The song has a ridiculous number of translation differences and juxtapositions in its verses. As you’ll see later, my analysis hand also had A LOT to say about it.
I can’t say much about it in terms of the storyline and my storyline playlist - I haven’t quite made it around to placing it yet.
The song itself focuses on the idea of home and togetherness, vs loneliness and being away from home (as the title suggests). Home is a place where we can grow and learn how to chase our goals before we head out into the world. It is a place of safety, togetherness, and comfort, which is of extreme importance in this song. I find this interesting - we’ve never had any mention of ATEEZ’s home before, whether it be HALAteez or Treasureteez. Treasureteez seemed to spawn like video game characters in the centre of the desert with their beliefs and goals fully-formed, while HALAteez have the Diary Film, which only suggests ‘home’ for a few members - most notably Yeosang (who lacks on) and Yunho (who loses the one person who makes his home home).
So I think I’ll either need a few more albums and storyline updates, or to rewatch the Diary Film before I can understand the relevance of ‘home’ in this track.
Full lyric analysis below the line.
Take Me Home
This verse is also translated as; ‘Trapped in the suffocating darkness and wandering around, falling down. All sides are blocked, I can’t even choose the direction, which scares me. I get more and more scared as time passes.’
The first two lines of this verse are also, ‘not a single person here looks at me.’
The first line of the second verse here is also ‘Somebody takes me home’ which is interesting, because it’s more telling a story than pleading.
The third line is also translated as, ‘That place I dream of every night,’ and the last line ‘place in our memories’ is also translated as, ‘place in my memory.’
This verse has an unusually large amount of juxtaposition, even for this song. I’m not surprised, knowing Joong and how he likes to shove as much meaning and storyline into his verses as possible (and we know he is involved in writing his verses). I wonder what the point of this was. Is it two versions of Joong fighting with each other Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness Wanda-style? Or is it Joong having conflicting thoughts on his actions? Or just another example of him going insane?
Honestly, all of them are compelling ideas.
The fifth and sixth lines of this verse are also, ‘Is it a small comfort from you? I’ll escape this place and go inside my dream.’
‘With warm eyes’ is also, ‘with the gaze that’s not cold’ and ‘if we share’ is ‘when we share,’ which is, obviously, much more certain. It’s not a matter of if we share our dreams, it’s a matter of when. The last line is also translated as ‘we go back to that place,’ which makes it sound like they are either on the journey, or have reached home, while the original translation makes it seem like they are just planning/proposing to go back.
Joong is shoving the juxtaposition into everything he does here, idn’t he?
Conclusions
While I’m not a fan of this type of music, I can definitely agree with this person who thinks that it should have been the title track of the album... only, for different reasons.
I couldn’t really tell you much about what it means, which is probably an issue, considering telling you what all of this means is what I have made my job, but I can tell you that there are a lot of very cool linguistic and storytelling features chilling in this song, and I like that a lot.
6. Good Lil Boy (LYRICS + ENGLISH TRANSLATION) WITH CONTEXT!
Behind story: As Hongjoong said in his Hong Night VLive, he was bored in the dorm and decided to watch their performances on Youtube, and watched one in Dallas where they all did the "Yeehaw". And while watching the video, he suddenly thought it would be nice to have a horse riding/cowboy styled song for the album (because the album would be released in the summer). He thought it would be nice to have a song that could have a MV with a horse riding scene, that’s why he wrote Good Lil Boy.
달려라 달려
Run, run
더 빠르게
Faster
숨이 턱까지 차오른다
Until your breathing quickens
달려라 달려
Run, run
겁먹지 말고 앞만 보고 달려가
Don’t chicken out, just look ahead and run
Hey, little boy
Why you look down?
