Yo, we're getting a full-on throwback to Ateez's one month long LA stay - which you can find documented on YouTube as a 19-part-series (plus their first ever original song with MV) by the way - and we're even getting some bonus behind-the-scenes insights, though those will only come as a surprise to Atinys who don't know about their early days.
Ateez pre-debut
'Cause them not having enough beds in the Airbnb and having to fight over who gets to sleep in them and who has to take the couch, etc.? Highly unsurprising - KQ was broke af at the time and their CEO literally paid for this entire trip himself with his own money as San revealed in his acceptance speech here:
So yeah, the setup wasn't ideal, of course, but the CEO and staff believed in those eight boys for a reason, so they worked with what few resources they had in the hopes of giving them a fair shot at fulfilling their shared dream of making it big - and it paid off!
Ah, our little genius boy Hongjoong - it has been mentioned before that he was a really good student, very focused on pleasing his parents with the goal of going into some type of scientific field, so it's lowkey funny that exactly that intent ultimately pushed him toward the path he's now on.
School stressed this boy into looking for an escape in music - so bye-bye science career and hello fiddling with music production software~
The instant validation from Jonathan was really sweet when he jumped in to say he also taught himself music production at first by trying to copy his favorite tracks - Hongjoong looked so delighted to hear that.
It really is still inherently funny to me though that lil teenage Joongie was just sitting in his room, intending to be a music producer, only to realize "I can't get words across with an instrumental track alone, so I'm just gonna talk into a mic and add that to the song 'cause I can't sing" and then he sent those tracks out to record companies. Like that's so stupidly brave, impulsive and hilarious in a way only a teenager can be - what an absolute legend.
Bro, KQ coming up to him like "You're very young and good looking, so please become a trainee" is HILARIOUS. And Hongjoong replying with "Am I? Can I do that?" - "Yes!" - "A'ight let's go!" - what a way to launch a career löaksjdfölaskd
Nah, dude - what do you mean Hongjoong was already learning piano at the Kpop academy before even becoming a trainee. That must've been the same academy Seonghwa was attending then since we know they studied there at the same time.
So if you think about it, fate had basically already guided Hongjoong toward becoming an idol, even if his reasons for being in those places - the academy, the agency - were unrelated.
Our members are really energetic. They're so funny. Even behind the stage, they're still energetic, so that's why my confidence and energy is also up and growing with them.
It's really nice to hear Hongjoong talk about how the leadership role came naturally to him because he'd already been there for half a year by the time Yunho came in, so of course he'd show him the ropes by telling him about the rules and teaching him how things are done at KQ.
A year before debut then, the company approached them and was like "hold a competition and take a vote to decide who you want as your leader" and Hongjoong was a little baffled because he already thought of himself as having that role, but he also thought "okay, let's see the results". And of course he was chosen.
It's nice that today, Hongjoong sees the decision to hold a vote as a good thing because it was a way to show the members and staff that he was chosen by them to carry that responsibility.
I love that KQ's CEO is just so damn extra that he couldn't take Hongjoong being called something as basic as "the leader", so while watching soccer he heard "captain" and hit up his staff and was like "MAKE HONGJOONG CAPTAIN!" So here we were always thinking this was a pirate thing, but nah - it's a soccer thing!
Joongie mentioning the armband ceremony~~ (You can watch that here btw)
Side-note: Seonghwa putting the armband on him is highkey meaningful, because he's talked before about how - back when they were choosing who'd be the leader - he'd told the staff: "If Hongjoong doesn't become the leader, honestly there's no reason for this. This team might as well not exist." [Link to the Vlive here!]
I adore that Hongjoong gave a shoutout to the stylists since they have to make an armband for every stage to match the outfit.
These days, when you look at my stage outfits, you don't recognize there's an armband because it's built in!
I super appreciate how openly he now also talks about how he was under too much pressure during their early days, exactly because the company was so small and they were the only group to have debuted under them and they didn't have enough staff to check the details, so it all fell on him.
Someone so young really shouldn't have to be in a position where they're so terrified of making just one mistake - though as a reminder: their CEO still apologizes to this day about how rough it was for Hongjoong back then - Hongjoong has said so himself just last year in this interview:
It's really cute of him to now say that, these days, all the members are so grown up they'll do amazing work by themselves, so he doesn't have to worry about them to that degree anymore.
