have been less serious, but... this just doesn't suit them in my opinion.
Luckily for them, their performance skills stand up, regardless of the quality of the music.
This MV is definitely more of a filler one - it has a lot of ATEEZ motifs and follows the story from the previous MVs, but doesn't add much else. I don't have that much to say about it, but let me say it anyway! Full analysis below the line.
So this music video seems to be mostly a lot of motifs to show that ATEEZ are becoming more and more successful, and that, through hard work, they will become even more so.
We can see this through the copious amounts of money they make, the copious amounts of work (or more like party-work) that they do, and through the MV showcasing signs like the Billboard sign. Seonghwa riding the ostrich at the beginning is another example of this - he has many different country flags in his bag, showing the many places ATEEZ have gone and will go.
This music video also continues thematics that originated with Dont Stop - first, the cowboy concept and 'Wild West,' which has ties to the anarchy that they're trying to create in the oppressive world of Strictland (omg change the name please ATEEZ I'm begging you). See my Bouncy analysis for the Wild West stuff.
We also get what I presume is the extension of the drug dealing in Bouncy and the heists in Don't Stop - the expansion of ATEEZ's business empire, which they will use to take over the world with partying and music.
I don't think there's anything super interesting visually story-wise which would require screenshots - Jongho being in the ground is a fun gag that shows how ATEEZ are fun, how they can literally work themselves into the ground, and is possibly a reference to Down Under, which has a man in the desert playing a flute-like instrument.
I mean, this is the only thing that I am aware of that it could be referencing, and this song is pretty famous as far as I know, and suits ATEEZ's themes well, but if you think it referenced something else, let me know.
The animals (mostly birds) vibing along to the song continues the animal imagery from Bouncy and other songs - even the animals will party along to ATEEZ's music, and of course, we have the golden eggs and the blessed hens which lay them - a symbol of wealth and also good fortune.
There's also the general outback imagery which contributes to the idea of the wild west, the office that Yunho and Yeosang occupy which shows work, sophistication, possibly some shady dealings, and so on. And the Motels show travel, which they are of course doing for their literal jobs.
I do like the scene with Hongjoong and Mingi looming over a city and showering down so much money that a money monster appears.
But it doesn't really have much deeper meaning as far as I can see - like, even if we consider it in relation to the Strictland storyline, it just shows that their presence looms over the city, and that they have tons of influence, perhaps even more than the Guardians and the government who occupy the tallest building.
Interestingly, as far as I can see, Hongjoong's armband doesn't appear in any of the scenes in the music video, although he does have his usual coat and cane.
The rest of the vide is just things we've seen before - the cars dance because the power of ATEEZ is so strong that even inanimate objects will work. The 'game over' screen when Hongjoong falls out of the car is reminiscent of the comic scenes in the Crazy Form MV... I just... did not find this music video particularly interesting or compelling. It doesn't feel like it has high production values, and it feels a little like it's trying to milk the virality and success of other music videos like Bouncy - but it just doesn't have what Bouncy does :( I can't even find any exciting Easter eggs or story tidbits in the props - like even the newspaper Yunho holds doesn't seem to be anything exciting. And although I'm sure they meant something by Seonghwa coming out of the egg, I'm not sure what, and I can't think of any potential storyline references.
Anyway, moving on to something that I was generally more happy with;
Lyric Analysis
Most of the lyrics are pretty standard and expected from this kind of song - about how cool and hardworking ATEEZ are and how successful they will be in the future. But there are some interesting things to note/ATEEZ lyrical motifs;
San saying that when he makes a move, the Guardians follow him.... like? Hello? What a massive potential storyline drop in the middle of this causal line. The reason this is weird is because there isn't really any other potential meaning of 'Guardians' here that makes sense that isn't the Guardians in the fencing masks. And it makes sense that those Guardians would follow them when they make a move, since, well, the Guardians are hunting them.
The Real is referenced in Hongjoong's rap - since they are the Real people, ie. genuine
Bright and blinding lights
Burning
Everyone dancing and getting involved
Everyone being unified as one humanity
Being unique and individual (this makes sense since in Strictland people can't be individuals)
Time
Fun fact, the phrase they say in the prechorus that I assume is in Spanish (Ganso que pone huevos de oro) apparently translated to 'goose that lays the golden eggs' or something similar - which, yeah, that makes sense, considering the music video.
Conclusions
It was pretty filler imo. It continued a lot of motifs from previous MVs and stories, but it didn't do anything unique or special itself, except for bury Jongho.
That said, it does seem to be building up to something where ATEEZ get power - a bit like a training montage - so my current prediction is that the next comeback is super storyline-heavy and super Gothic - because ATEEZ can (thankfully for me, based on their track record0 never stay away from the Gothic for long.
I mean, WORK is catchy - but so is almost any song that has a repetitive chorus.
ATEEZ's first Golden Hour album, starting their fourth album series! As expected, continuing their crazy-actually-insane-chilli-drug-dealing-cowboy-pirate-anarchist concept/storyline from THE WORLD. Interestingly, Hongjoong's captain armband didn't appear in any of their music video teasers.
The final THE WORLD album, which, of course, continued, and in some ways concluded the story we saw in THE WORLD eps 1 and 2. It's still a bit ambiguous if this story itself is supposed to be separate from or part of the story in FEVER - there's evidence to point in both directions. But either way, they are still chilli-drug-dealing insane anarchists who love music.
This was also ATEEZ's first album to include unit/duo/solo songs (depending on the member). These songs all had MVs released with them, so that gives extra opportunity for analysis!
It also included a Part 2 track to what is probably one of my favourite ATEEZ tracks of all time - Crescent - which you know I loved to see, lore-wise, but which also, sonically, brought us nicely back to the realm of pirates - again, my favourite aspect of ATEEZ.
Thank you so much for including me! Im delighted to be known in the world ☺️🥳
I’m not satisfied with my current lore knowledge in the scheme of ATEEZ’s massive universe - it’s very complex and detailed and I actually think they’ve retconned things/changed focus several times. My account is here to help!
But as a film student I can definitely point to media that inspired them, and cinematography choices, genre etc! I have plenty of ATEEZ stuff planned in the future (largely videos on my YouTube so subscribe for that!!) 🥳🥳🥳 everyone must know the wonders of Treasure Ep3!
At the end of the day, their storyline is an art piece, and art is subjective, so enjoy it at your pleasure!
ATEEZ are slowly drifting more and more towards dystopian anarchy and away from fantasy gothic pirates. And although the story is still the same and I do love my dystopian stuff…. Gothic pirates are just far superior.
My Polished Man campaign is still up and taking donations! Over the past two months, I received $31 in donations which I have doubled, as promised.
Polished Man and ygap give international aid to children and women experiencing violence, and with all the conflict in the world right now, Polished Man exists to remind people of the 1 child dying every minute in the world from violence.
In October, the Polished Man Campaign encourages people to paint one nail blue to spark up important and powerful conversations and raise aw
ATEEZ’s concerts lately seem to be either ‘blockbuster musical’ or ‘strip club’ and I’m very nervous because I really, REALLY want to see them, but my ace self would actually combust if I had to watch the latter. I would die of second hand cringe.
In other news, the former seems to be portraying Seonghwa as a fallen angel… what’s the chance Joong wrote that part of the story? (Probably not that high, but he IS involved in the story).
Lol what if ATEEZ’s whole storyline is just a cover for Seongjoong? As in the group pretends Joong is kind of in charge of and knowledgeable about the story, then the story centres Hwa, so all the platonic soulmate shippers like myself (or even the hard romantic ones) go all giggly, but it was just a front and the producers the whole time…
