Review: ATEEZ - Dreamers
ATEEZ have a long history of releasing quality songs from genres infamous for their mixed output, but none of those examples has been as famous as their 2019 summer single Wave, which took the waning tropical trend and delivered one of its best examples. Now, they have returned to the genre with Japanese single Dreamers.
That said, there is one really big difference this time: member Mingi is not part of the song. When it was recorded, he was in a (much needed) hiatus. Now, he is back, but his impact is certainly missed in this song. After all, his baritone rapping was arguably what really made Wave one of the best K-Pop summer songs of all time. Now, without him, Seonghwa tries to fill the gap with some strong raps. But Seonghwa has always been more of a singer than a rapper, and these raps do show it
I love what Dreamers is trying to do. It clearly is supposed to sound like a happy day out in the wild. Almost all of my favorite songs sound like this to a certain extent. The melody is especially incredible in the multi-phased chorus. For once, the chorus does not awkwardly cut at what should be the middle. Instead, it is full-throttled. The "Ooh Lala" phrase and everything that follows is great, and just supports the basic themes of the first phase.
That said, I wish the song did more to make it stand out as its own thing, rather than a weaker clone of Wave. The verses are strong, but as already stated, I can almost feel how Mingi would turn the raps into something amazing. Another issue throughout the song is how it leads to nothing, really. I did not realize I was at the climax until the song ended. Jongho gets a really sub-par high note (which he makes great, because it is Jongho), and the chorus simply repeats.
Dreamers is not bad, it is really good. But with a few minor switches, I think it could be amazing. Hopefully, they will re-record it now that Mingi is back (hooray!), and then I can push the score up a bit.
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