{"id":852781,"date":"2026-09-19T02:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T02:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/852781\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T02:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T02:28:16","slug":"ateez-leader-hongjoong-explains-his-solo-song-about-having-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/852781\/","title":{"rendered":"ATEEZ Leader Hongjoong Explains His Solo Song About Having ‘Enough’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn April, Hongjoong returned to Coachella with nothing to do. <\/p>\n

\n\tTwo years earlier, he had been on the Indio Valley stage when ATEEZ<\/a> became the first K-pop boy band to perform at the festival. This time he was a guest, watching other people work. \u201cThat day I got so many inspirations,\u201d he says of a trip where he linked up with Teddy Swims<\/a>, PinkPantheress<\/a>, Central Cee<\/a>, Swae Lee<\/a> and Daesung<\/a> of BIGBANG<\/a>. \u201cI really love to experience everywhere.\u201d He came back to Los Angeles, booked a session and crafted an atmospheric pop song that he specifies is \u201cnot just chill\u201d but about a feeling he had been chasing his whole life.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat song arrives Friday (Sept. 18) as \u201cENOuGH,\u201d a collaboration with Bazzi<\/a>, that is unhurried, openly emotional and, perhaps most notably, sounds nothing like the group he leads in the midst of their biggest season yet.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n

\n\tOn June 26, ATEEZ unleashed GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5 and made a headlining debut at London\u2019s BST Hyde Park in the U.K. just two days later. The EP gave the group its third No. 1 on the Billboard 200<\/a>, opening with a career-high 228,000 equivalent album units. At home in Korea, Part.5\u2018s lead single \u201cBAD\u201d climbed the local charts thanks in part to a viral dance, helping ATEEZ secure their first entry on the Billboard Global 200<\/a>. Next month, a full day dedicated to ATEEZ and their fans at the inaugural 82WORLD: LA festival is already sold out.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut none of that superstardom is visible when Hongjoong joins an afternoon video call in August from a sun-filled Los Angeles hotel room. He\u2019s dressed down in a plain white V-neck T-shirt with the collar cut off, a few silver rings stacked on different fingers, and a single fingernail painted black \u2014 a signature he rarely goes without to raise awareness for the Polished Man<\/a> campaign, which aims to end violence against children. He looks less like the leader of one of K-pop\u2019s hardest-working groups than someone enjoying a rare stretch of good weather with nowhere urgent to be. \u201cWe are so busy these days,\u201d he says, \u201cbut finally I get to chill a little here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, when the trending group of the moment\u2019s leader turns up with a subtle song of his own, it\u2019s important to note that it\u2019s not a full-fledged solo departure. \u201cIf I give you a new solo debut, maybe I (will have) prepared more than one year,\u201d he says. \u201cBut for this one, I made this song in April in L.A.\u201d A proper solo debut would require far more than the few months it took to deliver \u201cENOuGH\u201d \u2014 a song made on a break, at a moment when, for the first time in a long time, he wasn\u2019t sure what he was making.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI just tried to make some chill song and also not just chill,\u201d he says of those April studio days. \u201cBefore starting the music<\/a> in L.A. in the session, before this song [became] \u2018ENOuGH,\u2019 I just focused on making good sounds because I think I need that in here. But for this song, I had a very specific message I wanted to write, and we talked about that before starting the session\u2026I always walked with ATEEZ, and I\u2019m really happy with that. At the same time, I\u2019m 27 now, and I did eight years with ATEEZ. I made so many songs for ATEEZ and myself too, and now I think I have to get more experience because doing that will reflect to ATEEZ again and myself. So, that\u2019s why I started this project and that\u2019s why I think this song is very much \u2018enough\u2019 to start a collaboration project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKim Hongjoong has spent almost a decade as ATEEZ\u2019s leader, as well as a consistent songwriter and in-house producer for the act with nearly 200 songs officially registered under his name. In May, he made his debut as music director on the indie film Hallucination, which screened at the Jeonju International Film Festival; weeks later, he appeared on the K-POPS! soundtrack for a track alongside Anderson .Paak and Jay Park; and next month, he\u2019ll make his solo festival debut via his first-ever live DJ set under the moniker NO1 at EDC Korea.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, by Hongjoong\u2019s account, the year started confusingly.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLast year, I really thought I knew myself very well because I know what I can do and where my good points and bad points are,\u201d he shares. \u201cBut at the start of this year, I felt I was still learning about myself because if I make songs, sometimes I use high notes and sometimes I use low notes, but I thought that my high note is good because my vocal tone is very high and I think I\u2019ll just use that when I make songs. But at the start of this year, when I listened to the songs that I made, I thought everything was not good. And also it makes me not \u2018enough\u2019 because \u2014 and I don\u2019t know why \u2014 artists always change their flavor and music types.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat reckoning and realization sent him looking for the gap between what he\u2019s become good at as a musician and what made him want to be one in the first place.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI thought I have to learn myself more with ATEEZ and also without ATEEZ too because I want to know about me, what I really like, and what I really don\u2019t like,\u201d he continues. \u201cThat\u2019s why this music style is quite different than what I made before and ATEEZ\u2019s style. I really love ATEEZ\u2019s style, and I know I\u2019m really good at doing a charismatic rap, but at the same time, the songs that I listened to when I was young were almost all emotional songs. So, that\u2019s why I started this song with the kind of emotional chords, but also the very unique and comfortable sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s not wrong about the charisma (listen to him declare himself the captain on \u201cSay My Name,\u201d the fire he spits on \u201cThis World\u201d or last year\u2019s solo cut \u201cNO1\u201d), but he\u2019s also careful not to plant his personal flag in any one genre.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the near future, [my style] can change, so I want to try to collab with more artists,\u201d he says. \u201cOr if I release more songs, I think many things within a year will really change because I\u2019m still learning myself. If I get my own style or learn my own style, I think there will be someday I can talk to you to say, \u2018This is my style.\u2019 I\u2019m not sure this is my real style, but these days, at least in April, I felt this is one of my styles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hongjoong\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHongjoong<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTyler Shields<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hongjoong\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHongjoong<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTyler Shields<\/p>\n

