QuoteBang Chan, plugged firmly into K-pop’s status quo, is aware that Stray Kids’ singles perpetually evoke strong listener reactions. As their popularity grows, this hasn’t altered, merely continued on a bigger scale. “There’s no answer to music. It’s all about preference,” he reasons peaceably. “We’re unique and experimental, that could be a reason why opinions are so polarizing, but as long as we like it, and if there are people out who like it the same way as we like it, then it’s a win-win situation.”
QuoteHe auditioned for JYP Entertainment at 13, entering their training program only to watch the friends he made debut in some of K-pop’s most successful groups, like TWICE and GOT7, 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.”
QuoteDuring 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.”
QuoteAs Stray Kids have become adults (their youngest, I.N, turned 20 in February) and their footing in the industry more sure, Bang Chan is no less alert to his duties but more at ease in wearing them, like a leather jacket that loses its stiffness to cling instead like a second skin. 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”.
QuoteThe 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.”
Quote“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.”
