''Atlantis Princess'' is the third Korean-language

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by South Korean singer

BoA Kwon Bo-ah (; born November 5, 1986), known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer and actress. One of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers, she has been dubbed the " Queen of K- ...

, released on May 30, 2003 by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies where it was established in 1995 by record executive and record producer Lee Soo-man. The company ha ...

. Several singles were promoted off the album, including the promotional single "Lights of Seoul", "Atlantis Princess", and "

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

", with accompanying music videos produced for the latter two songs. The album was also released in some parts of Asia, such as the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, with the overseas version containing a bonus

VCD Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the ...

. Commercially, the album debuted at number one on the top 50 Korean monthly charts, with initial monthly sales of nearly 128,000 in from two days of shipments in May. It was the 4th best-selling album of the year in South Korea with sales of over 345,000 copies.

Background and release

The album's title track, "Atlantis Princess", was composed by Hwang Seong-je and is a fast-tempo

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

song that lyrically is reminiscent of a fairy-tale; it depicts the lost continent of

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...

and conveys a bright and hopeful message. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the single was filmed in Australia over the course of six days in May 2003 and features BoA dancing on a rooftop surrounded by tall buildings in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in addition to a grassy meadow and a sandy beach located in

Kiama, New South Wales Kiama () is a coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra. One of the main tourist attractions is the Kiama Blowhole. Kiama features several popular surfing beaches and caravan parks, and numerous alfresco cafes and restaurants ...

. BoA performed the song on live television for the first time on ''Inkigayo'' on June 1. The follow-up single "

" was written and produced by Kenzie. The Japanese version of the track was included as a B-side for her single "

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

" and was added as a bonus track to her third Japanese album ''Love & Honesty'' (2004). " The Lights of Seoul" is a promo CD single which was a special release given to people who attended Hi Seoul Festival in May 2003, and was introduced on the website of the Seoul Metropolitan Government as a promotional track for the organization.

Reception

Commercial performance

Although ''Atlantis Princess'' was released at the end of May, it was the best-selling album of the month and debuted at number-one on the album chart issue for May 2003, selling 127,887 copies. It retained its number-one position the following month and sold an additional 124,747 copies. ''Atlantis Princess'' ended at number five in the year-end ranking of the best-selling albums in South Korea for 2003, selling a total of 345,313 copies throughout the year. It was the second best-selling album by a female artist during 2003 after

Lee Soo-young Lee Soo-young (Hangul: 이수영; born Lee Ji-yeon, Hangul: 이지연 on April 12, 1979) is a South Korean ballad singer. She debuted in 1999 with the hit album, ''I Believe'', and quickly gained popularity due to her strong singing skills. Duri ...

's ''This Time''.

Accolades

"Atlantis Princess" won Best Dance Performance at the

2003 Mnet Music Video Festival The 2003 Mnet Music Video Festival (MMF) was the fifth of the annual music awards in Seoul, South Korea that took place on November 27, 2003, at the Kyung Hee University. Leading the nominees were duo Big Mama and solo artist Lee Hyori, with thr ...

, winning over

Lee Hyori Lee Hyo-ri (; born May 10, 1979) is a South Korean singer, record producer, activist, actress and television presenter. Dubbed as the "Nation's Fairy" during her ''Family Outing'' days, she debuted as a member of South Korean girl group Fin.K.L ...

's " 10 Minutes". In 2021, "Atlantis Princess" was ranked number 93 in

Melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...

and ''

Seoul Shinmun ''The Seoul Shinmun'' (translating to The Seoul Newspaper) is the oldest daily newspaper in South Korea with more than a century of publication. Its original name was ''Daehan Maeil Sinbo'' (''The Korea Daily News''), which was started on July 1 ...

''s list of Top 100 K-pop Songs of All Time.

Track listing

Charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

References

External links

* *
Hi Seoul (seoul.go.kr)
BoA albums 2003 albums SM Entertainment albums Korean-language albums {{2000s-pop-album-stub