ATEEZ is nominated for Best Male Group, Best Stage Presence, Best Male Dance Performance (for BOUNCY), Best Electronic Song (for BOUNCY), Best Concept (for their Outlaw concept for BOUNCY) and Best Special Performance (for San’s Warrior Performance) and Best Album (for THE WORLD EP.2: OUTLAW). Support ATEEZ in these categories and your other favourite acts by clicking here to vote today.
Ending this past week was ATEEZ with their latest comeback – Crazy Form and their second studio album, The World EP.Fin: Will. The group first unveiled their new song on the MAMA Awards stage earlier in the week before dropping the music video and album release on Friday. This comeback follows on from the group June 2023 comeback – BOUNCY (K-HOT CHILLI PEPPERS) and their 11th mini-album, THE WORLD EP.2: OUTLAW.
After a string of powerful, intense and what some describe as noisy dance tracks, Crazy Form takes a step back from all of that. Crazy Form still has that ATEEZ vibe to it, just without that chaos that the noise, powerful and intensity brought when combined together. While it is just the first release without all of that, I already miss all of that and wished that Crazy Form went all out like its predecessors. There are some good moments, namely in the verses of Crazy Form that does give the song potential. The delivery had a sense of playfulness and rhythm to it, which I quite liked. The rapping doesn’t let down even though the step back on the instrumental front. And JONGHO’s soaring vocals and YEOSANG and YUNHO’s deep in the final moments of the pre-chorus that launches us into the chorus heightens the song. Unfortunately, the chorus is what makes Crazy Form feel flat. The lack of a punchy and blastful background for the chorus actually frustrates me, as the incline in the pre-chorus towards Crazy Form‘s centrepiece alludes to a bombastic and energetic chorus. What we get also isn’t even an anti-drop. It is like the producers forgot to hit the gas for the chorus. I don’t care for the melodies and the hooks suffers from the lack of energy. The only other promising aspect was the ending, when Crazy Form gets chanty and shouty, which brings Crazy Form to a very satisfying end. But all of that is let down thanks to a weak chorus, that I am not feeling this time around.
From what I can see in this video (and taking into account what has happened previously in this THE WORLD trilogy), the group is in its final phase of its rebellion that it has been building since the events in the Guerrilla music video. They just need to install their devices (produced by YUNHO and WOOYOUNG) around the city to illuminate an image of their pirate ship in the sky. The other members aid by distracting and taking out a few hurdles along the way that could impede on their mission. And in the end, the group succeeds with the pirate ship illumination (which is a nod to their ‘Pirate King’ start) and takes over the city in the end. I am going to assume that the shots with the city in the background is a celebration of their success, with pairs with their celebration under the water sprinklers at the bar.
The choreography is good, but it isn’t a standout in comparison to their past works (such as BOUNCY (K-HOT CHILLI PEPPERS), which earned a nomination for Best Male Dance Performance (Group) in the 2023 Kpop Review Awards). The best part of the routine for me was the sequence at the end where the song turned shouty. The rush that the song exuded was captured well into the choreography.
Song – 7/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.7/10
Author: kpopreviewed from kpopreviewed.com