#skz interview

Click to see in chronologial order or comeback organized links

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[251117] Stray Kids JTBC News Interview Full Eng SUB. Link

[251117] Bang Chan and Felix The Morning Show - Sunrise Link

[251121] K-POP ON VideoPodcast Spotify Link (complete) Youtube highlights Link

[251121] Stray Kids DO IT Q&A MTV Music - MTV UK. Link

[251121] Bang Chan on John Park’s Small Talk. Link

[251123] SKZ on Idol Human Theater Link

[251126] LeeKnow & Hyunjin on The Quest - Pixid. Link

[251127] Bang Chan & Changbin -Ong and the City. Link

[251127] Lee Know, Han & IN - Bread Unnie. Link

[251211] Lee Know on Boo Seungkwan's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo. Link

[251211] Stray Kids on Allure. Link

[251222] SBS Exclusive Interview. SBS YT link Eng subs

GQ put out a Chan solo interview today (9/16/21) where he talks a lot about his trainee period and upbringing. I’m dropping some highlights here because it’s a cool read.

(...) He auditioned for JYP Entertainment at 13, entering their training program only to watch the friends he made debut (...) while he remained stuck and frustrated in the practise rooms for seven years. To this day he’s unsure of what made him stay. “That’s something that I ask myself as well, I’m still very intrigued by the fact they kept me here,” he ponders. “Trainees come and go, they get cut by the company or they leave by themselves but I had no thought of leaving, they had no thought of kicking me out. I think the company found potential in me, and I felt potential from the company as well. It was a two-way thing.”

As a youngster, he remembers frequently moving from suburb to suburb in Sydney. The eldest of three, he describes himself as “a very curious child. You know how there’s a saying of “curiosity killed the cat”? Yeah, well, with my curiosity, I got into a lot of trouble.” His parents enrolled him in taekwondo and soccer, and, aged seven, he found an affinity with swimming, his winning swathes of medals leading his father to set up a swimming club.

Music was a constant throughout childhood, it was, he says, “always there”. His mother recalls him spontaneously breaking into little dances in the street as a toddler, bemusing passers-by, and it was her wide-ranging love of pop—Air Supply, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra—that instilled his own. He joined the school choir and took part in his class music shows, recognising his love of music and entertaining was something worth pursuing more seriously.

During difficult periods in his idol training, when he often felt what he calls “lost”, he questioned that decision. “I did think, ‘Maybe being an idol is not the right path for me, maybe I should have just kept swimming, maybe I should have become a soccer player’,” he says. “When I’d get really tired, I always thought, ‘I took a ten hour trip. I said bye to all my friends and family, I said bye to a lot of things to come here, am I going to go back?’ And that motivated me to keep going. I didn’t want to regret it.”

(...) Leading a K-pop group bears no resemblance to fronting a band and relishing the spotlight. Rather it tasks the bearer with being a dependable rudder and anchor for the group. Growing up, Bang Chan would naturally canvas friends’ opinions on what they should do when they hung out, endeavouring to see everyone had a good time. He was also a school prefect—“I wasn’t the best prefect,” he laughs—while home life presented its own challenges with two siblings, aged nine and seven years younger than him. “We kinda had it rough back then, it was tough,” he says. “And because Mum and Dad would be so busy working, I’d take care of the kids. Taking responsibility came without me knowing.”

(...) In some respects, he says, three years as an idol hasn’t changed him all that much. “I’m still the person that tries to think of others first and be aware of my surroundings. What has changed is the physical stuff—performance, stage presence, producing, singing, rapping, my body structure” (...)

The more he writes and produces, the more progress he sees in the quality of his work, then chastises himself for pointing this out; “I don’t know if I have the right to say this myself, because I still have a lot of improving that needs to be done.” He’s someone who struggles to compliment himself, habitually raising others as he downplays himself. “Maybe it’s because I’m expecting myself to be better so I’m pushing myself harder.” Bang Chan slowly inhales, thinking. “Another reason could be, well, I don’t think I actually, really love myself. It’s not like I hate myself but because I’m still trying to search for the real person that I am, I’m still awkward. It’s funny, because I’ve never thought of helping myself out. That’s done by the members right now, they acknowledge the stuff that I do and compliment me because I don’t compliment myself. That’s something I’m really thankful for.”