\n\tHongjoong\u2019s opportunity to go find out came from something he hadn\u2019t experienced in years: time off.<\/p>\n

\n\tLate last year, he and his ATEEZ members sat down with management company, KQ Entertainment, and discussed setting two vacation periods in 2026. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have any vacation before this year,\u201d he shares. \u201cWhen we confirmed to go on vacation, I immediately thought about how I could use that vacation for me and how I could use the vacation for loving myself and expressing myself at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAll eight ATEEZ members re-signed with KQ for another seven years in July 2025, with the second chapter leaving more space for individuality: Mingi released a six-track solo EP in May, Yunho has moved more into acting and others are taking on their own individual work, which Hongjoong frames as crucial maintenance for the group. \u201cWe put ATEEZ first,\u201d he says. \u201cBut at the same time, everyone wants to plan their own things too. I think that\u2019s very important to make ATEEZ last longer because everyone needs to express themselves and that makes synergy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn rediscovering his sparks, he first found a word with the song\u2019s title coming before the track did. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo be honest \u2014 well, everything is honest because I don\u2019t wanna lie to you \u2014 but when I started to write this song, I wanted to sing about [a topic] I\u2019ve never sung about before,\u201d Hongjoong explains. \u201cIn my head, sometimes I felt not enough. But also, I think for my whole life I\u2019ve been trying to find something that makes me enough, makes me feel enough. These days, after Coachella and after I got a little vacation, I thought about how something beside me, something nearby, already makes me enough. I didn\u2019t think that was enough, but I realized it was actually a very easy task, to make me enough and I didn\u2019t know before \u2014 and that\u2019s why I wrote these lyrics.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAfter I wrote the whole lyrics, I felt that many people will feel the same. These days, I think many people find that something can be lacking\u2026\u201d \u2014 here he pops out of English for one of the few times in the conversation, landing with his translator\u2019s help on the word \u201cdeficiency\u201d \u2014 \u201cyeah, a deficiency within their lives, something lacking. And I always focused on that too before. But these days, I think and want to say to many audiences that we don\u2019t have to fear the lacking or deficiency. If we focus on something that we already have, it makes me feel enough to me and can make you feel like you\u2019re enough too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite its deeper meaning, the easy-listening vibe of \u201cENOuGH\u201d sounds like a love song at first and Hongjoong doesn\u2019t mind that. \u201cThat\u2019s the whole message of this song, but at the same time, it looks very much like a love song too,\u201d he says of a serenade that doubles as a note to oneself. \u201cAnd that\u2019s very right: I love my job and I love our fans. Also, I can love some girls too; I can love another person or people. I don\u2019t wanna expose a very specific person or specific thing, but that\u2019s why I started this song, and that\u2019s the whole message of this song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hongjoong\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHongjoong<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTyler Shields<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Bazzi was part of the song well before he was officially on the record: the Billboard Hot 100<\/a> hit \u201cMine\u201d from 2017 and 2018\u2019s \u201cBeautiful\u201d were fixtures for Hongjoong before he ever entered the industry. But a shared festival experience did the rest.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe had good timing,\u201d HJ recalls of ATEEZ playing BST Hyde Park Festival the same day Bazzi was on the lineup. \u201cWe met and we talked a little bit about our lives. When I was training, his songs were very big inspirations to me, so I talked about that too because \u2018Mine\u2019 and \u2018Beautiful\u2019 were songs I covered and I listened to a lot. So I talked with him a lot, we exchanged numbers, and after we went back home, I felt like this song was a very good fit for him. And I really love his COSMIC album and this song gave me that same energy. So, that\u2019s why I asked him, \u2018How about this song? We could make some kind of magic together.\u2019 And he told me he 100% wanted to be in this song. So it happened very naturally and very fast. He recorded his part to me; we had some ping-pong about ad-libs and some chorus parts and very naturally made this song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHongjoong\u2019s quick, relentless work ethic means there\u2019s more where that came from. \u201cAfter I made this song, I actually have two, three more songs that I made,\u201d he shares, \u201cSo, if I have a chance, I want to release these songs with the right timing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hongjoong\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHongjoong<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTyler Shields<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hongjoong\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHongjoong<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTyler Shields<\/p>\n

