K-pop dance prodigy has always been center stage. The Thai idol first made his debut with original five-member lineup in 2016, going on to join the group’s Chinese unit and later being hand selected as a lead dancer in the K-pop supergroup . The now 30-year-old has spent a decade refining his craft, deeply reverent of dance in all its forms and unfailingly pushing his artistry to new heights with releases like ‘TEN’ and ‘STUNNER’ highlighting the best of his creative endeavors.

In April of this year, the singer made the decision to step out on his own, leaving SM Entertainment, establishing his agency ILLIMNT, and embarking on a new musical journey all his own. Marked by three sold-out performances in his hometown of Bangkok, Thailand, as well as the release of his experimental single ‘OUTWEST‘, TEN is ready to reach new heights, trusting his vision and taking fans along for the ride.

CLASH caught up with the singer to learn more about the next chapter of his career, where he’s found the courage to take creative risks, and what it means to truly know oneself as an artist. Contemplative and ever the optimist, the singer is colorably enthusiastic throughout our conversation as he shares his philosophy on why it’s never too late for a fresh start.

NK: I would love to start by congratulating you, it’s been a decade since you debuted this past April. I like to start by asking, if you have one word to describe who you were as an artist when you first debuted, what word would you use and why?

TEN: I would say he’s a white piece of paper, he doesn’t know what he has [yet]. Since I was a trainee, a lot of my seniors and people around me would tell me “You have this talent,” or “You have this kind of charm in you,” but I didn’t know that [at the time]. So I would describe myself as a white paper because I didn’t know myself. Then through time, I got to explore different aspects of myself, and now I’m TEN!

NK: That’s a good way to put it! Do you have a word for who the artist TEN is right now?

TEN: I feel like he’s an explorer. It’s very hard for me to describe myself in one word because sometimes, I don’t really know what TEN is. I keep changing the way I think, the things I like— even if you see my old albums, and , they’re totally different albums. So I feel like “chameleon” would be kind of nice! 

I would agree, and I think you’ve done a good job at exploring different aspects of your artistry, both as a soloist, and as a member of NCT, WayV, SuperM—you’ve worked with a lot of different teams throughout your career. Has being part of a musical unit taught you anything about yourself?

Yes! Being in different groups really helps me a lot with adapting to different music genres, the way I sing. If you see NCT, their songs are very rap-y, very hip hop, very urban. WayV is very straightforward [with] high notes and powerful singing, and SuperM is a different R&B, pop, and suddenly there’s a super high note when Baekhyun sings (laughs). So I feel like different groups helped me with learning and exploring—it trains me to be able to face different kinds of genres when it comes to my own solo projects. 

I’m more open to different genres I think because of all those NCT, WayV, and SuperM projects. It helped me during my [own] recording as well because I got to try different vocals before I tried it with my own stuff. I’m not too afraid to try genres I’m not used to, because I feel like I got trained by so many groups over the past ten years (laughs). I feel like all of that stuff creates “TEN” now, when he does his solos.

Interesting! If you could go back in time to experience a specific era with either NCT, WayV, SuperM, or as a soloist—an era that sticks out to you—which one would you choose?

I’ll choose three, (he excludes WayV, noting that they’re his “forever group”). “The 7th Sense” era, “Baggy Jeans” era, and SuperM era, because these three eras really helped me. “The 7th Sense,” I’ll never forget that moment because it was the first time I debuted. It’s the moment I entered the music industry and it taught me a lot of stuff because at that time, I only danced. I did rap, but not that [much] rap, so basically I was only a dancer then, but after that I noticed okay, if you want to be an amazing singer like all the ones we have, you need to be able to sing, to rap, to improve yourself—so that’s the era that made me realize, “Okay, I need to work even harder!”

And then “Baggy Jeans” was the five members that debuted [together]–we got to be back together, and it’s just weird because we’ve known each other for almost ten years. But during “Baggy Jeans,” I could see each member’s sincerity more because they were more open. We got to talk more about our trainee times, things that we couldn’t talk about [back then]… so it’s just a very unforgettable era for me. And SuperM is just fun! We got to work with Taemin, Baekhyun, Kai—and then it was my first time promoting in the US, so we got to see a different system. And with SuperM, there were so many cool promotions that happened during that time, so it was really eye opening for me.

SuperM was a very very fun time, a lot of good dancers also in the group! Do you have a favorite SuperM song?