똑바로 봐
Look straight
부릅뜨고
Open your eyes and
같은 배경에 속지 마라 더 강해져야 해
Don’t be fooled by a similar surronding, you have to be stronger
세상은 바보가 아니야
The world isn’t a fool
총알이 탕
A bullet’s “bang”
가시는 픽
A thorn’s “pick”
번개가 팡
A lightning’s “pang”
바람은 휙
A wind’s “woosh”
Everything is just a moment baby
정신 꽉 붙잡아라 baby
Hold on tight to your senses, baby
아리고 따가운 바람 속에 (Hey, little boy)
In a stinging and hot wind (Hey, little boy)
부딪혀 찢기는 게 삶이야
It’s a life of being bumped into and torn
신발 끈 조여 매고
Tightening my shoelaces and
거칠 것도 없이
Without difficulty
세상을 내 것처럼 다
The entire world will be like my own thing
두 주먹 꽉 쥐고
With both fists clenched and
두려울 것도 없이 no more
Without any fear, no more
나를 봐 good little boy
Look at me, good little boy
Oh (Hands up, hands up)
Get ready for a new day
We gon’ ride
Oh (Hands up, hands up)
지금부터야 나를 봐 good little boy
From now own look at me, good little boy
틀어진 세상에 울리는 bell
A bell ringing in the wrong world
힘 빡 주고 달려갈게
I will run with all my strenght
어쩌면 이곳은 캄캄한 스릴러
Maybe this place is a dark thriller
그러기에 올라온 우리의 트레일러
That’s why our trailer was released
Do do
따가운 비
A hot rain
발밑에 비친 내 모습과 빛
My reflection and my light reflected under my feet
틀린 팔자 돌려 무한대로 넘어 바꿔낸 뫼비우스의 띠
The Möbius strip that turned the wrong destiny into something beyond infinity
NOTE: The Möbius strip, also called the twisted cylinder, is a one-sided surface with no boundaries. It looks like an infinite loop (or the infinity symbol). Like a normal loop, an ant crawling along it would never reach an end, but in a normal loop, an ant could only crawl along either the top or the bottom - that doesn’t happen with the Mobius strip because it is one sided so the ant would be crawling in both the top and bottom part in a single stretch.
그래 착하게 사는 거
Yeah, being nice
정해진 길 따라가는 거
Following a set path
1부터 10을 다 아는 거
Knowing everything from 1 to 10
그게 뭔데
What’s up with that?
너의 기준은 바로 너
Your standard is only you
아리고 따가운 바람 속에 (Hey, little boy)
In a stinging and hot wind (Hey, little boy)
부딪혀 찢기는 게 삶이야
It’s a life of being bumped into and torn
신발 끈 조여 매고
Tightening my shoelaces and
거칠 것도 없이
Without difficulty
세상을 내 것처럼 다
The entire world will be like my own thing
두 주먹 꽉 쥐고
With both fists clenched and
두려울 것도 없이 no more
Without any fear, no more
나를 봐 good little boy
Look at me, good little boy
Oh (Hands up, hands up)
Get ready for a new day
We gon’ ride
Oh (Hands up, hands up)
지금부터야 나를 봐 good little boy
From now own look at me, good little boy
조금 더 크면 다 알 거야
You’ll know when you grow up a little
지겨워 그런 말들도
I’m tired of those words too
Why should I know that I don’t want it
지금을 누릴 거야 난
I’m going to have a hell of a moment now
우리가 간다 우리는 가
We’re coming, we’re going
말리지 마라 말리지 마
Don’t stop us, don’t stop
우리가 간다 우리는 가
We’re coming, we’re going
말릴 테면 말려보던가
If you’re going to stop us, try to stop us
우리가 간다 우리는 가
We’re coming, we’re going
말리지 마라 말리지 마
Don’t stop us, don’t stop
세상은 바보 아니고 바보
The world isn’t a fool, fool
우리가 바보 아 몰라 그냥 가
We’re fools. Ah, I don’t know. Just go.
신발 끈 조여 매고
Tightening my shoelaces and
거칠 것도 없이
Without difficulty
세상을 내 것처럼 다
The entire world will be like my own thing
두 주먹 꽉 쥐고
With both fists clenched and
두려울 것도 없이 no more
Without any fear, no more
나를 봐 good little boy
Look at me, good little boy
Oh (Hands up, hands up)
Get ready for a new day
We gon’ ride
Oh (Hands up, hands up)
지금부터야 나를 봐 good little boy
From now own look at me, good little boy
Ateez teaser reminded me of that time before D-2 dropped when we were all debating whether it was yoongi or jk in the teaser pics. Now it’s like I’m seeing hongjoong but what if, idk, it is a trap and it turns out to be seonghwa lol
Released with the FEVER: Epilogue album, December 2021.
As soon as I gave the lyrics a brief glance-over, I knew this would be an interesting one. Not only are the lyrics very poignant and fit perfectly with the atmosphere created by the album, but they also fit PERFECTLY with the MV and the previous statements I made about it and its position in the storyline. The song has a particular finality to it, and we can see clear links to previous ATEEZ and HALAteez motifs, as well as to the songs directly before it (’Not Too Late’ and ‘The Real’) and directly after it (’Precious’, ‘Outro: Over The Horizon’ and ‘Treasure’).
It perfectly summarises the HALAteez story and prepares us for the end of their time as the protagonists of it. It includes several references to the cyclical nature of the story, the time motif, and the metafictive aspects of it. It ackowledges that we have finally reached the point of ‘too late’, and leads into the lyrics of ‘Precious’.
