<aside> <img src="/icons/note-sixteenth_gray.svg" alt="/icons/note-sixteenth_gray.svg" width="40px" /> We’re taking a little bit of a sidestep from learning about the group and its members, as this week we’ll get to witness an ATEEZ comeback firsthand! We’ll be focusing on four topics:
<aside> <img src="/icons/music_gray.svg" alt="/icons/music_gray.svg" width="40px" /> $\large \tt 2.1~comebacks$
Recall from last week that a comeback refers to a release of new music, regardless of how long it may have been since the previous release. ATEEZ’s next mini-album, GOLDEN HOUR: Part 1, is scheduled to release this Friday, May 31, 2024, so we’ll be following along with their latest music and promotions!
Comeback schedules for K-pop groups are usually a flurry of activity spanning a couple of weeks, and can often be quite hectic and stressful for the idols themselves. Promotions for the new music generally include several appearances on music shows, which are often filmed very early in the morning. Additionally, they also attend interviews, schedule fan meetings and signings, and constantly release special content on their social media channels. For more significant comebacks, idols often change their hair colour or style to signal a new era.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/tv_gray.svg" alt="/icons/tv_gray.svg" width="40px" /> $\large \tt 2.2~music~shows~and~promotions$
Music shows are weekly TV shows that feature live performances and interviews with K-Pop artists. These shows are also competitions; each show uses different criteria to award points, but generally it is a combination of digital/physical sales, MV views, broadcast or radio plays, and live/app fan voting. A winner is crowned for each show and receives a trophy in front of their peers.
These are the major music shows, with Music Bank, Music Core, and Inkigayo being the most prestigious and hardest to win:
Dance Challenges
Dance challenges are short videos for social media that feature group members from different groups coming together to do the point dance (or a simplified point dance) for newly released songs. They gained popularity on Tiktok in the early 2020s as fans enjoyed both participating in the challenges as well as seeing idols from different groups interacting. They have since become a staple for most comebacks. Here are a few challenges as examples!
Mingi with Enhypen’s Jake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKSGW1lcf2I&t=21s
Wooyoung with Stray Kids’ Changbin
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wn3L_b1jhbs
Variety Show Content
Groups generally release a plethora of fun interviews (Buzzfeed does a lot of these!) in the weeks surrounding their comebacks. As ATEEZ is generally more popular overseas than in Korea, many of these are in English or have English subtitles. Members often also participate in variety or game shows, and the ensuing chaos is very fun to watch and shows off the friendship dynamics between the members. [ATEEZ’s own variety show is called WANTEEZ.]
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<aside> <img src="/icons/trophy_gray.svg" alt="/icons/trophy_gray.svg" width="40px" /> $\large \tt 2.3~first~ATEEZ~music~show~win$
Music shows are extremely competitive in Korea, and the first win for an artist on a music show is a huge milestone. A win on a music show is sometimes considered a sign that a rookie group has ‘made it’ in the industry.
ATEEZ took their first win at M!Countdown on June 20, 2019 with the song Wave. This song is one of the title tracks to their 3rd mini-album Treasure EP.3: One to All. It’s an upbeat song that talks about enduring with each other through life’s ups and downs. Here is its MV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIInyEWWW-s
The following video is in Korean, but here you can see their reaction and encore to their first music show win, and how much it means to them ❤️
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEYfyLAXK1w
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<aside> <img src="/icons/sun_gray.svg" alt="/icons/sun_gray.svg" width="40px" /> $\large \tt 2.4~golden~hour$
ATEEZ’s new album will be released on Friday! This album marks the end of THE WORLD era, and the ‘Part 1’ seems to imply we’re in the GOLDEN HOUR era now??
Here’s what we know about the new album!
Track List
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<aside> <img src="/icons/headphones_gray.svg" alt="/icons/headphones_gray.svg" width="40px" /> $\tt extra~credit$
When the new album drops, pick two of:
[I’ll update links here as they come!]
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