These days, I just have pressure about our next step 'cause our members and me, we really want to do this work as long as possible.
I love hearing him talk about working on the members' solo songs again as well~
I'm really happy that our members really love my work and that they always respect my opinion. That's why I want to be Captain forever.
Not Jonathan telling Hongjoong he used to intern for Quincy Jones's company - one of Michael Jackson's former producers - only to then say one of the only face-to-face exchanges he ever had with him went like this:
Quincy: "What's your star sign?"
Jonathan: "I'm a gemini."
Quincy: "Okay." *walks off*
"Greatest producer mind ever and that's the question he brought up!" lmaoooo
I love that, even when specifically asked about which Kpop acts inspire him outside the group, Hongjoong still talks about his own members because they're the ones motivating him and challenging him to try new genres. And once he talked about them, he brought up David Bowie, so I guess it's not just that he won't let US look at other oppas - HE HIMSELF doesn't look at them either lmao
Aww, he also talked about his fashion show again - how he found teachers who helped him learn how to design and sew, how his mom's store inspired the name of the show, and how he made the music for it~
So the reason "adult love" was a theme in GH Pt.5 was because some of the producers said the members are in their late twenties now so it was the right time to release this type of music and the members agreed.
'Cause after the 'Golden Hour' series, I think our message and everything will change as we get older and older. So I think this is the time to talk about that and our members all felt the same way, so we tried to start writing love songs.
Hearing the interviewers go "aww" and "that's so sweet" while Hongjoong talks about how he goes looking for Atiny's messages when he feels down is so cute.
Sometimes we include songs for our fans. I really love to write lyrics for them 'cause they're the most inspiring to me. When I'm on the stage, I feel a lot of things from them and they give me so many good themes.
One of my favorite songs I've produced is 'Aurora'. That song is- When I debuted, while I was on stage, there are many different colored lights that they brought. Back then, we didn't have our own lightstick, so that time, they brought many different lightsticks, so when I saw that, I felt that- "Oh, that looks like an aurora to me." So that's why I wrote the song 'Aurora'.
So like that, the relationship keeps going. I get so much inspiration from that. And sometimes I get energy from them.
A full hour of Hongjoong talking in English? Sign me up - lezzgooo~
Not the interviewers opening by asking him if it's weird for him to be alone and Hongjoong actually agreeing that, even after a week of doing this, it's still a bit odd.
I do think it's fascinating how you can get used to someone's presence to the point where being around them feels as comfortable as being alone - that's what it's like for me and my younger sister. Whenever I'm hanging out with someone else, it feels like I have to hold back half my personality because other people don't know me the way she does.
I can only assume it's similar for Ateez at this point since they've been living in each other's pockets for 8 plus years now.
Lmfao - the mandatory interviewer question of "What possessed you to send mixtapes to KQ?" and Hongjoong basically going "Well, no one came to scout me and I liked making music!" Fair enough, dude. Create your own opportunities!
The amount of times Hongjoong has had to mentally relive those six months of loneliness as a trainee because people keep dragging it up when talking to him 😭
Also funny af though how he wanted to be a producer, but KQ was like "How about learning to sing and dance so you can be an idol?" and he was just like "Sounds fun 😊!"
It sounds so brutal how he described the path to the final lineup as "at the end, only eight of us were alive" - like damn, KQ Hunger Games. Where are the bodies of the eliminated? Rest in peace.
"Do you know that you have a-hundred-and-seventy-eight song credits?"
"Yeeaah. I didn't- I didn't recognize that 'cause I just like to make music and I just love to make beats in the day, so... I didn't know."
That about sums him up as an artist. Bro just does what he loves and it shows.
Also, him feeling confident to send out his mixtapes as a teen because he could feel something special about his music and his ability to express himself with it 🥹
I love how he explained 'Aurora' - his first production credit - as a song where he succeeded to express how he felt being on stage, because for context, here are some of the translated lyrics:
Various colors spread out in front of me
I'm still looking for the words to describe this
Without them I just keep on repeating
The same words, but we don’t care
'Cause I'm not alone right now
You're here to share this view, so now
I don't really need many metaphors
Fully embrace
In the arms of light
Dancing together
Remember this forever
It's nice to hear him describe himself as the link between the in-house music production team and the members since he's the one with the studio in the same space as Edenary~
Super interesting to hear him explain 'Golden Hour' compared to previous series, because I could always tell the whole thing was less planned out than anything that came before.