The translation that I used for this one did not differ from the original translation I had. Additionally, I have found some small differences in phrasing between verses at the beginning and end of the song. I am unsure if this was intended by ATEEZ/Edenary, or if this was an error of transation, since the Korean language used was open to interpretation. So, while I have pointed out these differences and what they could mean, please keep in mind that there may not be a difference at all, and that it certainly may not be as complex and deep in meaning as I have suggested.
I have noticed some interesting lines by most of the members, which I will discuss when I get there. Of course, Wooyoung, hongjoong, and Mingi have some interesting details, but Mingi, San and Seoghwa’s lines make me think of particular things after the ‘The Real: Heung Ver’ MV was released. Yunho’s also reminds me of his poistion in ‘Deja Vu’. Unfortunately, as always, Jongho gets unspecific chorus lines, and Yeosang has a disappointing lack of lines in general.
So, either the song has next to no meaning, or it has a ridiculous amount of meaning and I am just scratching the surface. It’s proably the second, but, knowing ATEEZ, we may never know.
Full lyric analysis below the line.
‘Turbulence’
So, at this point I do notice that Wooyoung is talking about the darkess, as if he is opposing it, which suits his character in the story. Additionally, Mingi mentions the rough wind, which is a symbol of the desert they began their journey in, and which he often mentions.
Seonghwa uses dehumanising language to talk about the members, which is a little odd and not what I would expect from him. My only guess really is that, since he is connected to Hongjoong, he sees the situation in a far more removed way, and can see the dangers of the path they will take.
Whereas San, in contrast to Seonghwa, uses includive and humanising language to say the same thing. This could have been a translation error, but if it wasn’t, I thik this is because San is friends with/allied with Wooyoung, so both ae working to heal the rift that Hongjoong caused in the universe.
This reinforces my idea that HALAteez/the ATEEZ that are in the FEVER series are kind of living on two timelines at once - the original timeline which made Hongjoong go crazy, and the timeline when he tried to fix everything that went wrong, but it didn’t work. The two run simultaneously, and both lead to the beginning of the Treasureteez story. But, only kind of. Let me explain.
I’ll discuss further in a later post, but the FEVER era songs include both elements that are clearly the first time that something has happened to HALAteez (eg. ‘Good Lil’ Boy’ and ‘THANXX’ talking about them growing up). But they also include songs that have both original aspects, and aspects of the repeated timeline which Hongjoong created. ‘Turbulence’ is an example of this, as it includes both references to the FIRST end of the HALAteez journey (and must fulfill this role anyway, as otherwiseno other song would), but also includes mention of the division between Hongjoong and Wooyoung after Hongjoong’s actions - where Hongjoong keeps trying to find the Treasure, and Wooyoung tries to stop him to find the Treasure TOGETHER, and to heal the universe.
In which case, it is entirely possible that ‘Turbulence’ IS the end of the story, but the metaficitive nature of the storyline leads to it including explicit foreshadowing to later events. In this way, the song shows both the original timeline and the later timeline, at the same time (kind of), both simultaneously leading to the Treasureteez timeline (kind of).
Sorry for the tangent, let’s get back to the analysis.
Here, hwoever was translating just cleared up the meaning of Hongjoong’s line by writing it as ‘The world looked down on from a high place does frighten me’, which has the same meaning, it just expresses it better.
I also wanted to mention Mingi’s last line. I love this line. It is perfectly balanced, and could be easil overlooked, but could also hold so many connotations. As a member of HALAteez, he rcognises the end of his journey (which is, of course, metafictive). Additionally, he describes HALAteez finding their ANSWER, the end of their journey of youth (a key theme, but especially for HALAteez). We have seen them find their ANSWER before - it was set up in the ‘Answer’ MV as they sat with their Treasureteez counterparts, and was finalised in the ‘Answer’ Kingdom stage as they sacrificed themselves for their successors to find the Treasure.
So the line literally sums up the HALAteez journey after the end of the song. It’s not a fun journey, but it is the end of one nonetheless.
Again, there seem to be a lot of differences in ATEEZ’s songs between whether they ‘can’, ‘should’, or ‘must’ do something. I am still unsure if these differences are intentional or not, but I feel they shouldn’t be overlooked, so I will continue to take them at face value and analyse them as they are.
Another difference between can/should/must.
Conclusions
Very interesting sog with very important lyrics, especially so if all of the slight differences in phrasing throughout, and which members say them, are correct. Has an important position in the storyline and confirms a lot of my previous theories. Additionally, the MV is a perfect fit for it.
Can definitely take you down some storyline rabbit-holes, though.
