"I'd never seen an Asian or Asian American singing in the States -- as crazy as that sounds."
Born in the U.S., he was discovered on YouTube and became a K-pop star in South Korea. Brut spoke to Eric Nam about being a crossover artist and about why representation matters.
Born in the U.S., he was discovered on YouTube and became a K-pop star in South Korea. Brut spoke to Eric Nam about being a crossover artist and about why representation matters.
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00:00I got an email that I thought was a scam
00:03Because it literally was like send us your passport. We'll send you a flight
00:07come to korea and I was like
00:10Whatever like what's the worst that can happen?
00:16I did it. They sent me a flight got to korea
00:19And then I got to the top five of this major tv show
00:23Oh
00:27Again it was like, okay, you're top five
00:29You didn't win and music and entertainment is so risky. Like are you gonna make it like you don't really know
00:35that's been absolutely
00:37incredible tonight
00:40But I knew that if I didn't give myself the shot I would regret it for the rest of my life
00:44Got it. Thank you. She's explaining to me what?
00:50No, no, no, no, no, no, no
00:53It doesn't mean do it. It's just
00:57I remember when I was like in kindergarten
01:00Like what do you want to be when you grow up? I was like, I want to be an artist
01:08I remember it was with a bunch of my relatives and they all just started laughing and I was like, oh
01:13I guess it's not cool to be an artist. I don't know
01:16Is
01:21The other thing was probably like
01:23There were no asian or asian americans doing music
01:28in the west in america at all, so like
01:31How is that even gonna happen? Like I think there's a very
01:34there's a major importance to
01:37Being able to see what you want to be or become
01:40like you can't
01:42Dream a dream if you don't know it's possible at all
01:46So I think that's why something like barack obama becoming president was such a big deal because then all of a sudden
01:52It makes it possible for african americans to become
01:55President like it's a real dream because until then it's like how I think I'd never seen an asian
02:03or an asian american
02:05Singing in the states as crazy as it sounds
02:13When you started on youtube you were posting covers
02:16So this is like the early 2010s when youtube is starting to boom
02:20What were you hoping to get from putting yourself out there in that way?
02:25Um, I think it was just some sort of validation like I was never really singing in many places
02:31I kind of sang at church. I did like one talent show in senior year of high school
02:36one or two and then
02:37I'd never really put my singing self out there and the internet as crazy as it is and as crazy as it sounds
02:43internet felt like a place where
02:46I could put myself out there and people in my immediate vicinity wouldn't know and I could get feedback like you're awful
02:52That you were doing it. Not really. No
02:54um, my
02:56Friends in college, you know, it was from there where I would start get getting like
03:00Comments of like hey, you have a great voice. Hey, can you try this song? Can you try that song?
03:05When you nod your head yes, but you wanna say no, what do you mean?
03:10and I remember
03:12Uh, justin bieber's account
03:14I don't know if it was him or whoever was running his account also commented on my video was like
03:18Oh, you got a great voice. I was like, who is this child?
03:29I had visited korea a few times maybe two three times
03:34Growing up, but I never lived there. I never spent extensive time there
03:38My korean language skills were not very good. And so
03:43It was a big culture shock
03:53Um, I think everything was just very exciting and new once that settled in I think it was
03:59Oh like I have to be
04:02Like
04:03On all the time like i'm like a public figure and oh like culturally
04:09And linguistically, there are so many things that are different from
04:13Who and what I am?
04:15And I have to learn
04:16How to fit in and play the play by the rules here asap
04:23I just tried my best to fit into any situation say i'm out. Everybody's talking about something. I have like no idea
04:29I'm, just like sitting there
04:31Translating words that i'm picking up and just catching the the gist of what's happening
04:40I think so much of how we view kpop at least internationally
04:44Is in groups, right?
04:46Um, was it a conscious choice for you to remain solo? I was too old to be in a group
04:51I remember being told that I was 23
04:55At that time they're like you're too old you've aged out and so they're like
04:58Maybe you could be like the front man of a rock band, but rock bands don't really work that well in korea
05:02It's really tough. So your best shot is to be a balladeer
05:06in korea, and I was like
05:09sure
05:12There's
05:14something incredible about
05:16Singing with your fans who are singing every word and lyric back to you
05:23Do you ever feel like you're straddling
05:26A cultural line
05:28Always. Yeah. Yeah, that's my entire life. Yeah
05:31I think that used to freak me out that I was like, man, like who am I like?
05:34What am I doing?
05:35Like there are so many languages and different sides to what I am and who I do and the type of work that I do
05:41Do you ever feel like you're betraying your roots a little bit?
05:45I don't feel like i'm betraying my root
05:49You go ahead and answer that I think what you're trying to get is do you ever feel like i'm
05:54Leaving the place where I started in a way I can understand if people feel that way but for me
06:01I think
06:02being an artist is about
06:04finding and creating
06:06The best versions of yourself through different forms of mediums through different mediums
06:16I've gotten to a point where it's like it's all me
06:19It's all me and you don't have to say this is american eric this is korean eric it is korean american eric
06:28Doing whatever is most compelling. Yeah and inspiring. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna party hard for the next few songs. Okay
06:37You guys ready?
06:40If there was a kid right now if I was a kindergartner that was asian like me
06:45It would be no question like sure go for it
06:48One two three
06:52One more one two three
06:57Awesome