Golden Hour Part: 3 Lemond Drop and Album
I have some bad news. Since The Golden Hour Series’ beginning, Ateez changed the pattern about their diaries. Diaries used to cover the stories between music videos or add some little details that wouldn’t change the meaning of the Music videos.
But with the Golden Hour Series, they started to go parallel with music videos. Like in Work we can see they are becoming adults and other details, just like how we see the meeting in Yeosang’s mansion in Ice On M mv.
But it changed with this album. They no longer have the same keys in diary and music videos.
So let’s first check the diary that doesn’t connect to somewhere we know for now:
In the diary, we first see the red Sopro talking to itself. It wakes up in a world where it is the only being. But one day, the things around it start to warm up. And then, it enters someone. So the Joy emerges.
– What happens here is that Sopro awakens for the first time when Wooyoung uses it, and because it's being used, it enters through Wooyoung’s mouth to inside his body. Perhaps the situation I mentioned in Ice on My Teeth, where someone holds a diamond in their mouth and they are searching for the diamond, represents Sopro entering the body of its user.
After that day, everyone began to feel like Wooyoung. The members kept expressing how they thought like Wooyoung and how they wanted to be by his side.
Wooyoung and the members had started meeting again. Right after the eventful day when they celebrated the release of Hongjoong’s second book, Hongjoong had a signing book event.
And that day, Wooyoung joined the event, and right then, something happened between Hongjoong and a reader.
Tomato juice had been spilled on the book that was handed over to be signed, and some of it splashed onto Hongjoong as well.
Hongjoong brushed it off with a little laugh as if it were nothing. It was natural for him to act friendly during such an event, but instead of apologizing, the reader laughed and made a joke, saying "Hahaha" to Hongjoong. Just as Wooyoung was about to intervene, San also started laughing and stopped him.
Why was everyone so full of joy?
It was as if Wooyoung had been unknowingly left out of something. As he looked around to understand what was going on, he saw his reflection in the glass — his laughing face.
After feeling confused and worried, Wooyoung went to the bathroom, where Sopro came out of him. Shortly after, it entered San.
Wooyoung decided to take them both to where Seonghwa is.
But no matter where he went, everyone was the same. As if they were in a trance. No one found this situation strange. Just when Wooyoung was wondering what he could do, a page from a book came out of his pocket and into his hand.
It was a page from Hongjoong’s book, the one that had tomato juice spilled on it — the book that recorded Hongjoong’s memories from World Z. This page gave Wooyoung an idea. In World Z, the members had stopped with the influence of Z’s chant, which lulled people’s minds like a lullaby, by reminding them of old memories.
And so Sopro came out of San in a bigger and redder form. It kept growing. But then it vanished and entered the printing factory manager’s. The man stopped laughing — and so did everyone else.
Sopro actually possessed its own emotions but also interacted with the body it entered. Once it left its own shell, it sought new ones to inhabit.
While the members were trying to understand what was happening, suddenly the people around them began to cry. They realized this was because Sopro had entered the printing factory manager, and they started searching for him. Along the way, they slowly reached Jongho’s studio.
Yeosang was also there. His emotionless gaze reminded them of the look he had in the energy capsule they left him in on Android Island during Fever Series.
Seeing Yeosang like this made Wooyoung finally understand why Yeosang didn’t want to set out on a new journey. Yeosang just wanted to be free.
When Wooyoung and the others entered Jongho’s studio, Jongho seemed completely normal. The reason was that Jongho had been listening to ATEEZ songs at that moment. Realizing that this worked, they immediately let Yeosang listen to the songs as well. Life returned to Yeosang’s eyes. Of course, as soon as Yeosang woke up, he immediately understood what Wooyoung had done.
But their priority was to reach Yunho and Mingi.
According to the legend told by Left Eye, Sopro was a spirit born from Halazia’s breath. 灵 (Ling / Spirit)
It wasn’t a stone or a battery — it was a soul. A spirit with a Will inside.
In fact, it resembles ATEEZ’s alter egos quite a bit. All this red light, the heat, the rebirth — yes, very similar.
But what was that? The famous model Mingi’s entire social media posts had been erased.
After this shocking diary, there was just one question on my mind: Can Halazia truly be the Ateez in the 4rd dimension? The Ateez of the Strictland. Because all Sopro seems to be their alter ego like flames.
You know that they have many signs to show their existence like, thunders and rain, blooming flowers, red lights and flames, glitches, electronic vocals and also pearls. Just like the one on the teaser.
—------------------------------------------------
Before just deep diving into the new album’s music video and lyrics, just as a quick reminder, here's why alter egos returned in the previous album.
Just how Man on Fire and Selfish Walts are quite opposite, Ateez’s been in a conflict, do they want to go again in an adventure or is it too late, if any emotions are left inside them in this adult world, when they go back to their own world after saving the Strictland.
Even so, they melt the ice in Ice on My Teeth.
Just as I mentioned how they started to have fun till sunrise in the Estimation video, the new album takes part right at that moment.
Ateez’s alter egos slowly awakes and they finally start to have fun.
With the album’s title track “Lemon Drop,” they once again see only Halateez, just like in Eternal Sunshine.
Previously, especially in Scene 1: Value, I mentioned how Halateez seemed to be watching them from the inside, much like in the Treasure Series, which was evident from the sounds of a TV and a cassette tape being inserted. Based on this, we can now say that “Lemon Drop” is actually a dialogue, much like Pirate King and other similar songs.