TEN: I want “No Manners” to be mine! And I want “Dangerous Woman” and “Wish You Were Here.” These three songs, I was like, “I wish it could be my solo song!” (laughs)

You touched a little bit on having started out as a dancer, which is something you’ve gotten to explore over the years with different dance projects, and I feel like people don’t often dig into what the dance side of the K-pop world looks like, so I wanted to ask, what does your choreography process look like, and how do you go from having a concept to a full dance?

Let’s go back to trainee days—during that time, I didn’t really have that much of a concept or anything, it was more like I listened to the song and just freestyled. But now, because they have TikTok and they have Instagram shorts, people can’t concentrate on one thing for a long time—that ten seconds feels like ten hours. So I feel like in K-pop choreography—I’m not a professional, these are just my opinions!—you need to make something that is very simple but at the same time suits the music, that’s why all of those dances become super viral. I think there’s so many different approaches to how you want to choreograph your stuff, but from my side, when I think, “Oh I want this choreography to be viral,” my brain gets overwhelmed, it’s pain! (laughs) So I’m just like,”You know what, I’m just gonna make a dance that looks very cool and very difficult!” and then I show that on stage—or that’s how I want to do it, but I also have the [perspective], “Okay, let’s try something very trendy, very simple.” 

So, I think those are the two approaches that I try, but the trendy one, it’s usually pretty hard because trends keep on going, and most times it’s just like a sudden click… you can’t really plan it out! 

Interesting! That’s a good way to separate them, because you get a little bit of everything. You also recently became the cofounder of your new label, and that marks a new sense of leadership in your journey. What are you most excited for as you begin this new path in your career?

I’m very excited with how I’m going to explore myself in ILLIMNT, because before, in my old company, I got my freedom to choose my songs as well, but it’s like a big company, everything had a system. So there were a lot of people who would say “Okay, I feel like this direction would be best, I think this kind of music video would be better.” There’s a lot of professionals in the company, and I respect that. But right now, have to talk to all the professionals, and I really feel overwhelmed because this single, ‘OUTWEST’ and ‘IRL’, I got used to the old system so I talked to music directors, staff members, even the visual director like, “What should I do?” and then they asked me, “What do you want to do?” and [I thought], “Right… what do I want to do?” 

Before, everyone prepared everything on a plate, and I would just go “I want to change this, I want to change that,” but this is an empty plate, and I have to kind of put everything on it with [my] team. So I feel like as an artist, I will be able to learn more about the art direction, the music videos, the music, and also [myself], in ILLIMNT. If I feel more confident, it would be nice if I could explore with new artists as well—that’s still a long way to go, but that’s maybe my plan!

You got to collaborate with some Thai artists during your performances in Thailand, and I wanted to ask, what was it like getting to perform a sold-out concert series in your hometown?

First of all, highly thanks to my fans, because it was in my hometown but I did realise there were so many fans from around the world, like China, Japan, the US—everyone was there to celebrate my tenth anniversary. I was scared at first because I left my old company in April, it was a very short period of time to prepare the concert and the announcement was quite last minute. So I was like “Are they going to come? It’s in my hometown and everything!” But they made it happen and I was really happy to perform in front of them. During CORE0110, I had a lot of input [I gave] to it, and then the feedback [from fans] was like, “I really like the stage, the lighting, the setlist was great, everything was perfect!” So I got a lot of good feedback and I’m very happy. 

And also—this is a good TMI—because it was [my] concert, we had a lot of Thai artists we featured every day, three days straight of different artists. That was my idea! And then I realized that, okay, sometimes your idea can harm you (laughs). It’s a fun experience because I’ve never tried something like three days with three different setlists, and it was six songs every day that were different, so I had to remember six songs every day. At first when I spit it out I was like, “This is gonna be super new, people are gonna like it!” And then when it happened I was like “Oh my god, I’m killing myself!

You kind of touched on having this new sense of freedom and ease, and that’s the message of your double single ‘OUTWEST’, and you kind of talk about how the songs are meant to contrast but they still come together to share the same message. Can you talk a little bit about what that message is and what that means to you?

