ATEEZ - Their way to debut and into the hearts of fans!
K-Pop Blog > Artists > ATEEZ
The eight-member boy group ATEEZ debuted in October 2018, but has been attracting attention with energetic performances long before that. Today, Hongjoong, Seonghwa and co. are celebrated by fans all over the world for their impressive choreography and hits like "Wave," "Thanxx" or "Guerilla"!
Want to get to know the group better? We'll introduce them to you!
- Pre-Debut
- Debut - Treasure Series (2018 - 2020)
- Zero: Fever Series (2020 - 2022)
- The World Series (2022 - Today)
- The members
Pre-Debut
Already a year before the debut of ATEEZ, eight trainees from KQ Entertainment have attracted attention. For the first time, Hongjoong, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho presented themselves to the public in 2017 on the survival show "Mix Nine", in which Hongjoong and Jongho were most recently eliminated in 42nd and 43rd place. They probably didn`t get too upset about it for too long, because less than four months later, on May 18, 2018, a performance video appeared on KQ Entertainment`s Youtube channel, in which the future members of ATEEZ danced to "Pick It Up" by rapper Famous Dex.
This video was the first to feature all eight trainees together. It quickly spread among fans who wondered who the talented guys were and were eager to see more. They then got more with the reality show "KQ Fellaz American Training, in which the trainees traveled to LA to train, train and train again. During the show, a ninth member - Lee Junyoung - was added to the group, but did not end up debuting with the others. After 19 short episodes, the adventure ended in LA; for the finale, the KQ Fellaz released the single "From", which was composed and produced by Hongjoon.
In July 2018, fans who had already gathered had to get used to a new name, as in the teasers for the reality show "Code Name Is Ateez, which follows the boys as they make their debut, KQ announced that the KQ Fellaz have been given the name "ATEEZ".
Debut - Treasure Series (2018 - 2020)
After months of causing talk among K-pop fans, Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho finally debuted with the album "Treasure Ep.1: All to Zero" on October 25. The album has two title tracks - "Pirate King" and "Treasure" - released simultaneously. All to Zero kicks off the "Treasure Series", a series of albums called "Treasure" that continued for nearly a year and a half, ending in February 2020.
| Treasure Ep.1: All to Zero | October 2018 |
|---|---|
| Treasure Ep.2: Zero to One | January 2019 |
| Treasure Ep.3: One to all | June 2019 |
| Treasure Ep.Fin: All to Action | October 2019 |
| Treasure Ep.Extra: Shift the Map (jap.) | December 2019 |
| Treasure Ep.Extra: Shift the Map (Remixx!) | December 2019 |
| Treasure Epilogue: Action to Answer | January 2020 |
| Treasure Ep. Map to Answer (jap.) | Feburary 2020 |
On August 13, 2021, the boy group also released the photo book "Treasure : Hidden Map", through which fans can take a look back at this time. Learn more about it here!
Back in November 2018, just a month after their debut, ATEEZ revealed the official name for their fan club: "ATINY". The name is a combination of "ATEEZ" and "DESTINY" and means that ATEEZ and their fans were destined to meet. The support of ATINY's brought the idol group the "Next Generation Award" at the "Golden Disc Awards" two months later, in January 2019.
In the same month, ATEEZ released their second album "Treasure Ep.2: Zero to One" and announced that their first tour "The Expedition Tour" would take place in five American cities in March. So the fans were definitely rewarded for their efforts! In fact, the tour was extended twice, for ten dates in Europe and two concerts in Australia, all of which were sold out.
In between, in June 2019, ATEEZ third album "Treasure Ep.3: One to All" was also released. As with the debut, two music videos were released at the same time - Wave and Illusion - with fans allowed to choose which of the two songs the boy group would mainly promote. They made exactly the right choice with "Wave," as the song earned ATEEZ their first music show win. With the next and fourth album "All to Action", the boy group was then able to celebrate another success, because they took first place in the Korean Gaon album charts for the first time!
At the end of the year, on December 4, "Treasure Ep.Extra: Shift the Map", the first Japanese album of the boy group was released under a good star, because on the same day ATEEZ won the "Worldwide Fans Choice Awards" at the "Mnet Asian Music Awards" in Japan.
