ATEEZ “Win” As Their “Stolen” Dance Move Is Immortalized In “Just Dance 2024”
Last year, ATEEZ were involved in plagiarism allegations involving one of the dancers who appeared on Street Man Fighter.
During the dance competition show, WDBZ crew member Vata was accused of plagiarism after being tasked to create choreography for Zico‘s track “New Thing.” Many viewers found the introduction of his dance to have a strong similarity to the choreography found in the chorus of ATEEZ’s track “Say My Name.”
This was heavily debated, with even Wooyoung being believed to have made a “silent” statement about the alleged plagiarism.
Vata ultimately apologized, though he believed “the choreography its being compared to has a different transition and means something different entirely.” This denial led fans to protest, trending multiple tags related to the incident.
Drop the new tags!
RESPECT ATEEZ #ApologizeToATEEZ #ApologizeToJosh #ATEEZisTheReal #SayMyName #ATEEZ #에이티즈 #エイティーズ pic.twitter.com/ZBEUvcnPGA
— HIATUS (@ATEEZDigital_PH) October 14, 2022
Now, fans are celebrating as the hotly contested dance move has been forever immortalized in a video game.
Just Dance is a rhythm game that features music from all around the world and, in recent years, has expanded to include a host of K-Pop tracks.
With Just Dance 2024’s release around the corner, gameplay previews have been shared online. On September 27, the preview for ATEEZ’s “Say My Name” was released.
And while most tracks do not follow a song’s choreography exactly, like in the case of the normal version of BLACKPINK‘s “Kill This Love”…
…”Say My Name”‘s Just Dance Extreme choreography includes the gliding dance move!
On top of this, Just Dance 2024 is set to come out on October 24, ATEEZ’s anniversary. Fans have been celebrating this “win” and huge accomplishment for the group!
This choreography is so personal to Ateez, this song and dance is their print, the fact that it made it to just dance 2024 it's insane, gonna cry, so proud of them 😭.pic.twitter.com/5kTaDHIZqV
— fri•• ⅞ my love 3D (@jeonshalaaa) September 27, 2023
tried to snatch the drive dance challenge as your own, only for ateez to snatch it right back and it gets put in Just Dance pic.twitter.com/643LPTSjOy
— 👑🌶️ (@sansoutlaw) September 27, 2023
I'd be excited for any Ateez song, but the fact that it's THIS one has me EXTRA excited. Ateez got the last laugh https://t.co/jxO0ZFY6kt pic.twitter.com/g1Zy2xGYDO
— Stormy Salgado (@StummyGado) September 27, 2023