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"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.