With "Treasure Epilogue: Action to Answer" the last Korean album of the Treasure Series was released on January 6, 2020. However, the series only ended one month later with "Treasure Ep. Map to Answer", the first Japanese mini album by ATEEZ.
The end of the Treasure Series was to be followed by the boy group's second world tour "The Fellowship: Map the Treasure", but after the first two concerts, all further dates were postponed indefinitely due to the Corona Pandemic. In order to perform for their fans despite everything, ATEEZ held the "Crescent Party" in May; a free online concert.
Even after the Treasure series, ATEEZ started other series to which most of their albums can be assigned. So we will continue to guide you through the history of ATEEZ along the album series:
Zero: Fever Series (2020 - 2022)
The conclusion of the Treasure series was followed in July 2020 by "Zero: Fever Part. 1". As before, fans were allowed to influence; they chose "Inception" as the title track. A month later, a music video was also uploaded for "Thanxx", the song that was also up for selection.
"Zero: Fever Part. 1" is the prelude to a new album series, which will be continued in 2021 with "Zero: Fever Part. 2" and "Zero: Fever Part.3". To close the year, "Zero: Fever Epilogue" was also released in December. All four albums were a great success! Three of them topped the Gaon Album Chart, with the exception of "Zero: Fever Part 3". Instead, Part 3 took ATEEZ to the top of Billboard's US World Albums Chart for the first time!
ATEEZ started the year 2022 with their third world tour "The Fellowship: Beginning of the End". It began in Seoul in January 2022, toured the United States and Europe, and ended in May. Before the month ended, the Japanese album "Beyond: Zero" was also released. This album marked the conclusion of the Zero series. It reached the second place in several major Japanese charts, continuing the previous successes!
In March 2021, ATEEZ had released another Japanese album titled "Into the A to Z". However, as the only album in 2021, it does not have the word "Zero" in the title. So it is not necessarily assigned to the Zero series.
| Zero: Fever Part. 1 | July 2020 |
|---|---|
| Zero: Fever Part. 2 | March 2021 |
| Into the A to Z (jap.) | March 2021 |
| Zero: Fever Part. 3 | September 2021 |
| Zero: Fever Epilogue | December 2021 |
| Beyond: Zero (jap.) | May 2022 |
Although the Zero series includes fewer albums than the Treasure series, it lasted longer overall, almost two years! That's because the boy band was still busy with several other big projects during that period: including appearances on the Immortal Songs and Kingdom shows, as well as several collaborations with other artists!
Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend
Immortal Songs is a music competition that has aired weekly since 2012, and each episode gathers six or seven artists to perform a cover of a "guest legend" song. The contestants are made up of artists from a wide variety of genres. For example, solo singers and idol groups regularly participate, as well as musical singers, rock bands and representatives of traditional music. A winner is chosen each episode, and only very rarely does an idol group end up in first place. This makes ATEEZ's success story on the show all the more impressive. On August 29, 2020, ATEEZ performed with "Black Cat Nero" from Turbo and won the episode!
This made them only the sixth idol group to score a win on the show! The cover went viral and two months later, the boy group even released a Halloween Special Performance Video of the song with original singer Kim Jong Kook. The collaboration worked so well that ATEEZ and Jong Kook recorded a mini album together in August 2021:Kim Jong Kook X ATEEZ (Season Songs)!
ATEEZ together with Kim Jung Kook.
Although "Black Cat Nero" was undoubtedly the most memorable, ATEEZ`s journey at Immortal Songs was not over after that episode. In February 2021, the group sang "It`s Raining" from Rain and won for the second time. This made them the first boy band to win twice! As if that wasn`t enough, ATEEZ went on to win a third time with "Right Now" by PSY in May!
In 2021, ATEEZ showed their talent in one more show: Kingdom
From April to June 2021, the guys performed in "Kingdom: Legendary War". In the show, six popular boy groups competed for the victory: BTOB, IKON, SF9, The Boyz, Stray Kids and ATEEZ. In five rounds, the groups showed what they were made of with different performances. For the finals, they all even recorded an original song. ATEEZ's contribution was the song "The Real". ATEEZ ended up taking fourth place and Stray Kids won the show.
The collaboration with Kim Jong Kook was not ATEEZ's only collaboration project in 2021:
On August 19, 2021, ATEEZ announced on their Twitter account that Yunho, San, and Jongho had collaborated with the a cappella group Pentatonix. The joint single "A Little Space" was released the next day with its own music video!