So unlike before, they went in with the idea of "let's use this series to explore new genres, styles, and try ourselves out" instead of mapping out a start and end point. They all just made a bunch of songs, looked at each one and were like "this is what we want to express now" or "let's save this one for later" and that's how it's been going ever since.
Ah, hearing him talk about 'The World' series again just makes me miss it more. Man... I really, really love that series. Still my favorite, ngl. I still listen to the songs from those albums more than anything else.
Love hearing him say the core message of 'The World' is "If you can't see the path forward, you can break that wall. Even if you don't want to, you have to". Like yes, man, that's why I can't move on 😭😭 There are walls fucking everywhere and hope and rage is all I got to keep me going. For me, it ain't 'Golden Hour' yet, but it kinda feels like it might be creeping closer. I just need a certain amount of fascist politicians to be removed from office. Or removed from existence. Preferably before they manage to take me out first with their policies. (Hope you'll never see tomorrow, Friedrich Merz. You sadistic, racist, Islamophobic, homophobic, sexist piece of sh-)
I am glad though that, for Ateez, this does feel like golden hour - they've really gone above and beyond to earn this space of feeling secure and confident with where they're at in their careers and lives. It must be kind of fun for them to also not know when this series will wrap up or how it will end.
I never heard before that K-pop idols all view their late twenties as their golden hour - that's interesting. But man, despite how often they all say it, it's still really nice to hear him say again that, whenever 'Golden Hour' ends, they can just keep doing whatever they want - they could go back to the 'Treasure' or 'The World' series, return to the desert, do more pirate things - the sky's the limit!
Yoooo - what do you mean he actually approached the company and asked if they could maybe make a movie or something to explain the full lore and he thinks they're actually already thinking about "some points", he just doesn't know when it'll come out or anything, but he really wants to do it "some day". Like hell yeah, dude! Let's gooo - whether it's five, ten, or twenty years from now, I'll be there! And if I die first for whatever reason, someone better start learning necromancy or ghost summoning.
The way he talks about his cover series is always so wholesome~
The artists [I've covered] gave lots of inspiration to my music and they affected me a lot, and I don't want to hide that point because I'm very proud of how I listened to and grew up with their songs. And I'm really proud I'm now an artist who can write his own songs, so that's why I covered them - just with my style.
The fact that he spent more time working on covers than his own original songs really shows his pure intentions in honoring the ones who inspired him to make it this far.
I don't just want to copy. I just want to show I listened to that song and I love that song, but this is my style and how I express this song and how I favorite this song and if I were the original singer of this song, I think I would sing it like this!
The interviewer apologizing when Hongjoong corrected him by saying he's the Captain, not the leader sent me so bad. The guy sounded so defeated even though Hongjoong said it so cutely lmaooo
Ah, Hongjoong talking about his tyrant days when he first became Captain and always tried to have full control of everything and everyone to the point where the members, he himself, and even some of the staff got genuinely exhausted because of him and all his nagging.
I'm really glad he took the opportunity to also express why he was that way with his own words - that he felt the pressure of his role as Captain, because if there was a problem with the members, he automatically felt responsible. And whenever they were given an opportunity somewhere, he'd be the one going first and if he wasn't liked there, the other members would never be given the chance to go.
He added that, even now, he's aware the way he is perceived reflects on the entire group, but he enjoys that aspect now because he believes it makes him a better person.
[These days] I ask for the members' opinions first. And now I don't make the final decision, because I recognize I don't have the right answer. Everyone has a different answer and we don't know the result before we show our hand and put it out there.
[...] If we have just one small decision to make, we talk about it for two hours with the members and then I take it to the staff and we talk again for two hours.
