ATEEZ are Masters of World-Building: Here’s Why
With QR codes, deleted mystery videos and ominous prologues, the South Korean group have fans in a chokehold with the complex lore surrounding their upcoming EP ‘Spin Off: From The Witness’
A couple of weeks ago, South Korean boy group ATEEZ surprised fans with the announcement of a comeback with a new EP titled Spin Off: From The Witness. While the EP is set to drop on December 30th, the weeks leading up to the release have been a rollercoaster of mysterious Easter eggs for fans to break down, offering a deeper dive into ATEEZ’s complex ongoing lore that blends pirate rebellion, alternate universes and dystopian futures.
The eight-member powerhouse were still in the midst of wrapping up their ‘The Fellowship: Break The Wall Tour’ while dropping hints about a new release. The intrigue began on December 12th in Chiba during the Japanese leg of the world tour; fans noticed posters around the venue adorned with images of ATEEZ’s iconic ‘HALATEEZ’ alter egos– a darker version of the band who first appeared in 2019– and a QR code. The same posters also popped up around the Hongdae neighbourhood in Seoul where the group’s label KQ Entertainment is headquartered.
ATEEZ are no strangers to the mysterious QR code game; they were one of the first artists to tap into the comeback hint technique back in June 2022 while teasing their ninth EP, The World Ep.1: Movement which dropped in July. The QR coded-posters which appeared in South Korea, Europe and the U.S. led to a mysterious unlisted YouTube video packed which urged viewers to ‘wake up,’ kicking off the theme of anarchy the EP and its lead single “Guerrilla” were centred around. In addition to appearing on posters, another QR code was also air-dropped to ATEEZ’s fans who were waiting to watch the group perform at TV pre-recordings in Seoul– these featured audio messages with morse code repeating the group’s message urging listeners to ‘wake up.’
The QR code method of distributing information melded beautifully into their ongoing storyline, which features a dystopian world where music and art are banned and ATEEZ are rebels planning a coup to break the system. The new QR codes unveiled in December led fans to a mysterious Instagram account with the handle @from_the_witness, which has since been consistently posting images of loudspeakers, blank pages and silhouettes.
The most intriguing comeback hint of all was a video which was uploaded and then swiftly deleted from ATEEZ’s official YouTube channel and social media accounts. The 30 minute clip featured an ongoing shot of an abandoned, flooded mall. The video is jam-packed with various clues that unveil themselves over time– more morse code, sounds of birds, bells, messages on the walls, eerie whistles, blue feathers falling and howling wind, just to name a few. Fans were quick to capture and decipher each clue, all of which seemed to hint at a darker theme for the upcoming release.
As the weeks progressed, ATEEZ finally stepped into the more traditional route of K-pop comebacks and began to drop teaser posters to unveil their individual looks for Spin Off: From The Witness and its overall aesthetic. These were followed by the reveal of track list for the EP.
Other than the lead single “Halazia” and the outro “Blue Bird,” all the tracks on Spin Off: From The Witness are re-releases of ATEEZ’s older songs, remixed by various other artists. “Win,” initially featured on the group’s 2019 EP Treasure EP.Fin: All to Action, gets a remix from South Korean indie band Glen Check’s June One. “I’m The One” sees the group’s frequent collaborators Eden-ary take on the remix, while “Take Me Home (Idiotape Remix)” is a remix by Korean electronica group Idiotape– both latter tracks are from the group’s 2021 EP Zero: Fever Part 2.
Finally, at 12 PM midnight on December 23rd (December 22nd, 8:30 PM IST), ATEEZ decided to give fans a better idea of what they’re in for with the new release. The band dropped the prologue teaser for Spin Off: From The Witness, a treasure-trove of clues, references and visual narration to tie together the group’s ongoing lore. Set mainly in the same abandoned and flooded mall we first saw in the deleted teaser, the new clip sees ATEEZ attempt to save a broken world. Dressed in black, the members stand out against seas of people cloaked in blue. HALATEEZ are a key part of the storyline as references to past music videos that feature them (2019’s “Hala Hala” performance MV, “Say My Name” and 2020’s “Answer”) flash across the screen. The crowd in blue stand reverently around a scarecrow wearing HALATEEZ’s masked costume, awaiting their return–hinting that HALATEEZ were heroes of a bygone era– while a new incarnation of ATEEZ prepares to take over.
It’s overwhelming to dive into ATEEZ’s cinematic mythology and all the details packed into each new piece of media boggle the mind, but attempting to keep up with the band’s comeback plans is an immensely fun and immersive experience. There’s just eight days to go till the music video for “Halazia” and Spin Off: From The Witness drop, but there’s honestly no telling what ATEEZ will do next to tease the release. They might go silent or drop a full feature-length film– it’s honestly all that’s left at this point after the incredibly cinematic trailers in July–but either way, we’ll still be here, falling deeper into the rabbit hole.
