Atlantis Princess

''Atlantis Princess'' is the third Korean studio album (fifth overall) by South Korean recording artist BoA, released through SM Entertainment on May 30, 2003. The record spawned three singles, including the Seoul Metropolitan Government promotional single "Lights of Seoul", the title track " Atlantis Princess", and "Milky Way", with accompanying music videos produced for the latter two songs. An overseas version of the album, containing a bonus video CD, was released in several territories in Asia such as the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

''Atlantis Princess'' is primarily a pop record with lyrics touching on themes of pursuing dreams and aspirations. It was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics, with ''IZM'' complimenting BoA's performance and the album's production. The single "Atlantis Princess" ranked number one on the music programs ''Inkigayo'' and '' Music Camp'' for multiple weeks, and won Best Dance Performance at the 2003 Mnet Music Video Festival.

The album was commercially successful in South Korea, debuting at number one on the Recording Industry Association of Korea (RIAK) album chart in May 2003, with monthly sales of 128,000 copies from two days alone. It remained at number one the following month and sold over 345,000 copies in 2003, ranking as the fifth best-selling album of the year in South Korea and the second best-selling album by a female artist.

Background and release

The album's title track, " Atlantis Princess", was composed by Hwang Sung-jae and is a fast-tempo dance song that expresses a bright and hopeful message. The music video for the single was filmed in Australia in mid-May 2003. BoA performed the song on live television for the first time on ''Inkigayo'' on June 1.

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

Lee Min-hee of ''IZM'' gave ''Atlantis Princess'' a positive review, complimenting BoA's performance and the album's production. However, a reviewer from the ''Daily Vault'' was not as impressed, feeling that there were a number of "unmemorable filler songs". Retrospectively, "Atlantis Princess" appeared at number 93 on Melon and ''Seoul Shinmun''s list of Top 100 K-pop Songs of All Time and number 1 on ''The Forty-Five''s list of the 45 best K-pop songs of all time.

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 Recording Industry Association of Korea (RIAK) 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 in 2003 after Lee Soo-young's ''This Time'', which sold 435,904 copies.

Covers

"Atlantis Princess" has been covered by various K-pop artists since its release, including Taeyeon, Golden Child, DKB, Iz*One, (G)I-dle's Miyeon and Woodz, Mamamoo, and Nmixx. In August 2020, Bolbbalgan4 released a cover version of the song as part of SM Station's tribute project for BoA's 20th anniversary, which peaked at number 36 on the Gaon Digital Chart and number 26 on the K-pop Hot 100. Red Velvet released a jazz remake of "Milky Way" for the same project, which peaked at number 64 on the K-pop Hot 100.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

References

External links

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Hi Seoul (seoul.go.kr)

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BoA albums
2003 albums
SM Entertainment albums
2000s Korean-language albums