Ateez for ‘Golden Hour: Half.3.’ Photograph: courtesy of KQ Leisure.
Ateez’s exchange center single, “Lemon Drop,” deviates from the group’s standard sound, buying and selling in a few of its signature depth and darkness for a vibrant, summer-ready groove that blends hip-hop and R&B. However right here’s the factor: Ateez isn’t abandoning their type; they’re simply leveling up. As band member Hongjoong revealed in a latest press convention, courtesy of Korea JoongAng Daily, this new path is extra about “diversification than a discontinuation of the band’s type.”
“Lemon Drop” is the lead single off Ateez’s comeback album and twelfth EP, Golden Hour: Part.3, the following chapter of their tremendous profitable Golden Hour sequence. With Half.1 cinching the second spot on the Billboard 200 and Half.2 topping it with its title observe “Ice on My Enamel,” this new music units the stage for a formidable return.
The band’s tryst with summer season songs isn’t new. Their 2019 launch “Wave,” was a breezy seaside tune drenched within the emotional tides of ups and downs. “Lemon Drop,” in distinction, embodies the uncooked power of the younger and carefree, matching the season’s heat. Based on member Yunho, it represents “a bit extra mature facet of us,” setting it other than their earlier tracks.
Lyrically, “Lemon Drop” is a sugar-rush confession of falling arduous for somebody. The road “Yeah, I hold getting drawn to you, too insidious” makes that clear, as does a “muse that I love,” who conjures up them and will get their coronary heart racing with a way of urgency. As they sing “Love ain’t excellent,” solely the joys of the second counts, drawn to a voice that’s “like music” to their ears. The lyrics “bitter and candy luxurious” and a playful warning to “cease tempting me” make the message loud and clear: this attraction is all-consuming, and Ateez is soaking within the thrill and rigidity of all of it.
The music video channels a retro aesthetic, explicitly evoking the visible language of a scorching summer season day. Suppose spinning followers, garments tumbling in washing machines, and lemon slices floating in water on an old-school TV display screen. There’s loads of intercourse enchantment too in how they’ve been styled to match up with the music’s message. The shot then tightens on their expressions, reflecting a way of need which solely deepens as they serenade, “Ain’t no person, yeah/Ain’t no person, yeah, you’re the one one I see right here/Ain’t no person, yeah/Ain’t no person, yeah, you already know you’re the hottie, yeah,” earlier than the visuals lower to frames of dripping moist garments, scattered water droplets, and a steamy rest room flooring. The digital camera zooms in on the members washing automobiles, cruising round, and sweating it out earlier than lastly hitting the pool for a breather. The refrain half, “Lemon drop, lemon drop, nearer/Come somewhat nearer/Tequila, tequila dawn/We’re staying up ’til dawn,” hits like a citrus burst whereas Ateez flaunts their slick strikes.
The music’s lighter tone offsets the darker themes of rebel and youthful angst which can be prevalent of their earlier hits, together with “Hala Hala,” “Halazia,” and “Déjà vu.” “Lemon Drop” seamlessly mixes cheerfulness with a wealthy soundscape and Ateez’s dynamic vocals. It echoes Hongjoong’s sentiments in an 1883 Magazine interview, the place he mentioned, “Ateez has at all times taken on new challenges by way of sounds and genres…Whereas we’ve had songs the place we targeted on a extra cinematic and dramatic type to comply with a storyline, we additionally perceive the enjoyment of the leisure that may be discovered within the music itself.” “Lemon Drop” excels exactly in that—capturing the enjoyment of music.