[Review] Youth – YUNHO & MINGI (ATEEZ)

As previously flagged, I am gearing up to review ATEEZ’s The World EP.Fin: Will. But I will be reviewing the unit and solo tracks that has an accompanying music video released in January of this year first. So far I have reviewed HONGJOONG and SEONGHWA’s MATZ and YEOSANG, SAN and WOOYOUNG’s IT’s You. Today, I will be reviewing YUNHO & MINGI’s Youth.

Out of the four side-tracks that I will be reviewing from the The World EP. Fin: Will album, Youth is the most recognisable track of the bunch. There are a few elements within Youth that has made the song stay with me since its release in December. The most profound element is the song’s melodic flow. I find that the melodies in Youth bring out a nostalgia factor that ultimately makes the song so comforting and inviting to listen to. Further to that, the combination of MINGI’s raspy vocals and YUNHO’s crisper tone makes the melody feel so soothing to listen and ring out even louder after the fact. This definitely helps makes the song catchy and memorable. The hooks also help out with this memorable factor of Youth. The second element that stands out to me is the instrumental. It opts for a softer tone that I wished ATEEZ explores a bit more. I feel there is potential for the group to delve into this sound further. The combination of the melancholy piano and subtle sprinkle of brass, alongside the comfortable band instrumentation, just re-emphasise all of the descriptors that I have already mentioned for Youth. Even the rapping from MINGI was well balanced and I liked his presence in the song.

Youth is about the struggles that one experience at a young age and how it was tough yet under-played by adults who think they know better. And in the music video, we see both MINGI and YUNHO come to terms with their struggles. MINGI’s character’s struggles appears to be with other people – the societal struggles, based on how he is always surrounded or is with someone wearing a black mask. In a later scene, we see a shadow of MINGI with arrows in his back, representing the various ‘shots’ people have taken at him. YUNHO, on the other hand, is by himself for majority of the video and I think that represents a more personal and internal struggle. The broken car might represent his attempts to get away from it all. In the end, the video ends with their house (for MINGI’s character) and garage (for YUNHO’s character) burn down and we see them run away with one another, suggesting that their friendship has helped them move forward from the struggles. Aside from the plot, I like the warmer hue of the video, which enhances all of the above that I mentioned about the song.

Again, no formal performance video for this song release. So I am relying on the snippets that are in the music video and a fan-cam of the performance from their concert. The performance actually looks quite nice. Just like the other elements of the comeback, the performance also came had a comforting vibe. The suits the pair donned made the stage look more sophisticated and was probably to highlight the fact they are at a more mature stage of their lives now, and I really liked the jazzy interlude I saw the pair perform as part of their stage. I also think YUNHO shined with this performance, with his cool solo moment in the bridge.

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.3/10