Behind The Scenes
Undercover: Kai
Unique, Kai
âEXO Kaiâs exclusive cover.â The audience has been bubbling with excitement just from the editing. The editorial department wanted to make a special cover for our 7th anniversary so they have been working(?) hard to create secret rendezvous with Kai. The day our editor set a date for a photoshoot with the busy Kai whoâs been promoting a new album with overseas schedules, they internally screamed âHurray!â On the day of the photoshoot, Kai arrived at the studio before anyone else to calmly prepare for the shoot. After finishing his hair and makeup, Kai put on an avant-garde silhouette-like striped suit that not many people can pull off, and when he stood in front of the camera, the staff could only say one thing: â[You look] cool!â The dreamlike proportion of his long body and small face was a must, and he had the outstanding sense not to cause even a second of delay with his natural poses, resulting in satisfying shots. (The very first shot was chosen as the cover photo.) We were continually in admiration by his changing image from a childlike innocent smile to a shooting a powerful gaze. It was unbelievable to hear that this was his first solo photoshoot, and in an instant the photoshoot was over and our staff couldnât resist Kaiâs charms even throughout the interview. When Kai thought calmly and intently about our questions and carefully answered, we strongly felt a âmannerful youthâ energy from him. If we were to conclude, he shines among a large group and sparkles even when heâs alone, and it was very fun to capture his young image. Like Kai said in his interview, he hopes to capture â23 year old Kaiâsâ and â24 year old Kaiâsâ image with .
Q: Since weâre alone, should we compliment the other members or find faults in them?
A: The thought I first had was âThis is fun!â Different from when Iâm loud with the members, I was able to peacefully shoot by myself today. But on the other hand, I missed the loudness and wanted to see the members.
Q: Was there an image you wanted to try today?
A: I love taking photoshoots. There wasnât especially an image I wanted to try, I just think I had a fun time taking pictures today. I like various concepts and whatever I take, I like, so I want to take various ones. Since I only take a few [photoshoots] per year, I think itâd be fun to take â23 year old Kai,â â24 year old Kaiâ type photoshoots. Or I also want to try taking an everyday lifestyle photoshoot.
Q: What if you were to pay homage to someone you respect? Do you ever feel like you want to be something else?
A: I never thought that. I like being comfortable. Just Kai. I like being myself. Since I do powerful stuff on stage.
Q: What do you look at a lot and what type of things do you get inspired by?
A: I indiscriminately get inspiration from many things. Even from things that I see while walking on the street. Just now while we were filming, I was changing my clothes and I saw the mask was fallen off. Even looking at that I thought about many things. I cherish the time I spend thinking while listening to music or when Iâm alone.
Q: You watch a lot of movies and also read lots of books, right?
A: I mostly read novels. I donât read self-improvement books. Theyâre not fun. I like the fact that you can imagine while reading novels. Because with movies, you watch them. You see the story the way itâs shown to you. But with books, you can imagine while reading. The fact that in novels, the same character can be described but you and I will have a different images is interesting to me. So thatâs why I read books a lot. Especially detective/mystery novels and fantasy novels, things that create imaged in your head. I watch most genres of movies often, but I tend to not watch melodramas.
Q: Is there a specific reason?
A: I canât watch them. (Laughs) Theyâre not fun. I get sleepy. But whichever movie I watch, something can be gained. For example, I can design a stage outfit by looking at the clothing from the Middle Ages, or I can create a dance choreography from a characterâs situation or background.
Q: How do you feel about seasons or weather?
A: I have an opinion. Itâs not a big difference. My emotions arenât very inconsistent most of the time. I like winter more than summer.
Q: Why do you like winter more?
A: I was born in January. Since winter is cold, you wear layers of clothing. I like that warm feeling. Itâs a warm feeling, different from being hot. I like seeing people dressed warmly on the streets.
Q: Donât you hear that youâre very mature often?
A: I hear that often. I like fitting in with friends my age. But during my trainee days, I naturally realized from a young age that I had a little something more than my friends. But I donât enforce my thoughts or say âYou have to do it like thisâ or âThis is the right wayâ to them.
Q: Not everyone matures just from living with others since they were young though.
A: I was a very quiet child. I didnât talk a lot, but when I entered the company, I became brighter. There were many fun friends and people around me so as I socialized and talked with them, my personality changed. Iâm still very emotional and blame myself a lot and there are many times where I have too many thoughts that I canât sleep.
Q: On what days can you not sleep?
A: If I mess up a dance at an important event then I blame myself a lot. Then I suddenly forget about that and start thinking about something else. âWhy was I born?â When I was in elementary school, seeing the world with my eyes was so interesting. When I was in middle school, I thought âOut of all these people, why am I not this person or that person but me?â or âWhy am I looking at the world with these eyes?â and when I reached high school I fell deep into thoughts like âThere should be a reason why I was born.â Now I absorb myself in why I dance and why I sing. Because of these back to back thoughts, I stay up all night.
