After the huge success of BAD in July, ATEEZ will make their third comeback this calendar year next month with their 15th mini-album, Golden Hour: Part.6. Ahead of the comeback, the group has pre-released the single Drip.
As this is just a pre-release single, Drip shouldn’t be seen as the official follow-up to BAD. That honour should be reserved for the title track of their upcoming release. And I am going to be doubling down on that. I don’t know what the title track will be, but musically, it ain’t going to be Drip. Right off the bat, you can tell that Drip is a heavy hip-hop track with a powerful trap rhythm. Personally, this ain’t my cup of tea. It doesn’t help that after a few repeats, I still have neutral feelings towards Drip. The rap-speak throughout Drip doesn’t excite me this time, and I find the instrumental pretty ordinary. On the flip side, I find the chorus somewhat catchy, and I liked MINGI and HONGJOONG’s rapping right before the choruses. The latter’s stripped-back instrumental and lower-energy delivery were very alluring. But I don’t think these two elements make up for the rest of Drip.
The music video fares a lot better. The song is about their growing confidence and ambition, likely fueled by their recent success. So it might be a follow-up to BAD, but I stand by my earlier comments. As for the video, I really liked how it made black feel striking and bold without relying on a white background. Their visual game was particularly strong across all members, even in the video’s more hip-hop-leaning moments. The number of dancers featured in the video also gives off an epic feel.
If you have an eagle eye, you might notice that JONGHO isn’t in any of the choreography. In an interview for this pre-release, JONGHO said he was injured at the time and couldn’t participate in the dance. Anyhow, the choreography looked good. It captured the song’s edgy hip-hop vibe quite well. I really liked the “Drown in the Drip” dance move, which adds to the chorus’s catchiness.
Song – 6/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8.5/10
Overall Rating – 7.1/10