Speaking of Pirate King, that song too hinted that they were companions on a journey. Interestingly, in “Lemon Drop,” we don’t see their alter egos who claim to be their complete opposites—at least, not in the diary.
Perhaps the moments when they are celebrating, raising their glasses in joy, will be shown in a later part of the diary. Most likely, the upcoming album will be an Epilogue, especially now that we clearly see the direct connection between this song and the single album “Birthday.” I’ll show more about where this album fits and what we might encounter in the future later in the thread.
When the emotions inside them are reignited, those electronic vocals I’ve missed so much return. But unfortunately, I don’t have a clear answer about what exactly they’re saying. Similarly, we once again witness the harmony within ATEEZ through the lightning and rain motifs. And around the ending of the mv, we see them directly. Of course, like in Guerrilla, ATEEZ is simply changing outfits—the control is still in their hands.
Besides, I was planning to make a video about the “In Your Fantasy” tour, and the newly released teaser has the perfect timing for it. I expect this tour to depict the early days when ATEEZ felt like they were in a dream, disconnected from reality after their fever came back.
So, it’s highly likely that we’ll see elevators, E.S.C, or other-worldly themes appear again in this concert.
The last thing I can say about “Lemon Drop” is that, just like in Birthday, Yunho stands apart from the others. It’s as if he’s left to follow his own path and do something on his own.
Masterpiece
In this song, they mainly talk about colors. They describe how the emotions that had dulled in the world of alter egos and adulthood return—and with them, so do the colors.
We learn from Mingi’s rap part that ATEEZ describes the world they’re in as cold and dark.
Maybe the “masterpiece” they mention is actually their true, best version of themselves.
Maybe the “masterpiece” they mention is actually their true, best version of themselves.
Now This House Ain’t a Home
In this song, we clearly see the presence of the alter egos, who never really left them and are still somewhere out there, waiting to be their companions again.
Just like before, the person inside them is the one who brings about their escape from this cold and dark world.
As I hoped to see in the song, they decide that the world they are currently in is not the one they desire, and so they set off toward a new castle.
Castle
Just like how it signals that Halateez has now stopped watching the film in the cassette, we see the tape rewind.
In “Enough,” ATEEZ talked about flying away like birds in search of an undiscovered world where they could be together. In this song, that idea is expressed in more detail: the place they are about to find is a castle. Since the lyrics say “we,” we understand once again that they are together with their alter egos.
"Let’s hide here, close your eyes and make a wish” — this part, in particular, should sound familiar. In my prediction video, I mentioned how the released poster included the members’ birthdays and that many other clues seemed to culminate in the Birthday MV.
It now feels like instead of the moonlight, ATEEZ will follow the light of a star drifting across the sky toward the beautiful world they’re about to reach. They say they want to protect “her” from sadness. Maybe we really are inching closer to the princess in the castle. And perhaps that’s why “Blind” is not just a song about ATEEZ returning to their own world under the moonlight—it’s actually a song that belongs right here and now. After all, we already know it will be part of the upcoming tour.
Since we mentioned Birthday…
Now we can take a look at how the Birthday album connects to other songs and lyrics.
"Sunrise and till the sunrise” — in this song, much like “Enough,” ATEEZ becomes birds and flies away. We also learn that one of the children wants to see angels.
Thanks to the diary entries, we now understand the reason behind the laughter that resembles a joker’s smile.
Instead of Halateez, who once claimed to be reborn, now we hear of Sopro’s rebirth, a character who resembles them almost like a decalcomania. Maybe Sopro too shows himself through thunder, who knows?
Aside from that, as you know, in this song — where we see many familiar symbols related to alter egos — we now see them having a party. To me, the most unifying moment is when they say they are drowning, just like how we saw the members in an elevator in Lemon Drop.
The angels we hear about in this song and in Blind may also be related to ATEEZ’s new plush character. Because Aniteez, who started a new journey, now seems to have been left behind.
And finally, it looks like Yunho will probably leave the others to do something on his own.
In the song “Forevermore” from the same album, we hear that the sky turns red and everything is dyed in his color. In the MV, Yunho literally paints the sky. They also say that even after centuries, they will protect him.
In the diary, they mention Halazia and their enemies, and the meaning of the blue bird, which still belongs to them, remains a mystery. But when Seonghwa reunites with them, lightning strikes, and the only thing left behind is the Be Free bracelet. Be Free was the phrase written on a bracelet left to Seonghwa by a girl—and ATEEZ used that same phrase in Crazy Form to awaken people. And in the Epilogue teaser, that girl acted as if she didn’t really belong there.
She also seems to have sided with the Black Fedoras during the first uprising. It was already clear—even back in Inception—that she was the treasure they were searching for. She’s the girl who, unlike the Black Fedoras, didn’t help them.
She could be one of the Halazia priests, or maybe from Halazia itself. There isn’t much confirmed about her yet.
But since I’ve been calling her Atiny from the very beginning, it makes sense that she’s the one who can see Atiny’s heart, or even see Sopro. Still, the meaning of the blue bird remains a puzzle.
For years, I didn’t include “Dreamers” in the storyline because of its anime theme and my lack of knowledge about Digimon. But now, it seems like Dreamers is starting to make its presence known. In that song too, they talk about protecting “her,” and we see cubes that look like empty Sopros.
With the rainbow motif that appears after the rain, we can now say that this song is also connected to Lemon Drop.
Maybe, in their journey beyond the horizon, in search of a new world, ATEEZ may meet a version of someone who’s not just their alter ego—but someone else’s. Perhaps a dream, or perhaps a fantasy.