Hearing him say he loves his life because he can't tell what's meant to be work and what isn't is so fascinating. He'll be doing work stuff but it feels like fun playing, and then switch to hobby-related stuff and it'll feel like work. Like damn, that's a super unique relationship to have with your job and honestly, I wish this were the norm. Everyone should get to do what they love for a living, even if that something can't be monetized.
It's also really cute how he explained that, when he starts shooting a music video or an interview, it'll feel like work in the beginning, but once he's in the middle of it, that feeling goes away and he just enjoys it.
Bro's also so damn relatable about making friends - maintaining many friendships is hard when you don't want to go hang out with someone every day.
I usually enjoy my time with who I work with. So our members, and our producing team. I usually spend so much time with them, there is no other place for someone to come in there.
These days, I've been enjoying making light conversation with others, like when I was at Coachella. I talked to many people there and it gave me much inspiration. And everyone has a different type of personality, different thinking. I'll talk to someone for just ten minutes, but it makes me realize 'oh, he thinks like that - next time, I have to bring in that point'.
Damn, I didn't know Hongjoong still checks the Billboard charts out of habit after all this time. Eden gave him that homework ages ago as a way to encourage him to explore new genres and such, but yeah, seeing Ateez's songs now appear on there - wow, they've come so far.
Lovely how he says making it into the Billboard charts is part of their success, yes, but actually more so something that makes Atiny and the members proud of one another.
Two hundred songs over the course of eight years really is a crazy amount, so I'm glad he's aware everyone will think differently about which style and type of music suits them best and what their most successful song is. And it's very Hongjoong of him to then wrap that topic up with "so it's very hard to make a tour setlist for us" lmao
Dude, I never actually thought about how Hongjoong's tattoo could be read as "no one like(s) you" öalskdfjaölsdkjaös - I can't believe someone came up to him and was like "why would you say that no one like you?"
I wanted to say ' there's no one else like me', but that was too long for me to tattoo there.
Him talking about his work progress and how he kept reworking 'NO1' is the funniest shit ever - like, not him being satisfied with the version at the end of each day, only to listen back to it the next morning and being like 'naaah' and spending yet another day on it.
Oh hell yeah, he actually finally shared the full story of how he came to use that Atinys voice at the start of 'NO1':
Not the interviewers asking him if he'd move to LA because he likes it here, only for him to say "I have seven boys in my hometown and that's the most important to me". Like damn, right to the heart.
Maybe a few years later when I have more time, I could consider - not moving - but spend more time here, because I really love to experience new people and new culture.
He also explained the 'Golden Hour' series operates on them trying out different genres the members love and putting an Ateez spin on them since each of them favors different types of music.
Atiny love Ateez's style - that's why they followed us originally - so we don't want to make other groups' or other artists' songs, we just want to make this genre with Ateez's style. So I think these days, we consider everything. Back in 2019, 2020, we only thought about making something Atiny would love, but now we think about making something we love in a way that Atiny will also love.
Absolutely adore that the interviewers took the opportunity to ask him about his painted nail so he can explain the reason for it. Though personally, I believe if we looked at current statistics, the amount of children harmed each day has gone up drastically due to Israel's fucked up genocidal tactics alone. I saw that UN report.
I think childhood is important. Everyone keeps their childhood, so I hope every child gets to grow up in the right way and gets to make their own experiences in a good way. That's why I paint my nail like this, and that's why I always talk about that.
I should add here that, on top of the Polished Man Campaign, each time he's done charity work of any sort, it was always focused on helping kids, i.e. with his participation in the 6k For Water and when he donated to the Dream Narae Club. And even his fashion show was wholly about childhood.
I do love hearing him say that, for him, there's no real difference between being an artist and an idol.
I don't know the US culture, but in Korea, when we use the word 'idol', it's more of a symbol for many people want to be them, want to be an idol. At the same time, artists just express their passions with their music or otherwise. People think like that. But for me, I want to be both of that. So to me, there's not a big difference.
Not them ending the interview by asking Hongjoong to explain the 'don't look at other oppa' thing alsdjfaölsdkjfaölskdjaölksdjföalksd
When I was twenty, I wasn't an oppa to my fans yet, so they'd sometimes tell me "I'll go see that other oppa now" so I told them "Don't look at other oppa!"
Still, don't look at other oppa! 'Cause I'm here.
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