These Were 10 Of ATEEZ's Greatest Moments & Achievements From 2021
This was such an amazing year for them!
2021 was a great year for ATEEZ, for a multitude of reasons! It was their best year so far in terms of album sales, they participated on a variety of shows where they performed incredibly well, and we saw the return of a member who was dearly missed. Here are 10 of ATEEZ's greatest moments and achievements from the past year!
1. Their participation on Kingdom: Legendary War.
ATEEZ was one of six K-Pop groups to compete on this year's Kingdom: Legendary War, where the competitors put on phenomenal performances of remixes of their own songs and those of other artists. Though ATEEZ came in third place overall on the show, they consistently took home the most points from experts and evaluation from the other groups participating.
Participating on the show really showcased just how incredible ATEEZ is as a group of performers, and the fact that professionals and other idols were so blown away by their stages shows just how talented all of the members are, individually and as a whole group.
2. Yunho, San, Seonghwa, and Jongho's participation on the K-Drama Imitation.
2021 also saw the acting debut of half of ATEEZ's members! Yunho, San, and Seonghwa worked alongside Boys Republic member Suwoong as members of the K-Drama's made-up K-Pop group, Sparkling, while Jongho and four others were in another group called SHAX.
Yunho was also one of the main characters of the show as the role of Lee Yoo Jin, and worked alongside former I.O.I member Lim Nayoung. Imitation was based on a webtoon about the work and love lives of K-Pop idols in such a competitive industry, and it was great to see ATEEZ's members able to participate on a K-Drama!
3. Yeosang chosen as an MC for The Show.
From March 2 until December 14 this year, Yeosang was chosen along with Weeekly's Jihan and WEi's Yohan as an MC for the music show The Show! For nine months, he held this role, though on only his second week, he had to take a break due to ATEEZ's performance (and also their win!) for "Fireworks (I'm The One)" in early March.
4. Mingi's return to the group.
ATEEZ's beloved rap and dance king Mingi announced that he was going to be taking a hiatus in order to take care of his mental health back in November of 2020. Though fans were sad to see him not promoting with his members, they were also glad that he was taking the time he needed to rest, and would wait patiently until he felt up for returning.
Though he participated on the group's first album released in March this year — ZERO: FEVER Part.2 — it wasn't until May that he was seen publicly with the group on their trip to Jeju Island. His appearance had fans speculating that he would be back soon, and the excitement was overwhelming!
MINGI IS HERE!!! HES ALSO AT THE AIRPORT,, MAYBE HE'S FOLLOWING ATEEZ IN JEJU 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/iuYg91JvEo
— yunho love bot 🎓 (@YUNH0E) May 12, 2021
And sure enough, only a few months later on July 19, Mingi made his official return to the group with a letter to fans and expressing his happiness to be back and for ATINYs not to worry about him!
Mingi posted on FROM. ATEEZ#민기 #에이티즈 #MINGI #ATEEZ pic.twitter.com/suMwxN42DZ
— UPDATEEZ 🦋 (@updateez) July 19, 2021
Since then, he has gone on to promote actively with ATEEZ for each comeback, and he has earned so many new fans with his charm and charisma.
5. San's appointment as the promotional ambassador of his hometown, Namhae.
San was known as the first K-Pop idol to come from the town of Namhae, a town in South Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. It's the fifth largest island in the country, known for its rural beauty and scenic views. San has long spoke proudly about where he is from, and this year, he was given the honor of becoming the official promotional ambassador of Namhae!
I'm extremely honored and proud to have been selected an ambassador for Namhae county, my hometown where I was born and raised. Now that I'm officially appointed, I will do my best. I feel a great deal of responsibility and so I will promote wholeheartedly.
— San (via his agency)
6. Their collaborations with Kim Jong Kook and Pentatonix.
This year saw ATEEZ collaborating with multiple well-known artists! The first was Kim Jong Kook, who they had already worked with last year after they covered Turbo's song "Black Cat Nero" on Immortal Songs and released a special performance video for Halloween starring Kim Jong Kook himself. This year, they released the single album Season Songs, which included the song "Be My Lover" and featured the senior idol!
They also collaborated with Grammy-winning acapella group Pentatonix, who actually reached out to ATEEZ themselves for the collaboration! Members San, Jongho, and Yunho took part in the song "A Little Space", and if you haven't given it a listen yet, you are seriously missing out.
7. Their achievements on Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend.
Back in May of this year, ATEEZ won their third episode of Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend, during the PSY episode of the show. With their performance of his song "Right Now", they became the fastest group on the show to win three separate episodes, and the only fourth generation group to do so!
They had previously won the Kim Jong Kook/Turbo and Rain episodes of the show (in August last year and February this year respectively), earning high praise from their seniors in the industry.
mc: i heard that psy has always been giving ateez high praise
psy: all of my juniors do their best, but i think the fact that ateez works hard and also does a good job is a distinct feature
psy: from my personal judgement, i think ateez is the next generation @ATEEZofficial pic.twitter.com/hWTirrScBk
— celine🎓 (@sandorokis) May 22, 2021
Their achievements on this show has led to members San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho being invited as judges on it rather than competitors, which is a huge honor, especially for a group that's still so young!
Let's trend the tags for our IMMORTAL SONGS JUDGES, #San, #Mingi, #Wooyoung and #Jongho!
We are always proud!
RT and reply (add your own words)
ATEEZ IMMORTAL SONG JUDGES #ATEEZ #에이티즈 #エイティーズ #Deja_Vu @ATEEZofficial pic.twitter.com/7kBfAPrc5H
— ATEEZ Community (@ATEEZcommunity) November 1, 2021
8. Releasing their best-selling album to date.
ATEEZ beat their past album sales record for a single album twice in 2021: Once with ZERO: FEVER Part.2, which has sold around 515,000 copies, and again with ZERO: FEVER Part.3, which currently has 733,000 sales!
At this rate, the group is bound to get their first million-selling album before too long, and we can't wait to see it.
9. Their song "Dreamers" chosen as the ending theme for the anime Digimon Adventure.
On July 28, ATEEZ released their first Japanese single album, Dreamers, featuring a title track of the same name. Not only was it the best-selling of their four Japanese album releases so far — making nearly 40,000 sales — but the title track was also chosen as the ending theme song for the popular anime Digimon Adventure!
The song is so warm, summery, and uplifting, it's no surprise that it ended up in an anime, and if you haven't listened to it yet, you're definitely in for a treat.
10. Jongho's appearance on Yoo Hee Youl's Sketchbook.
Jongho is known as one of the most promising vocalists of the fourth generation of K-Pop for a reason, and his talents made him the first fourth generation idol to be invited onto Yoo Hee Youl's Sketchbook, a Korean music talk show.
On the show, he was compared to the great Kim Jong Kook himself for his vocal abilities and his strength. He covered Jang Hye Jin's ballad "One Late Night in 1994" as well, and unsurprisingly blew listeners away with his flawless singing!
Here's to an even bigger and better year for ATEEZ in 2022!
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