Eric Nam

“I'm active on social media because that's such a big reason why K-pop and Korean music performs the way it does.”

“When you think of Gallant's music and his voice, you don't automatically think, 'Oh, Eric Nam would be great a fit' or 'Hey! Tablo would be an amazing fit.'”

“I think K-pop bands rock, and their success raises my spirit to perform better on stage.”

“There was a point when dancing to music became cheesy after the boy band era of NSync and Backstreet Boys, but there were always those who craved that kind of visual satisfaction. K-Pop really filled that void, because it's so geared to spectacle.”

“It was a dream to be a singer/performer, but I never thought I had a chance or had a real shot; I never thought I was good enough.”

“I'm the type of person that if I feel strongly about something and if I really want to do something, I'm just gonna do it. And if it works out, amazing, and it's like 'I told you so,' but if it doesn't work out, that's fine.”

“Korean, yes, I am now fluent in Korean. I was not always. When I got to Korea, I was constantly put on TV shows not knowing what was going on. So that forced me to learn Korean so I could stop looking like an idiot.”

“In the States I might be an Asian face, look different from everyone else in TV and in music, but in Korea I look like everybody else, in Asia I look like everybody else.”

“I'd love to do some collabs or music with Latin artists and in Latin America - we're working on it! I just really love Latin America and the language, culture, foods, people, and it's a place I grew up visiting pretty often.”

“Living in Korea was a big adjustment because a coffee is going to be a little more pricey than what it is in the States. Wages aren't as high either.”

“People around me tell me that I need a bigger persona and to act a little more A-listy because 'that's where you are but you don't act that way, so people undervalue you.' But that's not me.”

“Typically in Korea when I perform I have a full band, a ten-piece band, and that's a completely different monster in itself to prepare and rehearse.”

“It's become hard for me to trust people and though I'm the type to go, 'everybody is born good,' you come to question that.”

“I've done commercials and won awards, but I know that this won't last forever.”

“When people outside Korea think of 'K-pop,' most of them expect 'idols' with several members in a group, dancing in sync.”

“You've just got to believe that people will see and appreciate the value in the music and the artistry that we bring when they hear it.”

“It's always good to dream big, right?”

“I think up until the 'Honestly' album it was very much label-company lead, of 'this is a sound that we need, this is what you need to do. You need to do ballads, you need to do a million different types of love songs,' and I hate ballads and I hate love songs.”

“I learned Spanish as my second language from middle school through high school. I grew up volunteering at homeless shelters and tutoring kids of Latin immigrants in Atlanta, who didn't speak any English. That prepared me for when I traveled.”

“So Mandarin, I picked it up, I spent a year in Beijing studying but then when you don't use it, languages, you just kinda forget it all.”