Eric Nam
Eric Nam

No matter what job or industry you're in, life is hard, but we're all going through a difficult time and the best thing we can do is pick each other up and move on together.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

I had accepted a position as a business analyst at Deloitte Consulting in New York. But before I went into that workforce, I decided to take a year off and went to India to do a social enterprise fellowship. It wasn't the best fit, but that was where a TV show in Korea found me and invited me to first come perform.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

Living in Korea was a big adjustment because a coffee is going to be a little more pricey than what it is in the States. Wages aren't as high either.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

My parents, or Asian parents in general, they're like, 'You should be a doctor, a lawyer, or a banker' - all that's laid out. As a kid that's what I bought into, which is why I ended up going the corporate route initially.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

When I first toured North America, everyone was saying that it was working because there is such as a solid Korean fan base here. The truth is, that is less than five per cent of the audience, which is mixed of all backgrounds.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

When people outside Korea think of 'K-pop,' most of them expect 'idols' with several members in a group, dancing in sync.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

In the States I might be an Asian face, look different from everyone else in TV and in music, but in Korea I look like everybody else, in Asia I look like everybody else.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

When I go to Korea and they say, 'Sing like a Korean person,' I can't do it. I didn't grow up with that sound.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

In Korea, I'm not a K-pop artist, I'm just an artist.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

Even if you look at 'American Idol,' or 'X-Factor,' or 'The Voice' or anything, it was always difficult to see an Asian or an Asian-American make it to a certain point.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

From a strictly business perspective, it's like, 'Even if you leave Eric alone, he'll do stuff. He puts his own album together, he gets his own gigs, he does everything on TV. Let him be, he's fine.'

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

You know, we never grew up with Asian American role models in the entertainment industry, unfortunately. I'd never seen an Asian face singing on TV.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

So the first thing I do when I get out of bed, I will check my phone real quick because I live in Korea, but my stuff is split between L.A. and Korea.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

I think one thing I wish would be a little different, and it'll take time, is yes BLACKPINK, BTS, these teams are taking over the world and they're everywhere, but I think at a certain point we need to really push for other artists as well, and really help bring them up further, for this to be a sustainable industry, a sustainable genre.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

I was criticized a lot when I was singing in Korean. The producers and people from my agency would point out my accent and tones, and would tell me I sound too American to fit the local market.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

I was part of the Atlanta Boy Choir probably like fourth and fifth grade. I personally didn't enjoy the type of music that we were doing. I was more into like whatever was on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

No matter what you do, you should enjoy it. You should really find passion in it.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

I want to position myself as a great singer/songwriter in Korea, then jump off that into different markets. South-east Asia, China, Japan - I've done nothing even though I speak four languages - English, Korean, Spanish, and a little bit of Mandarin.

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

I'm just looking for that one song that I know everybody's going to be like, 'Damn, that's a good song.'

Eric Nam
Eric Nam

On any collaboration, you want to respect your music and the other's music.