Almost a year ago, fourth generation sensations ATEEZ wowed the cast and special guests of Immortal Songs 2, giving the 1995 track “검은 고양이 네로 (Black Cat Nero)” by first generation superstars Turbo a rock twist, and earning the group their first of three wins on the show as well as the respect of Kim Jongkook. Fast forward to now, the first and fourth generations have combined to bring us “바다 보러 갈래?,” a special collaboration between Jongkook and ATEEZ, the first for ATEEZ.

Leading up to the release of their collaboration, Kakao TV aired a short show titled THE MAN of ATEEZ, which is also now being uploaded weekly to YouTube on 1theK’s channel. Although the show was filmed after they had already filmed the music video, as evidenced by the current hair colors being featured in THE MAN of ATEEZ and not in the music video, it’s still a fun watch. The first episode features ATEEZ calling Jongkook to see if he would join them for the song, including a hilarious PowerPoint presentation. 

“바다 보러 갈래?,” which translates to “do you want to go see the sea?,” is the best of the first and fourth generations of K-Pop rolled into one song. It’s a retro, old school sounding track that embraces everything Turbo excelled at in the 1990s, but makes it modern enough to succeed in today’s K-Pop market, capitalizing on the best of the first generation and the fourth generation. That’s honestly one of my favorite parts about this collaboration—it truly feels like a collaboration. No one artist outshines the other, and every featured artist has their own time to shine. None of it feels awkward. None of it feels forced. It’s truly Jongkook meets ATEEZ in the middle for something that only the nine of them could pull off.

The music video for “바다 보러 갈래?” features ATEEZ and Jongkook enjoying the summer as they sing about wanting to see the person they love as they go through a rough time. The video also features a cameo appearance by K-Drama actor Oh Minseok, who dances with the members of ATEEZ briefly in the first minute of the video. We get scenes of Jongkook, Yeosang, and Yunho sitting poolside, San and Wooyoung goofing off, Jongho and Jongkook staring each other down in a soccer field, and Seonghwa, Hongjoong, and Mingi in a fun shot where the camera is looking up at them, spinning in a circle briefly.  

This music video is also special for many ATINY as it features the music video return of Mingi, who went on a mental health hiatus shortly after the group released their special music video “THE BLACK CAT NERO” which featured a cameo appearance from Jongkook, so it seems only fitting that his return video would also be in collaboration with Jongkook. While Mingi was taking his hiatus, ATEEZ’s oldest member Seonghwa filled in for him during many live performances, like their 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards performance of “Answer,” so it comes as a fun surprise that we have continued to get little glimpses of rapper Seonghwa in ATEEZ releases (like “The Leaders” and their latest Japanese single “Dreamers”). 

The single album, Season Songs, also features two additional tracks: a jazzy, downtempo version of Turbo’s “White Love,” which was originally released in 1998 on their album PERFECT LOVE, and an official release of their “검은 고양이 네로 (Black Cat Nero)” cover. Unfortunately, the tracks are not currently available for streaming on Spotify or iTunes, but you can find official track uploads on the ATEEZ YouTube channel.

For any fans wanting a physical copy of the single album, hello82 are currently running a pre-order special where 30 lucky winners will have a chance to be on an 82-second video call with ATEEZ! The physical copy includes a cassette tape-style USB featuring the three songs, three photocards (including one of eight unreleased exclusive hello82 photocards), a digital photobook, an access code for exclusive ATEEZ content through hello82, and one entry into the video call fansign event. 

Applications for the video call fansign event close on August 19, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. KST, so make sure you pre-order from hello82 here. hello82 is also doing a free 82 minutes with ATEEZ global live show on August 22, 2021 at 2 p.m. KST, and you can find out more information on that here.