ATEEZ Talks About Their 1st Tour in 2 Years, Plans For Next Album, Wanting To Play At The Super Bowl, And More

Mar 22, 2022

ATEEZ is featured in the latest issue of Vogue Korea!

This past January, ATEEZ kicked off their second world tour “THE FELLOWSHIP: BEGINNING OF THE END” after it was postponed from its original February 2020 start because of COVID-19. While they were able to reschedule their concert dates, fans were still not able to cheer to prevent the spread of the virus. To combat this, ATEEZ came up with the idea to distribute castanets to allow fans to cheer them on in a unique manner.

The castanets fit perfectly with the pirate concept for their debut track “Pirate King” as they resemble clams. San excitedly commented, “I predicted that [the castanets] would be unique, but once I actually heard them, it was the world’s most beautiful sound. I thought, ‘Ah, this is really good and beautiful.’ ATINY’s [ATEEZ’s fan club] sincere voices were represented well by the castanets.”

For the tour’s final stop, ATEEZ performed in Los Angeles, the city the group visited for training when they were trainees known as KQ Fellaz. On performing at The Forum, Hongjoong shared, “When you go into The Forum, the names of all the musicians who have performed there are written on the walls. Walking into the arena made me feel overwhelmed. Once today was over, someone else can look [at our names] so I thought, ‘I really want to be cool today.’ Now, our names will be written there too.”

ATEEZ spoke about their dedication to the stage as they explained how they transform into different characters when performing. San commented, “I’m Choi San, but depending on the song, I could be someone who’s filled with greed, or something who’s unbelievably happy. It feels like picking and choosing an outfit from all the different images within me.”

Sunghwa added, “I’m typically really shy, but I don’t have to be myself on stage. The stage is where everything is allowed. When we debuted, I did mind control by saying, ‘I’m really a pirate. Don’t stop me.’ When it was done I’d think, ‘When did I do that?’ It was fascinating.”

Elaborating on the hard work that goes into their incredible performances, San shared, “We work when we work and we play when we play. Regarding work, whether you’re friends, seniors, older, or younger, we’re the type to talk a lot, without hesitation, about things we need to fix and the direction we need to go in. We do not touch the other person’s self-esteem, but it’s our attitude to accurately express what needs to be said.”

Mingi chose greed as the group’s strength and explained, “All the members have a lot of opinions. As the years go by, there are things you might start to compromise, but we’re greedy for even really small things. Since this person is working so hard, there’s no way that I can not work hard. This is how our skill sets continue to level up.”

When the interviewer shared that a word that comes to mind while watching ATEEZ’s performances is “maximalism,” Hongjoong, who’s composed songs for all of ATEEZ’s albums, revealed that he used to enjoy writing minimal songs. He shared with a laugh, “I’m telling you, I was obsessed with music that was filled with small sounds. However, as I began producing for ATEEZ, I would look up fantasy films and began perusing Marvel. Rather than to refer to it, I wanted to have more diverse thoughts.”

To tease their next album, Hongjoong commented, “Since our debut, we’ve tried captivating intensity as well as playful intensity. As that has accumulated, there’s this notion of ‘this is ATEEZ,’ no matter what genre we try. With our next album, I want to break the ‘ATEEZ style’ once again. [You will say,] There’s this kind of intensity too? We can do it.”

Mingi continued, “If we originally mixed pop and hip hop, I figure that we’ll be able to create something of our own by mixing in genres like EDM or rock. Since we let loose a bit in our last album, my opinion is that we have to come out a bit more strong this time.”

When asked to describe their career so far as a graph, ATEEZ used a steady line with a moderate increase to showcase the group’s consistent growth. They also revealed that they did not know or want to predict what would be at the end of the graph.

Wooyoung shared, “If we go to [the] Billboard [Music Awards], we’ll set another goal, and if we go to the Grammys, we’ll set another new goal ahead of ourselves. We just want to become a team that keeps achieving the goals ahead of them and promotes for a long, long time like Shinhwa.” Because he likes to dream big, Hongjoong also confidently added that they’d like to play the Super Bowl halftime show one day.