How “FEVER EPILOGUE” Made ATEEZ a Force to be Reckoned With

Courtesy of KQ Entertainment

Today I’m thinking of ATEEZ’s album “ZERO: FEVER EPILOGUE”, more specifically I’m considering what a brilliant album it is. The album begins dramatically with “Turbulence”, a career highlight for the eight member group – and then slowly builds to a creciendo of chaos with “The Real”. 

“FEVER EPILOGUE” was a graduation for ATEEZ. Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho. Junyoung portrayed themselves as graduates in promotional photos for the album. In one round of photos the boys wear varsity jackets and are surrounded by trophys. But this concept signified the end of the “FEVER” series. This conclusion would explore the journey of the boys finding themselves: Who do they want to be as they grow older? What are their identities? “I wanted to tell everyone listening to “Turbulence” about their journey to find their own answers in this ultimate “Fever” series post. It contains a message of comfort that I can sympathize with,” Mingi said in an interview with KSTATIONTV. San felt that parts of the album, like “The Real” are extremely “exciting” to listen to, but he was most taken by the message of the songs: “Humility or courtesy, through “The Real“, I wanted to draw the story, “The interior style, the style of ATEEZ.” 

ATEEZ’s graduation in “Turbulence” represents a new uptick in their career. In the summer of 2021, they had just finished competing in Kingdom: The Legendary War, where they placed third. As the youngest group on the show and the one with the most untested fandom, it was a strong end to their run. Though they were often underestimated, I found that they had some of the most inventive stages and some of the most charismatic members. San and Wooyoung stood out to me the most, and became my biases. Competing on a show like Kingdom against supergroups like Stray Kids, with all of the backing of a major company, or an established group like BTOB is no small feat. ATEEZ more than held their own – and they gained a lot of fans, called Atiny, in the process. 

This winter ATEEZ embarked on The Fellowship, their first arena tour. Despite widely being considered a midtier group in popularity, they sold out every date. Just like their work on Kingdom, ATEEZ proved with their first arena tour that they would conquer whatever was set in front of them. 

While their success is captivating to watch, what I am most interested in is ATEEZ themselves: the men who poured their hearts into the music of “FEVER EPILOGUE” have stories to tell. 

The album’s opening “Turbulence” is a career high. The lyrics never fail to lunge out of my headphones into my heart:  “At the end of this road, where should we be?/ What should we become, in what form?/ I’m already overwhelmed/ To be myself barely.” Like most young men, they are on a journey of self-acceptance: “At the end of this road/ If we must become something in this form/ I hope to be myself/ I hope you feel the same way.”

At variety show stages and end of the year performances, the group sincerely captured the uncertainty and insecurity of youth. In moments when people doubt that K-Pop can feel impersonal, especially when music is not written by the idol, this is a song I would point them to. Jungho remembered how much he was touched by the line, “Is anyone listening?” from the chorus. “ The lyrics to the chorus of ‘Turbulence’ touched me, so I remember going to a take with that emotion. Especially in the passage “듣고 있나요 누군가 (Is anyone listening?)“, I remember taking that emotion and doing it in one take,” said the singer. 

Jungho is right: I can feel his pain through his high note near the end of the song. Through Jungho’s vulnerability,“Turbulence” finds its emotional punch. I often wonder what moments in his life did Jungho not feel heard? 

In “Be With You” and “The Letter, the two songs that follow, the boys provide comfort to a lover who’s going through a difficult time. Despite the harsh season they’re in, the boy tells her, “Until you bloom/ As a spring flower/ I’ll be with you.” 

“Will you survive?” Seongwha and Yunho ask. 

For Atinys going through an especially difficult or lonely season I’m caught thinking how this song has impacted them. While it’s not explicitly stated, the lover in these songs is likely both dealing with depression and anxiety. And while in “Turbulence” the focus is inward, I appreciate that ATEEZ reminds listeners, “It’s okay to not be okay today.” 

FEVER EPILOGUE’S tone begins to brighten up with “Still Here” as the boys drive into warm sunlight to find an old flame, even if it is only in their dreams. The music of the album, too, begins to lift. The beats sound a little faster; the raps a bit harder, until finally we hit “The Real”. 

ATEEZ performed “The Real” on “Kingdom” in June of last year, and it undoubtedly was the final push that won them so many new fans. Set in a classroom, the boys’ fusion of streetwear, suits, and a sample of traditional Korean music, “The Real” demonstrate how inventive ATEEZ is. But as San points out, “The Real” is about how the boys intend to stay humble and be the best possible young men they can be. 

“We live passionately/ But have more humbleness and kindness than anyone else” they declare in the pre-chorus. “You think you're the main character of this drama?/ I don't know if I'll die, I'll find out when I watch the ending.” “The Real” is an ode to youth and to finding your own truth. What makes ATEEZ “real” is that they are willing to make mistakes, stay humble and live without fear.  

Like a good end to Side One of a record, “The Real” marks a shift on “FEVER EPILOGUE.” After it, the songs become wilder  and more experimental. Check out “Answer (Ode to Joy)” for proof. The boys use the same flair of drama in their ballads to create songs that feel like soundtracks to an epic medieval musical. Trust me: You will not hear another song like “WONDERLAND” on any other K-Pop release this year (yes, they actually slay a dragon in this). 

But it’s the emotional center of “Turbulence” and the group’s bold move to situate the ballads at the beginning of the album that prove how daring ATEEZ is. Like the beautiful spring flower they reference in “Be With You”, “FEVER EPILOGUE” unfolds with touches of beauty that left me in awe. It’s a juggernaut of a K-Pop record that years from now, I predict will be a cult classic.