Hongjoong
On an M2 Tingle Interview episode, they asked Hongjoong about what he says the most to the members as the leader. He answered that after debut, the three words 'Stop, Please, and No' are what he has said the most. He added though, that recently he has been trying to be more friendly. The members don't usually joke around with him if he doesn't initiate it, so on the occasions when they do come to him, he tries to react enthusiastically. He goes like: "Oh really?? For real? Oh my!" since saying those things signifies empathy.
He is trying to help the members be more comfortable around him and seems to be successful at doing so. Max Beaumont, a communication skills coach, had expressed great appreciation of Hongjoong's communication and leadership style:
"He has the ability to not only keep that energy and charisma up for the cameras but to also have that awareness [of others]; the ability to bring other people into the conversation and lead things in an engaging way; in a way that facilitates interaction with the other guys. Hongjoong is killing it."
Seonghwa
Seonghwa is going to steal your heart again with how kind and sweet he is. On a GQ JAPAN broadcast, he said that although he doesn't usually wear a lot of accessories, there is a bracelet he always carries with himself. Even if he's not wearing it, it's in his bag. It's not just any bracelet, though. Seonghwa bought it because the proceeds were donated to abandoned animals. He showed his bracelet to the camera for fans to see its cute cat design and added that there was a cat and a dog version. Since he's bought the cat version, he has donated to abandoned cats. No wonder why San describes Seonghwa with the word tenderness.
Yunho
20 years ago, a boy named Yunho left his hometown Gwangju and came to Seoul to follow his dreams. He worked hard, succeeded, and became a star to whom many stars that were born after him looked up to, among which was Ateez's Yunho. Yunho shares the same first name, last name, and hometown as U-Know (Yunho of TVXQ). He has said many times that his role model is U-Know, and there is an interesting story about it. They once bumped into each other, and Yunho greeted U-Know by introducing himself as 'Ateez'. He was very nervous as meeting the legendary Kpop idol didn't feel real. U-Know greeted him back and called him by his first name. Yunho couldn't believe that U-Know knew him. He expressed his surprise, to which the senior said: "I know really well that you are Yunho."
Yeosang
On a recent YouTube live, fans asked Yeosang about how he deals with stress before a concert. He thought for a bit and revealed his interesting and practical way of calming his nerves:
"For our Seoul concert, when we did our first show, I was really nervous. It'd been so long since I'd performed in front of so many Atinys, so I was really nervous. What I do is I kind of hypnotize myself. I tell myself: "this isn't real right now. This is virtual reality. Technology has improved, and I'm doing a practice simulation. This is all a simulation right now." I hypnotize myself like that. My nerves calm down a little bit."
"It's a bit of a particular method, isn't it?" He proceeded to say. Yeodongies - as Yeosang calls his fans - might try this at a job interview or an entrance exam now that they know it has been tested successfully by one certain Kang Yeosang who aces all his performances.
San
It might come as a surprise to know that the fierce performer who dances like he's been possessed and leaves the audience in awe was not even an official main dancer in his early debut days. San and the word hard work are inseparable. He has truly earned everything he has today with his great dedication and determination. San and the members have said several times that his dancing skills weren't all that good when he joined their agency. However, on their debut reality show, the judges were astonished by San's performance. Lia Kim, one of the most famous choreographers in the industry, has said that San's ability is beyond a male's body and that it fits him to be the center of a performance. Fast forward to 2022, his name tops all the charts when it comes to stage performance.
Mingi
Many people have noticed Mingi's unique mindset and how his thought process sometimes can be different from other people. He is truly a source of inspiration for his fans. On Moonbyul's Studio Moon Night, Mingi received a fan message that read:
"My hands are pretty big. It's a kind of insecurity for me. How about Mingi? Since I think Mingi has big hands, too."
Mingi shared his opinion with fans regarding how to deal with insecurities:
I tend to live optimistically. I believe that one's insecurity can be a charming point to someone else. So rather than thinking of it as an insecurity, you can think: "Ah, let's try to take advantage of this as my charming point!" If you think this way, I think you can enjoy your life a bit more.
No wonder Eden, Ateez's producer, calls Mingi a free spirit.
Wooyoung
In a HANBAM episode, Hongjoong and Yeosang talked about the impact of Wooyoung's social and energetic personality on the team. Yeosang shared the story of how he became best friends with Wooyoung:
"There are steps in getting to know each other. But Wooyoung skips those steps sometimes. We were slowly getting to know each other, but the next day he suddenly came and bit my arm. Or once he kissed me on the cheek."
Hongjoong had his own Wooyoung story to tell, too. Following what Yeosang said about Wooyoung suddenly biting his arm and kissing his cheek, the leader shared:
"That's why I didn't like Wooyoung in the beginning. As the leader, I've seen many types of people, but I hadn't seen 'this' type of person before. Since I was the first trainee of our agency, I saw like 20 people coming and going. Wooyoung was the last to join, but I really hadn't seen 'this' type before. On one hand, I thought that's the type that becomes a celebrity [The super social type]. But on the other hand, I hoped he wouldn't do it to me [skinship]. I'm not very shy, but I don't like being touched. At first, it was really uncomfortable. But now that I look back, I'm very thankful. If it wasn't for Wooyoung, we wouldn't be this close."
Jongho
Have you watched the Ateez show in which the zombies should scare the members? You might have wondered why Jongho told the zombies to hug him while they were actually supposed to scare him. Jongho is fearless; a zombie game can't scare him. But he doesn't like skinship. So the only thing that could annoy him was skinship, a hug. Although he is the youngest person in the group, he's been introduced as the most reliable by the members. Yunho describes Jongho as 'the cute maknae who is like a dependable eldest hyung'. Part of the maturity he shows comes from the fact that he started working at a very young age and has been in the industry for a long time. His existence is of so much reassurance to the band as he is the main vocalist in charge of performing impossible high notes while dancing at the same time.
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