\n\tThe day after chatting with Billboard, Hongjoong shot the \u201cENOuGH\u201d music video in Los Angeles with a concept in his head long before he finished the song. \u201cWhen I start music and film something, I have my whole vision,\u201d he says. \u201cWithout a visual, I really can\u2019t do anything, because my job is showing something to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe concept has Hongjoong leaving Earth in a spaceship and traveling to a collaborator\u2019s planets, with the first stop being Bazzi\u2019s planet. \u201cThis whole story started from me,\u201d he says. \u201cEight years with ATEEZ for me is a huge thing. I said I want more experiences, so for me, a huge experience is going to space. My huge role model is David Bowie. I love his music, but after my love of his music, space is one of my dream places. I\u2019m scared that I can\u2019t really go there in my reality, but I think I can make that visual in my music video. So, I want to travel space, but it\u2019s just \u2018my\u2019 space, in my head. I don\u2019t know when more collabs will come to me, but this is the start of the whole travel when I visit the Bazzi planet. Every planet will have a theme and Bazzi\u2019s planet is time. Because in my fast life, I always felt that lack or deficiency, but after his planet, all of my emotions and thoughts are all \u2018enough\u2019 to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor all the talk of learning to find contentment, Hongjoong has kept his and his band\u2019s larger picture in mind instead of tracking day-to-day success.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cK-artists, and artists in general, always have ups and downs,\u201d he shares. \u201cI\u2019m really happy with every achievement we\u2019ve had, but I\u2019m still preparing for the next step\u2026we can go down someday, but I don\u2019t want to make that huge gap to ATEEZ.\u201d He also doesn\u2019t want a year like 2026 or any of his future endeavors as an artist or group member to become what he calls \u201cforgettable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat next step is written into the end of the \u201cENOuGH\u201d video. After Hongjoong sings with Bazzi on the new planet, the lights on his spaceship start flashing, calling him back, and the viewer sees Hongjoong take one last look at the planet before he\u2019s aboard again, journeying to whatever experience and lesson the next planet has for him.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked what Planet Hongjoong looks like, he doesn\u2019t need to invent one \u2014 he\u2019s already found his home complete with seven other inhabitants.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy planet is Earth, actually,\u201d he says with a big smile. \u201cMy planet is ATEEZ, from now and forever, so my home is ATEEZ, so I can\u2019t move to another planet. I just go there and then I come back.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In April, Hongjoong returned to Coachella with nothing to do. Two years earlier, he had been on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,27340,497,10254,216,498],"class_list":["post-852781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-genre-kpop","tag-genre-pop","tag-global","tag-music","tag-music-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}