ATEEZ is nominated for Best Stage Presence, while ATEEZ’s sixth mini-album, ZERO: FEVER Part 2, is nominated for Best Album in the 2021 KPOPREVIEWED Awards. Jongho is also nominated for Best Vocals. Support ATEEZ, ZERO: FEVER Part 2, Jongho, your other favourite artists, songs and performances by clicking here to vote.

Returning on Friday was ATEEZ, who unveiled a surprise music video for a pre-release single that will be featured on their upcoming eighth mini-album, Zero: Fever Epilogue, which is to be released next Friday (10 December). The pre-release single is titled Turbulence.

Turbulence is a ballad that is heartfelt and beautiful. It might be a departure from what they usually put out (i.e. intense tracks), but this is the work of a pre-release single (i.e. a single to be featured on an album, but is released ahead of the album for a range of purposes. including giving us insight into the album, or to hype up the album release). I am not particularly sure how to classify Turbulence, though I feel like the release offers a new side of the group and hence the song would fall into the latter category of hyping up next week’s release, promising us great things from the group. Anyhow, I find that ATEEZ does an amazing job, showing us a more emotional and sentimental side of themselves. This comes through via a number of avenues. Turbulence‘s instrumentation has an atmospheric vibe that you would find common with ballads. But to give it some extra sentimental energy and also some oomph, Turbulence’s backing also features some classical violins and electric guitars, which helps emphasise that heartfelt tone I already mentioned. The vocal work in Turbulence is no surprise, particularly since the group has the likes of Jongho (who is also nominated for Best Vocals in the 2021 KPOPREVIEWED Awards), and he (in particular) stands out in this song with his high notes. But the other vocalists of ATEEZ also manage to hold their ground, and showcase their vocals capabilities as well. It also helped to soothing, yet vibrant melodies. The rappers of the group also do an amazing job fitting in. Usually I am not a fan of rapping in ballads (with some clear exceptions), but I think ATEEZ’s rappers do a really good job of capturing the emotion of the song and presenting their parts to us in a more subdued manner. They also help cut the overall smoothness of the song, which I think was clever in this song, as ballads can be boring if they are linear. Overall, Turbulence is a strong teaser of what is to come, and I am excited for their upcoming release next week.

The music video for Turbulence has elements seems to have elements that I recognised from their other music videos that formed part of the Zero: Fever series. The school desks reminded me of Inception, while the school bus we see San sitting in reminds me of Thanxx‘s music video. The train on the bridge reminds me of the train in the background of Fireworks. The scenery on top of the roof was also seen in the Deja Vu music video, while the train is also reference in the Eternal Sunshine music video. I think paper planes were previously referenced somewhere as well, as I have a vague memory of it. This is probably just me grasping at straws, but I don’t think these elements are there coincidently. But aside from that, I see a typical music video for a heartfelt and emotional song. The dark lighting is interesting, I guess it makes sense, given the darkness is what they felt at first (lonely, as depicted by the music video). But with one’s hope and such, they are able to see the path forward (i.e. the lights that light up at the end of the video).

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 7/10
Overall Rating – 8.2/10