So ‘OUTWEST’ is gonna be very different from what I did during ‘Stunner’ and ‘Nightwalker’. It’s like a tech-house, it has a little hip hop, and then it’s a little rap-y, R&B, and alternative. But the reason I chose ‘OUTWEST’ is because I left my old company—it’s like a new start, so I want to try something experimental. It scares me sometimes, because when I listen to ‘OUTWEST’ [I wondered] “Will people like it?” “Will everyone have their own expectation of what they’ve seen in the past?” So ‘OUTWEST’ kind of represents I’m starting new, fresh. Maybe the sounds that you’re listening to may not be what you expected, but I’m trying to peel my old skin—I’m not throwing away the things I have, but I’m trying something refreshing. 

And then if you see the visuals [teasers], it’s very simple. I only wear one t-shirt, [or I’m] shirtless, and it’s not too flashy. I chose that concept because during ‘STUNNER’, I feel like people concentrated more on the fashion, on the makeup, or the flashy hair color. So I was like, “This is a single and I just want to explore.” I want people to really see who TEN is without the flashy makeup, without the cool hair color, without the fancy clothes, just natural, everyday TEN. 

Talking more about your involvement in the process, ‘OUTWEST’ came out of a cowriting session in Los Angeles, and this is your first time participating in the process, which is very exciting! I want you to take me to the writer’s room—what was the experience like, what was the energy, what did you learn?

I’ve never done a song camp or songwriting session before in my life, so I was so scared. But I went to LA with Rabitt, he’s a producer who helped me. I went there for nine days, and eight of the nine days we did sessions in his house. Everyday we had two or three different songwriters or topliners come in. It was just a great experience to see how they came up with the melody. 

The first question that I got was, “TEN, what do you want to write about?” and that was the first time I got that question… because I always listen to demos and go “Oh I like this song, let’s do it.”. And then, suddenly, when someone throws me that question I don’t know what to say so I was just like, “You know what, let’s just talk about life!” And we had those therapy sessions every morning, we’d sit down, talk about life, or what we wanted to do, showed each other good references, and then suddenly every session was on. It’s my first time, so I got to add some parts, do the directing, more giving out opinions and my thoughts on all of the songs, so it’s very fun!

At first I was scared, but during the session everyone was like “TEN, this is your creation, everyone is here to support you, give you ideas, share ideas, and then as a team, we make something happen.” So those kinds of words really helped a lot during the session. We made six or seven demos, and then I came across ‘OUTWEST’ and I was like, okay, you know what? I feel like this is the song to release as the first single after I’m out of my old company and doing my own thing.

So you got to select ‘OUTWEST’ from the demos you guys came up with, how did you come across ‘IRL’ and how did you form the messaging of that song?

‘IRL’ is also from the camp! Once you come out of your old company and then you’re trying to do something new, you want something cool, something very powerful—those were my old thoughts. But when I listened to ‘IRL’, it was a totally different vibe. ‘IRL’ is very chill, it’s more sincere, and at the moment, this is my life right now. I just want to give the message that everyone can dream, it’s okay to fall, to start again, to be afraid, but what’s important is right at that moment in your life, who’s really around you and who’s really supporting you. You don’t know what the future is gonna be—just do it, don’t hesitate, don’t waste your time!

That is a good message! Fans are also very excited to see you during your US showcase tour, and you’ve told fans on your live to expect a “mini TEN close up concert party!” Are there any spoilers you want to give that people should look forward to?

I checked the venues, and I saw they’re pretty close up! Because I don’t really get to go to the US that often, except for KCON, I don’t really get to see my fans up close. I think it’s best for me to communicate with my US fans up close and get to know them in person, so it’s the best starting journey. For a spoiler, we had a lot of songs we prepared, and maybe fans will get to listen to some of my unreleased tracks as well!

You touched on not getting to see international fans all that often, are there any messages you’d like to share with them as they prepare for your visit?

Tell all my fans this is homework for them—I want a karaoke kind of showcase! I’m hoping that my fans can sing along with me during the tour. I’m the performer, but with us singing and dancing together, it’s like we’re creating the show together. I feel like us, together, we’re gonna make it a great experience.

Looking 100 years into the future, what is something you hope people always remember about you as an artist?

“This guy is not afraid to run!” I think at this moment, it’s going to be hard for me to say what do I want them to remember because, to be honest, I’ve been in the industry for ten years, and it might seem like it’s a lot, but it’s not that long. I feel like I’m in the middle of something great that will happen, so for now I just want them to remember, “This guy is fearless.”