ATEEZ’s legion of fans keeps K-pop group going

The South Korean group ATEEZ has commenced its Asian and Latin American tour titled The Fellowship: Break the Wall and has thus far performed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Mexico.

Its next stops are Singapore and the Philippines on Sept. 9 and 16, respectively. ATEEZ’s fans, also known as ATINY, from these sides of the world will finally experience the group’s own brand of music and performance live. One could describe their genre as something that encompasses hip-hop, trap, and electronic dance music. A piece of information given to this paper shares that ATEEZ’s performance is standout with runway aesthetics, and the group “combines bestseller narratives with personalized music that speaks to their generation.”

Members Yunho, San, Jongho, Mingi, Seonghwa, Yeosang, Hongjoong and Wooyoung will treat everyone to familiar tunes, and latest songs, from their ninth mini-album, The World EP.2: Outlaw.

After their upcoming concert at the Araneta Coliseum, ATEEZ is off to countries like Brazil, Chile, and Colombia for another series of performances.

“I’m really looking forward to it since it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other,” said San when he and his fellow artists were asked about their thoughts on ATEEZ’s Philippine concert in a recent virtual presscon. “I want to show lots of great performances, and (since) I am a food lover, I would like to try a lot of Filipino food. That would be great.”

With Yunho, he said that their Pinoy fans have been waiting for this presentation.

“So, I want to go quickly and perform awesome stages,” added he. “I have good memories of the fruit I ate in the Philippines before, so I want to try that again, too.”

Asked what do they recall the most regarding their last Manila trip, which was in September of last year, San answered it’s their fans.

“Because of ATINY, we can create a lot of memories from our last visit. Thank you so much and we will make the time to make sure that we can go to see them very soon and create more beautiful memories with them.”

Hongjoong described their fans as so energetic the last time ATEEZ had a show in the country and added that he expects the same level of enthusiasm in their forthcoming show.

“Their energy and their singing (are) really good in my memory. So, I wait for that in our concert, too, soon,” said he.

According to Hongjoong, Pinoy fans can look forward to “more stages that they have never seen before in the Philippines,” plus the performances of newly-recorded songs.

Back in June, the group released the EP, The World EP.2: Outlaw, which carries such tunes as This World, Dune, BOUNCY (K-HOT CHILLI PEPPERS) as the title track, DJANGO, Wakeup and Outlaw.

Among the members, Hongjoong and Mingi have tried their hand at writing and collaborated with other creatives like songwriters and album producers.

“For me, I paid a lot of attention to detail with the lyrics this time,” said Mingi about his writing process. “For the title track, I wanted straightforward lyrics with impact in each word. And for the B-sides, I tried to match the concepts and add interesting, impactful lyrics in detail.”

As for Hongjoong, he shared, “I participate in the whole (entire) song’s lyrics usually with the producing team Edenary. When they made song, and the melodies and the beats or we got the guide version of our song, so, there are no lyrics usually and I write some lyrics first for that, and I suggest some theme or title to Edenary or they suggest to me first, so we just send our lyrics to each other.”

He also added that they could also work, let’s say talking about the lyrics or tweaking them, via Zoom or Facetime, as some of the platforms for communication.

As a K-pop group, ATEEZ is praised and known for its high-energy performances. So, the eight members were also inquired about their preparations and aspects of live

performances they enjoy the most.

Jongho said, “Rather than having a set of preparation time, we try our best until we’re satisfied. After the concerts or shows, when we have busy schedules, we give each other feedback and (we) work on what’s lacking so we can improve.”

“The moment I find most enjoyable is being on stage and performing in front of our fans. When we see our fans, we get a lot of energy and (are) really thankful to ATINY for that,” added he.

Hongjoong, for his part, enjoys moments when he can feel the communication between him and the fans and when the latter “sing along with our song or when I can see their eyes,” telling him that ATINY have fun being in the concert.

Their fans are among the reasons that keep the ATEEZ members motivated and inspired to create new songs and embark on tours.

“Despite (having a) busy schedule, I think the reason we could stay motivated is because of ATINY’s love and support,” said San. “While (it is) difficult at times, the energy and love from fans really empower us, so going into schedules I felt I could gain strength to do my best.”

“Seeing the members constantly striving and achieving goals around me motivates me, too,” added Seonghwa. “We are learning from each other to achieve our goals… So, I think that we motivate each other all the time, that (even if) we have (a) very busy schedule, we can go through it very well.”

(For details about ATEEZ, visit its website and Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube accounts. The World EP.2: Outlaw is available via Sony Music Korea/RCA Records.)