With two successful collaborations in one year, ATEEZ have made it clear that fans can continue to expect new and exciting projects!
And if that wasn't enough, four members of ATEEZ starred in the K-drama "Imitation":
Yunho, Jongho, Seonghwa, and San. Fans of ATEEZ who enjoy watching K-dramas were able to combine these two passions thanks to the series. Yunho, Seonghwa, and San played members of the fictional boy group "SPARKLING", while Jongho was seen as a member of the fictional boy group "SHAX".
Yunho, Seonghwa and San together with Boys Republic`s Suwoong as "Sparkling".
The World Series (2022 - Today)
On July 29, 2022, the release of the ninth Korean mini album "The World Ep.1: Movement", kicked off the next album series. And it was a strong start! ATEEZ broke the million mark for the very first time, as even before the album was released, fans had pre-ordered more than 1.1 million copies!
In addition, The World Ep.1 was #1 on the Circle Album Chart (previously called "Gaon") for two weeks straight and the title track "Guerilla" won no less than six trophies in various music shows!
ATEEZ has continued to work their way up since their debut, winning thousands of fans with their music, not only in Korea, but all over the world! Luckily, they also got the chance to see the boy group live in 2022, as ATEEZ performed at KCON in LA, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and many other K-Pop festivals in Asia. In October 2022, the boys were rewarded for their efforts by "The Fact Music Awards". They not only won the award for "Best Performer", but also for "Artist of the Year".
But instead of taking a well-deserved break, the success motivated the boy group to give even more! ATEEZ set out on their fourth World Tour, "The Fellowship: Break The Wall", in October, despite having just completed their third tour in May. The new tour included concerts in Seoul, North America and Japan in 2022. And that was just the beginning! In 2023, ATEEZ gave many more concerts in Europe, Asia and Latin America as part of the tour! Most recently, a concert was held in Manila (Philippines) on September 16.
Four more albums were released during the tour: The Japanese mini album "The World Ep. Paradigm" (November 2022), the first Korean single album "Spin Off: From The Witness" (December 2022), the Japanese single album "Limitless" (March 2022) and on June 16, the tenth Korean mini album "The World Ep.2: Outlaw". Each one topped the charts and proved once again that ATEEZ belongs to the top! The World Ep.2: Outlaw even surpassed The World Ep.1 and is currently ATEEZ's best-selling album ever!
| The World Ep.1 : Movement | July 2022 |
|---|---|
| The World EP.Paradigm (jap.) | November 2022 |
| Spin Off: From the Witness | December 2022 |
| Limitless (jap.) | March 2023 |
| The World EP.2: Outlaw | June 2023 |
Thus, "The World" series currently already includes three albums. Probably in the future we can expect a third part, a final fourth album and maybe even a Japanese album before a new series starts. No matter what awaits us, we are sure that ATEEZ will reach new milestones and set new records with the upcoming albums!
The members
Before we stop, of course, we want to take a quick look at the members. Below you'll find an overview that can help new fans find their way around as well as "old" fans, because let's face it - who can remember all eight birthdays?
| Stage name | Real name | Birthday | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hongjoong | Kim Hongjoong | November 7, 1998 | Leader, Lead Rapper |
| Seonghwa | Park Seonghwa | April 3, 1998 | Lead Vocal, Visual |
| Yunho | Jeong Yunho | March 23, 1999 | Lead Vocal, Main Dancer |
| Yeosang | Kang Yeosang | June 15, 1999 | Visual, Lead Dancer |
| San | Choi San | July 10, 1999 | Lead Vocal |
| Mingi | Song Mingi | August 9, 1999 | Main Rapper, Lead Dancer |
| Wooyoung | Jung Wooyoung | November 26, 1999 | Main Dancer |
| Jongho | Choi Jongho | October 12, 2000 | Maknae, Main Vocal |
In the five years since their debut, the members have, of course, had to deal with difficulties. Among other things, from November 2020 to July 2021, the boy group had to manage without Mingi, who interrupted his activities due to anxiety. And just recently, at the end of August 2023, Jongho underwent surgery for previous injuries and pain.
Fortunately, fans support the boy band no matter what. ATINY's love is what motivates ATEEZ to keep doing their best. We are looking forward to many more hits from the boy group!
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