ATEEZ: Introduction to the KPOP group

In Asian countries, especially in South Korea, K-Pop is one of the musical genres making headlines. It is particularly trendy and is led by a musical group composed of 8 talented artists: ATEEZ. If you are a fan of Korean pop, you have probably already danced to one of their many songs. It is undoubtedly one of the quintessential boy bands of this new generation.

ATEEZ: a look back at the concept for beginners

The famous Wikipedia presents ATEEZ as a South Korean boy group formerly known as KQ Fellaz. It consists of 8 members who all share the same nationality, somewhat to show the solidarity of the South Korean people. As a little anecdote, the name ATEEZ is actually an acronym. 

It is derived from the English "À TEE nager Z", which means Teenagers, but especially "A to Z". In reality, the group's goal is to evolve in music by doing everything with enthusiasm like the spirit of a teenager.

Focus on the members of the group ATEEZ

From its creation to the present day, the group has 8 members who are introduced as follows:

• Hongjoong (Kim Hong-Joong):born on November 7, 1998, he is considered the pioneer of the band. At 23 years old, he remains the undisputed leader and holds the roles of main rapper, lyricist, composer, and singer. Personally, he is not a fan of green vegetables, peppers, and his favorite colors are yellow and red.
• Seonghwa (Park Seong-Hwa):he was born on April 3, 1998, and is considered the oldest in the group. Both a secondary singer and visual, he is an ASMR enthusiast and does not hesitate to build figurines to relax.
• Yunho (Jeong Yun-Ho):main dancer and singer, he was born on March 23, 1999, at 10:30 PM in a Korean city. A huge Harry Potter fan, he is described as the energizer of the group.
• Yeosang (Kang Yeo-Sang): at 22 years old, he is a singer, visual, and secondary dancer of the group. His nickname is Hehe-mon and he has a birthmark on his left eye.
• San (Choi San): born on July 10, San is 22 years old and remains a secondary dancer and singer of the team. The young man is a Cancer zodiac sign and graduated from a Korean arts high school. He also speaks Japanese and his hobbies are sports and sleeping.
• Mingi (Song Min-Gi): he is the other rapper and main vocalist of ATEEZ. At 22 years old, his favorite dish is chicken and he is a sauna enthusiast. His biggest phobia is insects and he has a slight back problem.
• Wooyoung (Jung Woo-Young): born on November 26, 1999, he is also a main dancer, a singer, and a visual of the band. His Chinese zodiac sign is the Earth Rabbit and his hobbies include collecting clothes. He also loves to tease Seonghwa and his signature color is black.
• Jongho (Choi Jong-ho):he is 21 years old and is the youngest member of the group. Yet, Jongho is the main vocalist and a graduate of Surak High School. His Chinese zodiac sign is the Golden Dragon and he loves Bruno Mars' music.

The birth of the group ATEEZ

The creation of the group ATEEZ is credited to Kim Hong-Joong. It all started in 2016 when the future leader of the band decided to send a letter and a mixtape to the production company KQ Entertainment. There, he expressed his desire to join the production company as a trainee. He thus became the first trainee of the establishment and was joined six months later by Yunho. It was only later that the other members joined KQ Entertainment, notably as trainees.

Their first stage appearance took place in 2017 during the music show MIXNINE. The video of their performance quickly went viral and currently has more than 15 million views on YouTube. The 8 boys managed to impress both the public and the jury and were promoted under the name KQ Fellaz.

Very quickly, the group shone under the spotlight and followed up with TV shows as well as reality shows. Notably their vlog series and the famous reality showCode Name is ATEEZ aired on July 20, 2018. They generated great enthusiasm among the public and the video of a first project was teased on October 2. The public did not have to wait long, because on October 24, 2018, ATEEZ releasedTreasure EP.1 : All To Zero, their first mini-album.

A look back at other major ATEEZ projects

Since the release of their first EP certified gold with more than 85,000 copies sold, ATEEZ has not rested on their laurels. Indeed, the boy band did not hesitate to offer various musical formats including albums and other mini-albums.

Between 2019 and 2021, 7 EPs and 2 albums were released. Although this entire discography was very well received, it is important to highlight that two projects significantly disrupted the Korean K-pop industry. These are notably:

• Zero : Fever Part.1 : an EP released on July 28, 2020, and certified triple platinum with more than 350,000 sales.
• Zero : Fever Part.2 : released on the 1ster March 2021, this second part remains at the top of the trends with more than 500,000 sales, which represents a diamond record.

On YouTube, it has 2.58 million subscribers worldwide with a total count of 292,270,230 views. In this regard, the music video of the trackWonderland remains the one with the highest number of views, that is, more than 100 million.

With all these statistics, it is now impossible to present the group ATEEZ as a team of novices. The boys have been particularly active for 3 years and have largely proven their supremacy in the South Korean music industry. There is no doubt that the 8 young men will continue to grow musically to further mark the future with their performance.

 Hongjoong (Kim Hong-Joong) : born on November 7, 1998, he is considered the pioneer of the band. At 23 years old, he remains the undisputed leader and holds roles as the main rapper, lyricist, composer, and singer. Personally, he is not a fan of green vegetables, bell peppers, and his favorite colors are yellow and red.