Q: Is âYouâre sexyâ something you hear often?
A: Unexpectedly, I hear that Iâm bright often. I also hear that Iâm kind. Not really because I actually look kind, but more because I look fierce and cold but when people get to know me they realize that Iâm not. People donât tell me Iâm sexy to my face but I like hearing those words.
Q: How alike and different is the image that people see you as and your actual image?
A: The way everyone sees me is different. When I dance, some people look based on the lines of my body while others look based on my feelings. There are people who look based on my strength too. I want to be a Kai that lets people think the way they want about me. I want to let their thoughts have freedom.
Q: Is there anything unexpected about you?
A: Iâm very careless. I lose things a lot and spill while eating like thereâs a hole in my chin. And I have a humor instinct too. In situations that make no sense I just force my words to make them funny. It comes out naturally when Iâm with people Iâm close with. When someone forces me, Iâm not very funny.
Q: Is the stage always new to you? Or is it somewhere youâre completely used to now?
A: Both. Generally, Iâm very comfortable and at ease on stage. But the emotions I feel when I start dancing is always new. There are times where I just dance to have fun and times where I dance to convey feeling.
Q: Itâs because you want to show that Kaiâs dance has something special to show.
A: On concert stages, I consider the songâs atmosphere and lyrics and I put feelings into my solo stages. For our title songs, there is an exact choreography and synchronization with the members, and if the lyrics have a big importance, there is no limitations to my solo stage. If it has a sad feel, my dance becomes sad, and if itâs sad but danced with a happy feel then the happy feeling is conveyed.
Q: Itâs a power of command of the stage then.
A: Itâs because an exciting dance is like a well made puzzle. I donât dance by just memorizing the choreography but I put reason behind every arm movement. I think of my dance like that.
Q: Do you have any desire to learn every type of dance?
A: I donât want to dance with an intention to conquer every type. Rather, I want to use different types of dances like tools to express different emotions.
Q: Do you go to see other artistsâ performances as well?
A: I donât have much time to do that. When I was young, I went to many ballet performances.
Q: But thereâs YouTube.
A: Yes. I watch [performances] through YouTube. I watch YouTube every day. I watch not just dances but funny videos too. For dances, I watch a huge variety. Not just famous dancers but small performances, musicals, dancing scenes from old movies like and things like that. I like videos of funny dances and songs from around the world too.
Q: Iâm curious about you music playlist.
A: I listen to EXOâs songs. Haha. Lately I practice singing a lot. This past month Iâve been listening to our countryâs musicians often. G-Soul, Na Yoonkwon, and Kim Yeonwooâs songs. I always like John Legend, Travis Garland, and Boyz II Men songs too.
Q: Is your interest growing from dancing to music?
A: Not long ago I bought an audio card and mic from Nagwon Arcade (t/n* shopping mall) and Iâm recording with Logic (t/n* Logic Pro X; a recording studio on Mac computers). I canât perfectly make songs yet; I can just refine my voice to make it pretty and do volume checks. Iâm doing it without stress and just having fun with it.
Q: Your birthday is the 14th. Do you know what day it is?
A: Diary day? I have no idea. White day and⊠What other days are there? Valentineâs Day. I never did that stuff. I havenât done it.
Q: Do you usually not celebrate anniversaries?
A: When someone celebrates my birthday I try to celebrate theirs. If they donât celebrate it then I donât really mind. I donât view it as that important.
Q: What do you do on your birthday?
A: After I debuted, I spend every birthday working. Haha.
Q: Where is somewhere you really want to go lately?
A: I wanted to go to Poland from August 1st to the 11th if I had no schedules. Famous dancers meet there and dance. I wanted to go to some workshops and learn some dances. But in the end, I couldnât go.
Q: Would you like to go with your family or friends?
A: Both is good. If I go with my friends, itâll be fun and if I go with my family, itâll be comfortable. If I go with my family then I would go to a vacation spot. If I go with my friends then I would go somewhere fun. I think itâll be fun to go to a deserted house and have a scary experience too.
Q: Is there a mountain (challenge) that you have to overcome right now?
A: I always have to overcome myself. Yesterdayâs me. Whatever good thing happens, I want to forget that and do another good thing. Not something materialistic or a result you can see with your eyes but I want to spend time understanding myself. Even though promoting is fun and happy, I am also happy seeing myself improve every day. I want todayâs me to be better at singing and dancing than yesterdayâs me.
Q: If you were reborn, would you want to be born as Kai again?
A: Yes. Because itâs fun. I want to do ballet as a child and be a ballerino, but I think I have to be Kai. Iâd like to be born as a little better Kai.
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