In a recent interview 26-year-old Kim Jongin said “I wanted to show that Kai is limitless,”, when talking about his debut self-titled album.
Kai, released November 30, is just the first step.
“Over the years I've been in the industry, many people have seen me as a member of EXO. I have performed in front of EXO-L and SuperM fans. This is the first time I'm actually releasing something under my own name,” he says. “I want to show people who Kai is through this album. The name Kai means ‘to open’. So, I want it to be open and show a new side of me.”
That may be Kai’s beginning, but Kim Jongin, the youngest of three siblings, who grew up in Suncheon, South Korea, had an early interest in ballet and jazz dance. Taking on the persona of Kai at 17, he began to set the framework for what he’d soon become known for: a fluid, jaw dropping dance style infused with endless confidence, and smirking at the camera which makes all our hearts swell.
On stage, Kai paints a picture, flirting and winks to possessive and seductive swagger, to borderline arrogance. Off stage, however, Jongin is uncharacteristically shy: he blushes when complimented by his group members, is often forgetful, and loves his niece and nephew.
“Kai is me in my dream state,” he says. “When I'm sleeping, it's like my dream character comes alive, and that would be Kai. I’m more of a normal, down-to-earth person. That's just me, but Kai is this persona that's on stage… I do notice that when I'm dancing and pulling off all these different concepts, like a totally different person outside of myself doing that.”
“[I wanted to show] that I can do anything and that anything is possible,” he says. “It’s the connection between teleportation and the limitless possibilities that I have as an artist, as Kai. I wanted to showcase that all of these different sides are Kai, are myself.” “To be honest, I was pretty stressed preparing for all of this on my own, but I think I learned a lot about myself throughout this process. Not just myself as an artist, but [also] a lot about myself as a person: my personality, how I deal with stress, and just... what I’m like as a human being.”
“As my career progressed, fashion itself became a way to express myself on stage and the being that I am,” he says. “It's not just about expressing the song or the concept itself. I think it’s really important for me to try new things and have people notice what I've been trying. I actually want people to look back on the styles that I've tried as an example for them to reference later on. Fashion has become a really important thing for me to develop myself.”
“When I was younger and I first started dancing, I think I just simply loved dancing itself. I was immersed in the art of dancing,” he says. “I loved doing it, but I think as I've progressed as a performer, as my career has grown, dancing has not only become something I love to do, but it's also become a tool [to] express myself on stage and to audiences. Dancing has been part of more than half of my life now. It’s like a friend that I can't live without.”
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF SM ENTERTAINMENT