ATEEZ: Happy Late Birthday, Seonghwa!

Hey! Hallie here!

We are several, several days late on this now that we’re posting only twice a week on this blog, but we can’t let Seonghwa’s birth week go by without wishing the oldest member of ATEEZ a Happy Birthday! Seonghwa is one of the most calm and caring members of ATEEZ, often checking in on members when they’re having a bad day or making sure they have a space to express their frustrations. There’s a reason why he’s called the mom of the group. But he’s also extremely talented, not just as a lead vocalist with a wide range, but as a talented dancer and even as a rapper. I could talk for hours about his stage presence alone, which is so intimidating that he’s part of the group of members known as the “demon line”. But instead of focusing on all of the things I’ve praised him for so many times, I want to talk about his personal interests. The little things he invites ATINY to enjoy with him on lives that help us feel connected to him. So let’s talk about the things Seonghwa loves and the ways he’s generously shared them with us!

Legos:

This is a major one because it often is the center of most of his lives on YouTube. Seonghwa has spent many lives chatting with ATINY while calmly building lego sets. It’s become so common for him to spend lives this way, that recently Yunho snuck in during a live just so he could steal a lego and watch the chaos. He started building legos on lives as a form of also expressing his love of ‘Star Wars’, (Which I’ll get to in a moment,) so his focus was initially on building Imperial and sometimes Rebellion ships. But he was quickly noticed by Lego and has since started building other kinds of sets, many sent to him by the Lego company themselves thanks to the popularity of his lives! There’s something extremely personal about these lives compared to the other ones I’ve seen. He never ignores ATINY while he’s building his legos and always makes sure he’s keeping his eyes on the chat, but he also doesn’t feel the need to perform for ATINY or do something entertaining to keep their attention. Because of this, it really feels like you’re sitting with a friend while he’s doing an every-day thing he enjoys. Many ATINY praise these lives for giving Seonghwa the ability to connect with ATINY while also allowing him to spend his free time as he wishes. It’s nice to see an idol do something they love so genuinely in a casual environment, and it’s amazing that Seonghwa feels like he can do the things he loves so comfortably with ATINY. I love watching him build legos and I hope he got many more lego sets for his birthday that he can build during his future lives!

‘Star Wars’:

Seonghwa has never been quiet about his love of ‘Star Wars’. Like I said above, his trend of building legos on his lives all started with the ‘Star Wars’ lego sets he bought for himself. He’s filmed himself in the practice room twirling around a lightsaber with the lights off, has discussed going to the most recent ‘Star Wars’ movies on his own as a trainee, and has assigned ‘Star Wars’ characters to the ATEEZ members. If you’re curious, he gave Hongjoong Luke, Yeosang Leia, Jongho Han Solo, Mingi Obi Wan, San Padme, Wooyoung Jar Jar Binks (Ouch), Yunho Chewbacca, and himself Anakin. And if you couldn’t tell, Anakin/Darth Vader is his favorite character with Luke and Kylo Ren being close seconds. More recently, he discussed at an LA concert that he had wanted to go to Disneyland specifically to visit Galaxy’s Edge, the ‘Star Wars’ themed land in the park. He unfortunately wasn’t able to get in because the group didn’t realize they needed reservations to get into Disneyland, and he mentioned his disappointment at the concert. Fortunately for him, a mix of that and posting a picture of himself with his hood up labelled “Hwanakin skywalker” got the ‘Star Wars’ official Twitter account’s attention. They retweeted his post and named him an official Jedi Knight! While Seonghwa’s preferences tend to lean more towards the dark side of the force, he was still absolutely thrilled. Seonghwa has always been a hardcore ‘Star Wars’ fan and it was amazing to see his devotion to the series get rewarded with some official recognition. Hopefully he enjoys another year of being an official Jedi Knight.

‘Animal Crossing’:

This is a love Seonghwa’s only fully shared with us recently, but it’s made such a large impact on ATINY that we’re still talking about it weeks after he discussed it. Seonghwa has put a lot of his time and effort into his island on ‘Animal Crossing’. He even gave his villager on ‘Animal Crossing’ a bunch of his own costumes from ATEEZ music videos, resulting in a viral moment from his live where he sang “WONDERLAND” in a soft and adorable voice while he had his villager dance in his “WONDERLAND” costume. Because that moment went viral, Seonghwa hilariously recreated it on ‘Idol Radio’, a show hosted by Hongjoong and Yunho. The specific episode was about best friends, leading Hongjoong and Yunho to bring Seonghwa and Mingi respectively on the episode. Seonghwa taught all of them the ‘Animal Crossing’ dance and got all three of the other members to join him. I highly recommend hunting down this moment just to see this group of grown men dissolve into adorable laughter while they dance. He shared more than just that during his live, though. He showed off his villagers of which the gorgeous deer Diana is a favorite, and did an interior tour of his incredible house. He put specific emphasis on his gym’s punching bags just so he could sing “ROCKY”. On other lives he’s also sung the theme song for the game while making legos and attempted to speak in Animalese, the fictional language spoken in ‘Animal Crossing’ games. Seonghwa seems to love this game just as much as I do, and I’m so happy he decided to show us what his island looks like.

These are only some of the things Seonghwa loves that he’s talked about with ATINY. He certainly doesn’t have to share anything that he doesn’t want to. He deserves to keep some things private, and even with the things he does share with us, we shouldn’t assume that we know him. He still has personal boundaries we shouldn’t treat like we can ignore. But that makes what he does share with us even more important. We make him feel comfortable enough that he can express his passions to us, and on the other hand, he is kind enough to open up about them when he doesn’t have to. I really appreciate these moments he’s given us to connect with him, and I can’t wait to have more moments like this in the next year. Happy Birthday, Seonghwa! I hope you had an amazing day!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie