{"id":308899,"date":"2025-08-01T09:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/308899\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:35:15","slug":"xnghanxoul-the-remaking-of-a-k-pop-idol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/308899\/","title":{"rendered":"XngHan&Xoul: The remaking of a K-pop idol"},"content":{"rendered":"

For 21-year-old XngHan<\/a> (Hong Seunghan), his love of music and performance began when he was a small child. \u201cBy middle school, I knew there was nothing else but music for me,\u201d he says over Zoom from a white corner of a room within SM Entertainment in Seoul. It\u2019s flooded with daylight, making the outlines of his backwards-turned black cap, black jacket, and dark brows more sharply pronounced. \u201cI knew that I was going to be in this business and I would do a good job of it, and that determination hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d XngHan adds. \u201cI don\u2019t think it ever will.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a common standpoint for K-pop idols, who usually begin their training as teenagers, their lack of life experience at stark odds with the steely ambition that will help them to beat out dozens of fellow trainees, and debut. But this sentiment borders on profound, coming from XngHan following a 20-month hiatus after a series of leaked photos showed evidence of a romantic relationship prior to debut. During that time, however, he\u2019s been one of K-pop\u2019s most debated idols. An unwitting poster boy in fandom spaces, held up as an example by those who believe idols have the right to a visible (should they choose it to be) personal life \u2013 generally regarded to encompass activities like dating or clubbing \u2013 but, equally, by those who see such actions as irresponsible, marring the socially conscientious, fan-devoted idol image.<\/p>\n

XngHan and I talk one week out from the drop of his two-track \u2018single album\u2019 (as it\u2019s known in K-pop), which makes it nine months since it was announced he\u2019d return to RIIZE (the group he debuted with), a decision reversed due to fan backlash, and eight months since the announcement that he\u2019d continue as a soloist. It\u2019s my first time meeting XngHan, though I\u2019ve followed the enduring vortex of fan and media conversation around him, and maybe because of this \u2013 two years immersed in thousands of desperately positive and outrageously negative takes, of debates over cultural context and fruitless arguments around fan behaviour \u2013 that I imagine he might be polite but distant, with a gaze that verges on wary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nervousness causes his hands to fidget, but he\u2019s warm and attentive, with fine-boned features and a calming tone of voice. Look into his eyes for long enough and you\u2019ll glimpse the impishness of yore, though circumstance might well have tempered and matured it. He looks exactly as he does on his Instagram \u2013 casually dressed and makeup-free \u2013 where he\u2019s been going live semi-regularly of late. In them, XngHan always looks happy, and it turns out that he really is happy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pin<\/a>\"XngHan&XoulCourtesy of SM Entertainment<\/p>\n

Sometimes his Instagram Lives feature Jang Yul and Kyo Hong, two established K-pop dancers he recruited via Instagram, and whom he affectionately refers to as his \u201ccrew\u201d. Though technically a soloist, his new era is a collaborative one, dubbed XngHan&Xoul. \u201cBecause I like trying new things, I thought it\u2019d be great to have a crew. If you have a crew, you have more new things to bring to the table, hence I created Xoul,\u201d XngHan says. \u201cMy first priority [in finding collaborators] was sharing a passion for dance, and the second thing I wanted was for them to be around my age, because when we\u2019re the same generation we think and ponder about the same things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the switch on his own name, it began simply enough \u2013 \u201cIf I use \u2018X\u2019 instead, I can make it more brief but also kinda cool\u201d \u2013 then gained momentum to \u201csymbolise a lot of things; it could mean the unknown variable in a mathematical formula and also the infinity of possibilities and potential,\u201d XngHan says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s intimidating to be at the precipice of one\u2019s career, more so when you\u2019re aware there are many who\u2019d like to see you fail. But XngHan is assured and decisive. \u201cI\u2019m an ISTP,\u201d he says, by way of explanation, the same way someone might say, \u201cIt\u2019s because I\u2019m a Libra\u201d (which he also is). Whether or not you ascribe to the validity of online psychology tests, Briggs-Myer\u2019s MBTI, which sorts you into one of 16 personalities, has gripped South Koreans who\u2019ve been known to use it for assessing the compatibility of new friends and partners. \u201cOn MBTI, everyone is either a T or an F, Thinking or Feeling. More logical or more emotional, and I\u2019m 100 per cent a T. This is my forte but also a limitation,\u201d he acknowledges.<\/p>\n

According to the test, the ISTP is diligent and autonomous. They like to live in the present and communicate without sugarcoating things, which is perhaps why there\u2019s no big talk from him, the kind of chest-beating bluster that some people deploy when they\u2019re about to take the most challenging leap of their lives. He\u2019s consistent with it, too, his new music swerving the supercharged extravagance and bombast that K-pop has favoured over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

During his first idol incarnation, XngHan was known for his dancing and he\u2019s made sure the single \u201cWaste No Time\u201d and its flipside, \u201cHeavenly Blue\u201d, are fine canvases for his fast, fluid dance style, their instrumentals tugging skywards like helium balloons. But where fans guessed he\u2019d veer towards R&B, his songs are veritable water sprites, light, free and playful pop, his voice genuinely joyous as it whips and prances across the syllables.<\/p>\n

XngHan was one of the three lyricists on \u201cHeavenly Blue\u201d (and created its choreography alongside Xoul), turning a colour more frequently associated with heartbreak into something optimistic for himself. \u201cBlue is my favourite colour,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t tend to associate it with darkness or sadness, I think it\u2019s a very invigorating colour and, as \u2018heavenly\u2019 is also a very positive word, \u2018Heavenly Blue\u2019 means something very cool and refreshing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a poignancy present, though, if you\u2019re inclined to feel it out under the tootling trumpet and summery cascades of falsetto. On the first verse of \u201cWaste No Time\u201d, he sings: \u201cA madness in these familiar steps \/ A M\u00f6bius strip, endlessly looping all night long \/ Flowers crushed on the chosen path \/ You slow down, not finding the right answer\u201d. XngHan blinks, cat-like, musing: \u201cWhat I felt the most was excitement for what\u2019s ahead, that prevailed over everything else when I was recording, and even now.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he concedes that \u201cWaste No Time\u201d is two-sided \u2013 a goodbye to his dark days and a hello to the clear skies of today and the next. \u201cYou\u2019re on point, that\u2019s exactly what I wanted to convey, so I\u2019m happy you felt that way,\u201d XngHan says. \u201cThis is all about having a new mindset and standing on a new starting point. I think it\u2019s going to have an impact for people who are also facing a new challenge, and I hope this song can ground them and propel them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019m not someone who gets disturbed by every little thing and I\u2019m not a person with a lot of mood swings… [But] I\u2019m grateful people were rooting for me<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That starting point he speaks of has taken a long time to reach. XngHan\u2019s story, if you\u2019re unfamiliar with its finer details, could be described in simple terms as a line of slow toppling dominoes. Having written a public apology following the leak of his pre-debut photos, which appeared less than two weeks before RIIZE\u2019s debut single, the band debuted as planned on September 4th, 2023. But in October, another image surfaced<\/a> (taken from a private Instagram Live), and in November, conversations<\/a> from a different private chat room were leaked, as well as alleged footage<\/a> of him smoking. By then, a firestorm that couldn\u2019t be stamped out, XngHan went on an indefinite hiatus on November 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This caused the band\u2019s fans to butt heads. International fans, in particular, came to his defense \u2013 XngHan had done nothing illegal or even beyond the realm of the average teenage experience \u2013 but the complicated, passionate, and intense fan\/idol relationship is quick to blossom and easy to fracture, so while the band carried on with their scheduled activities and XngHan\u2019s supporters began to campaign to have him reinstated, XngHan did what he felt needed to do, and vanished from public view.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew there were mixed reactions,\u201d he says, rubbing his chin awkwardly, pressing his fingers into one cheek. \u201cBut I also want to say that I\u2019m truly grateful to the fans who have given me unwavering support.\u201d He went home, moving back in with his mother and father. \u201cThey\u2019re not very talkative,\u201d XngHan says with the tiniest of smiles. \u201cThey were like, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re back\u2019, and they didn\u2019t really give me a lot of advice or bother me. I tried to keep things off my mind because I had to kind of let things pass, I had to [still] live my life. I would go to my room and listen to a lot of music. I\u2019d try to keep my routine very simple. That\u2019s how I was trying to live those days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He made his days regimented. \u201cI have a park in front of my home, so I loved to go running there, then I\u2019d go to the gym and work out. I\u2019d work on my lyric writing and composition. I kept trying things for self-improvement and, compared to then, I now have more power and stamina.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

