What If?

Stray Kids covered Inception by ATEEZ

First I'm gonna break down the members and their roles in each group. Note, all these beautiful men are impeccable dancers so I'm just gonna note down their verbal roles. I'm not paying a lot of attention to who's a "visual" but there are some members in these groups with specific vibes that fit better to some of the song choreography or the visuals in the MV.

Stray Kids Member Breakdown

and their "-RACHA" subunits

Bangchan Rapper, Vocalist
Lee Know Vocalist, Rapper
Changbin Rapper, Vocalist
Hyunjin Rapper, Vocalist
Han Rapper, Vocalist
Felix Rapper, Vocalist
Seungmin Main Vocalist
I.N. Vocalist

3RACHA - Rap Sub-Unit
Bangchan, Changbin, Han

Vocal Racha
Changbin, Seungmin, I.N.

Dance Racha
Felix, Leeknow, Hyunjin

ATEEZ Member Breakdown

Seonghwa Vocalist (capable of rapping)
Hongjoong Rapper, Vocalist
Yunho Vocalist
Yeosang Vocalist (capable of rapping)
San Vocalist (capable of rapping)
Wooyoung Vocalist
Mingi Rapper, Vocalist
Jongho Main Vocalist

Line Distribution

We'll start out with the leader of Stray Kids, and work our way down the age line from there. ATEEZ only has two significant rap parts in Inception and they belong to Hongjoong and Mingi.

BangChan → San
BangChan is somewhere in the baritone/tenor range, vocally. He's technically a "main rapper" of Stray Kids due to his position in 3RACHA, and capable in singing in a pretty low register but he usually sings in his tenor range with Stray Kids' music. San is a tenor [ x ] as well, and while Chan's voice feels a little deeper to me, he and San have a similar texture, so I think Chan's voice would suit San's lines best.

Lee Know → Yunho
Yunho's voice [ x ] is easily one of the most versatile in ATEEZ. He has a baritone/tenor range, similar to BangChan, but in this case I wanted to give Minho Yunho's lines. Lee Know's voice is more in the baritone range than tenor. It's really soft and has a pretty falsetto but it can still be powerful. He sometimes struggles a bit with higher notes but he's gotten a lot better since SKZ's debut with a bit of training. Yunho's range in Inception would be pretty comfortable for Lee Know's own voice.

Changbin → Mingi
Changbin and Mingi both have very different voices and styles of rapping, but I can still see Changbin being the one, stylistically, to handle Mingi's lines the best. That being said, Mingi is also the only one left after the other two roles that exist (San and Yunho).

Hyunjin → Hongjoong
In general, I think Hyunjin's less-aggressive, lyrical style of rapping fits best with Hongjoong's lines in this song. Hongjoong uses a very soft tone here but his delivery of each verse is sharp and defined, which Hyunjin would do perfectly. My best example of this I can think of are Hyunjin's lines in "Sorry I Love You" and "Lonely St."

Han → Seonghwa
This isn't initially the route I thought I'd end up in but the more I thought about it, it made sense. Han's voice might not be as smooth as Seonghwa's tends to be, but Han is capable of reaching insane high notes and also has a very pretty falsetto that could very well mimic Seonghwa's.

For comparison...
opening / "every day and night..." / prechorus -- these are some of Seonghwa's lines in Inception, but he also kicks off the bridge with an explosive high note, which is then harmonized and carried on with Jongho.

neverending story / secret secret / phobia -- These are some examples of Han's high notes and adlibs where he's singing in his higher register with a smoother texture in his voice - his voice sometimes has a "rockstar grit" to it but when he sings in a cleaner texture he has a really pretty voice.

Felix → Yeosang
Both Felix and Yeosang have distinctive deep, low voices, but the texture of Felix's lower register is a little grittier, so it's utilized more with rap than vocals. Yeosang's voice is deep, but compared to Felix's voice it's very soft and smooth, like silk. That being said, Felix and Yeosang's voices sound very similar when they're singing in a higher register.

Seungmin → Jongho
These are a few of Jongho's lines in Inception, featuring a few lines from other members and the bridge harmonization with Seonghwa. Normally I give Jongho's lines to Han when I do these, but I think for Inception in particular, Seungmin's voice would be best fitted to Jongho's lines. Han's voice is powerful and can definitely match Jongho's energy, but Seungmin's voice is cleaner than Han's because he's had more training as a vocalist and that's something I think would work better in the context of this song.

I.N. → Wooyoung
I've said this a million times before and I'll say it again now. I.N's voice matches really well to Wooyoung's for me. Especially now that I.N's voice is maturing and gaining more control. The main reason I'm giving Wooyoung's lines to I.N this time is because of the "I'm in love" falsetto during the chorus.