The independence afforded to Stray Kids has made Bang Chan prolific as a writer and producer but he seeks out, as he has for years, the trust and creative friction within 3RACHA to continually challenge himself. The classical piano lessons which he took from the age of five (and guiltily recalls hating) drilled into him discipline and structure, which is a boon and a burden. “It gave me limits with my own music and sometimes when I’m working, I’m like, ‘Can I go a little further? Maybe? But, ah, I need to match this to what music is supposed to be like’. Changbin and HAN have helped me so much. Sometimes we clash but [we find] a centre point where we all agree, then something new comes out and we break stuff. With them I’ve realised I can have fun with music.”

He also credits his bandmates with helping him “realise who I am as I slowly find the path”. Yet Bang Chan turned a significant emotional and artistic corner this year on NOEASY, instilling songs such as ‘The View’ and ‘DOMINO’ with acceptance, confidence and a renewed hopefulness. Perhaps he’s further along his path than he realises. “I think that’s right,” he muses slowly, thinking aloud. “During Kingdom, (...) especially ‘God’s Ddu-Du-Ddu-Du’ stage, I felt good because Stray Kids [as an identity] felt so good on me. And just imagining myself this free and excited about everything—that made me feel like, ‘That’s who I really am’.”

(...) “Like, 20 years from now, I have no idea what’s going to happen. So, as long as I do what I’m supposed to do, I believe that the universe will package my future for me,” he says, serenely. Maybe he’ll still be taking to the stage with Stray Kids or maybe not, but he remembers having had a dream set in the future and it was one that made him happy. “It was kind of a funny dream... of townhouses, like a little village," he says, "but we had eight houses, and each of us were living there in our own house and just having a really, really great time.”

Stray Kids are arguably the hardest working act in the music world right now and it’s clear the musical juggernaut has no plans of slowing down. As they wound down their gargantuan dominATE stadium world tour, the octet still found time to release their new album KARMA, forged from late night writing sessions in hotel rooms around the globe, crafting the album in-between sound checks and performing to tens of thousands of STAY each night. Their incredible work ethic paid off and earned the K-Pop idols their seventh consecutive debut at number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart- the first artists in history to achieve such a feat. Lead by their incredibly driven leader Bang Chan, the group, consisting of Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, HAN, Felix, Seungmin and I.N, continue to explore things sonically with KARMA.

Anchoring the centre of the album is ‘Half Time’ with all the markings of a classic maximalist Stray Kids’ song. The track has a melody that playfully hops around, plenty of percussion and American football sound effects woven in (should we start manifesting a Super Bowl halftime show now?) Having a song with the strong sonic DNA of the group allows them to branch out in a kaleidoscope of musical genre directions for the rest of the album. Their whimsically bonkers lead track [‘CEREMONY’] has live-performance-crowd-pleaser written all over it.  A particularly successful experiment has come in the form of punk-rock. ‘In My Head’ has a noughties skater punk-pop, Greenday or Blink 182 rocky-angst to it, which suits the group’s sound well, full of crashing guitar riffs and existential lyrics. ‘MESS’ continues the forlorn mood with a sweeping rock ballad of longing. 3RACHA (the production and sub-unit, comprising of Bang Chan, HAN and Changbin) continue to refine their RnB prowess, with the really accomplished rap track ‘CREED’ full of production depth, cranking sound and a more mellow rap style. For all the exploration, like the message that runs through a stick of seaside rock, Stray Kids make sure to continue reflecting their journey. ‘Phoenix’ and ‘Ghost’ both follow the group’s journey of overcoming trials, hurdles with determination and drive- key pillars and manta of Stray Kids.