XngHan doesn\u2019t have to think too hard to recall those early days and weeks, they\u2019re indelibly etched on his brain, but he unspools his memories carefully and matter-of-factly. Though a pragmatist by nature, he found himself staring into a global maelstrom of heightened emotions, theories, and conspiracies which were gripping fans and non-fans alike. His name was on everyone\u2019s lips. He had two options – stay plugged in to the chaos or step back and recalibrate. \u201cI tried not to look at the reactions online, especially in the beginning,\u201d he says. \u201cI had to give myself some space and clear my mind, to use this time to work on myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pin<\/a>\"[ImageCourtesy of SM Entertainment<\/p>\n

He kept a low, almost invisible, profile but as the hiatus dragged on with no official communications or updates, fans began to demand answers. Was he in or was he out? They got their reply on October 11, 2024, nearly eleven months after his hiatus began, when it was announced that XngHan would rejoin the band in November. What was celebrated by his fans was met with waves of hostility by those who maintained that he\u2019d had his chance at idol-dom and blown it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latter camp protested, not just with the usual tidal wave of online comments but by sending hundreds upon hundreds of traditional Korean funeral wreaths \u2013 large standing flower arrangements with messages printed on ribbons \u2013 to SM Entertainment. Two days after the reinstatement announcement, on October 13, XngHan wrote to fans of his decision to leave RIIZE, this time permanently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Understandably, no one was too sure if XngHan wanted to do, or was ready for, this interview, but he said yes, yes to drawing a definitive line in the sand, and perhaps the possibility of his new start bearing a little less shadow of what was. XngHan fiddles with his jacket and points at his chest: \u201cI have a healthier body these days, and I think I have a healthier mind at the same time, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are moments from the past two years that remain off-limits to discussion, but XngHan describes the end to his time in an idol band as feeling \u201cnot really like I was on an emotional rollercoaster ride but more like being in a car driving on a road\u201d, despite how it looked to everyone on the outside looking in. He considers himself balanced and cool of composure \u2013 \u201dI\u2019m not someone who gets disturbed by every little thing and I\u2019m not a person with a lot of mood swings,\u201d he notes \u2013 but still, \u201cI was just so thankful that there were people rooting for me. I knew, again, there was that diverse mix of reactions, so I talked with the company and came to a decision that was best for all. And I do think that it was the best thing,\u201d he says, his voice fading just a little.<\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t think I’m going to be going back and forth between genres in the immediate future. I\u2019m always opening up doors for exploration<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What happens next for Hong Seunghan, and for XngHan&Xoul is, for the first time in a long time, far more in his control. In terms of setting goals, he\u2019s inclined to \u201cgo hard on myself as a professional artist\u201d but he\u2019s also visibly bewitched with this new avenue through which to create art, whereby he can do something as small, personal and pleasurable as creating pin badges for his crew (a dancing figure with wings that form an \u2018X\u2019 shape) but as significant and high stakes as choreographing for, and writing on, his releases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019s brimming with inspiration but acknowledges that \u201ca lot of my ideas spring from talking with people in SM Entertainment, we have many amazing people here, so we brainstorm a lot. And also with Xoul, when we’re eating or just hanging out, we toss around a lot of ideas.\u201d And as exciting and fresh as everything is, he\u2019s keen to employ a certain deliberateness to his work. \u201cI don\u2019t want listeners to be confused regarding what I\u2019m giving them as a soloist,\u201d XngHan muses, \u201cso I don\u2019t think I’m going to be going back and forth between genres in the immediate future. I\u2019m always opening up doors for exploration, like maybe making band music and creating a band with Xoul, but I really want to be able to have consistency.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Talking like this, where he\u2019s already mentally skimming towards the future, he suddenly catches himself. If there\u2019s one thing XngHan has learned and had to learn to do well, it\u2019s to live in the moment, to just be. He knows who he is, and what he is: \u201cStrong,\u201d he says nodding. \u201cHealthy.\u201d He pauses, folds his arms, and laughs. \u201cAnd crazy for music.\u201d<\/p>\n