ATEEZ: Leaders

Hi! It’s Annie!

Ateez has been one of my go-to groups for a good couple years now and it’s been an amazing couple of years. I’ve never seen a group this dedicated to performance and storytelling, and as someone who has always been fascinated with multiple different kinds of storytelling, they blew me away immediately. I was a part of the fandom when they went from being not as well known to blowing everyone away and internationally selling out arenas. As I joined the BTS fandom later into the game, this is the first time I was with a group through all of that. And it has been nothing less than an unforgettable experience! Right now Atinys seem to be in the middle of a really exciting time in Ateez’s career and the amount that they’re doing seems to be stacking up by the day. I’m going to go over what we will see from Ateez in the near future, some fan theories, and also what’s been making them an absolutely irresistible group in any music industry.

Ateez Schedule:

It’s become very clear to everyone over the last couple weeks that Ateez will have a very hectic summer schedule. While we don’t know the exact dates for some things, which I’ll get to in a minute, this is all of the stuff that we know! As of today, Ateez has already boarded a plane to Saudi Arabia to perform at the Jeddah KPOP Festival and just yesterday Ateez performed ‘Utopia’ on ‘The Show’. This event specifically made them one of the only groups to perform an entire album track list of songs on a show like this! Later this month they will be performing their postponed concert dates in Japan and we also now know that next month they will be attending Kcon LA! The first day of the concert is already sold out, and Ateez will be one of the headliners. I do feel it necessary to say that headlining acts at Kcon usually only perform four songs. I only say that because I want everyone who may be considering buying resale tickets to know that you may want to be a fan of more than one group for this concert to be completely worth it for you. Ateez was also the first group to completely sell out their hi-touch and interview slots, which really wasn’t surprising seeing how much they’ve shot to international fame lately. I decided not to spring for tickets and we’ll have to see if that’s a decision that I regret. I almost went for the entertainment package, but I decided to save my money in case they do a comeback tour. Which brings me to my next point…

Ateez Comeback:

I am so excited for this comeback for so many reasons. Not only are we in a pretty integral point in the Ateez MV storyline, but they’ve possibly been teasing this part of the storyline for a while now. ‘Kingdom’ killed off Halateez, though we could still see an alternate Halateez or a pre-death Halateez. Their performance of ‘Rythm Ta’ on ‘Kingdom’ was actually a look into what this new comeback album will most likely focus on. ‘THE WORLD EP. 1: MOVEMENT’ (the official name of this new comeback album) will most likely take place in a world where the arts and music are illegal. This is why the marketing for this album so far has been pretty underground. Ateez has had a few posters and billboards in major cities with nothing much on them but a QR code. Earlier today a QR code was dropped on Ateez’s social media for a very short amount of time before it was immediately deleted. This QR code leads to a snippet that is audio only and features an epic backing track that may just be a preview of a new song. It also features what sounds like a radio skipping and morse code at the end that people have deciphered to mean “EYES ON THE SKY”. I can only assume this is reference to the flying pirate ship that Ateez stole back in the MV for ‘Don’t Stop’. The QR code was labelled ‘PROPAGANDA’, which makes me wonder if it was just a name for the teaser or if it will be the name of one of the album tracks. I personally love all of this. The marketing makes the world of this album feel almost immersive and just adds to the impressiveness of Ateez’s storytelling abilities. And I absolutely loved the concept for ‘Rythm Ta’, so if this is anything like that I’ll be all over it! Though let’s be honest, I’ll be all over whatever they decide to do concept wise. And I loved the characterization they were showing in the ‘Don’t Stop’ MV. The pirate crew has always been one of my favorite elements of all of Ateez’s concepts and I adored all the hinting in ‘Don’t Stop’. Ateez is one of the only musical groups that can make you excited for an album both for the music and the story. I can already tell that I’ll love this!

Clearing the Board:

Ateez’s stages in ‘Kingdom’ have undoubtedly brought many more fans and the fandom is still growing. And part of it is the story that attracts people to them! Along with the amazing music. I’ve mentioned it briefly, but my parents actually like Ateez now. While both of them were at first only familiar with ‘WONDERLAND’, they both got into them mostly because I got them (maybe semi-forced) to watch some of their stages. And they were also impressed with their storytelling abilities and choreography. I’ve been plaguing them with BTS forever but Ateez convinced them because of some of the additional elements that only Ateez adds. And while BTS is still my ult group; I think it is clear that there is no group even similar to Ateez. I am so glad that more and more people seem to be fully realizing and appreciating the one-of-a-kind uniqueness of this group. And I think ‘WONDERLAND’ may be one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s so catchy! But what I also love about them is that lyrics are important to them too and always hold an important message. For example, ‘WAVE’ may sound like an uplifting summer song but it’s actually also a hopeful song that encourages those struggling to keep going. They are not afraid to talk about mental health and the issues with becoming an adult and finding your way in the world. It seems as though the groups who go to lengths to discuss mental health are always my favorites. Ateez is already at a level where no other group can touch them, it’s just that they’re getting the recognition for being that more recently. They already had what makes them so special and I’m so glad that Atiny is such a quickly growing fandom. The boys deserve it! Especially because they work so hard!

Ateez really seems to have constant schedules and I’m kind of hoping that they’ll get a break soon. It feels like they’ve been constantly moving ever since their debut. But I’m also wondering if they’re going to tour this year with their comeback album. Especially because Hongjoong said they’d come back to LA this year at their concert in January and I have a feeling they weren’t quite talking about Kcon. But we’ll have to see! If they really are planning a tour, this is going to be an extremely busy year for them! I hope that they’ll enjoy every minute of it and I hope that growing popularity doesn’t make them feel too pressured.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie