Singer-songwriter, rapper and dancer BamBam dishes out everything about his sound, style and new solo career for our October 2022 issue.

Though raised by an industry that&rsquo;s always chasing after newness and the next best thing, BamBam (<a href="instagram.com/bambam1a">@bambam1a</a>) is not one to worry about staying relevant and meeting other people&rsquo;s expectations.
These days, the <a href="https://www.lofficielmalaysia.com/issues/bam-bam-is-the-cover-star-for-our-october-2022-issue">25-year-old singer</a> is preoccupied with his personal and professional rebirth and building a career without his usual six-piece support system by his side. With BamBam and his GOT7 members Mark, Jay B, <a href="https://www.lofficielmalaysia.com/personalities/exclusive-jackson-wang-shares-his-thoughts-on-single-debut-leave-me-loving-you">Jackson</a>, Jinyoung, <a href="https://www.lofficielmalaysia.com/personalities/interview-got7-s-youngjae-on-his-solo-comeback-colors-from-ars">Youngjae</a> and Yugyeom all pursuing solo activities following their departure from their agency, JYP Entertainment, in January of last year, BamBam has been more than happy to explore his expanding professional space.

Read on to get intimate with BamBam on his musings, latest music projects and more:

THE BIG BAM THEORY

&ldquo;I realised that the world is bigger than I thought and that I can do more than what I thought because in the past year since I moved to my new company, I&rsquo;ve been doing a lot more than just music and performing,&rdquo; he shares.
Now signed under ABYSS Company&mdash;home to Korean acts such as Sunmi, Urban Zakapa and Sandara Park&mdash;BamBam is experiencing a different kind of freedom. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve learned more about myself and what I really want. I thought that my last company was everything and that if I didn&rsquo;t sign with them again then no one&rsquo;s gonna care about me anymore.&rdquo;
Since joining ABYSS, the style star has released two mini albums, worked with household names like Coca-Cola and Toyota, and has been named global ambassador for the popular life simulation video game The Sims 4 as well as the NBA&rsquo;s Golden State Warriors.

He also made history as the first-ever K-pop act to perform at an NBA halftime show, winning over an entire arena of basketball fans at Chase Center in San Francisco with his signature swag and original music. In the same vein, his love for fashion rarely goes unnoticed; BamBam has since been collaborating with fashion houses like Burberry and Louis Vuitton and was even unveiled as the muse for YSL Beauty Thailand.
&ldquo;I realised that I lived in a really small room, and it&rsquo;s like my new company gave me glasses. When I wear those glasses, it&rsquo;s like, &lsquo;Oh, okay, I didn&rsquo;t know the world was bigger than I thought.&rdquo; He radiates gratitude as he talks about this new chapter of his career, so much that you don&rsquo;t have to see him to know there&rsquo;s a smile spreading across his face as he tells the rest of his story.

"It&rsquo;s a good move that we decided not to change our fandom name. No matter where we go, it&rsquo;s still the same."

Even with their individual careers going in different directions, the men of GOT7 managed to pull off a full group reunion and comeback in May, and continue to reassure their fans&mdash; their beloved Ahgases&mdash;that they will remain, as the members themselves like to say, GOT7 forever. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good move that we decided not to change our fandom name. No matter where we go, it&rsquo;s still the same. Even though I&rsquo;m doing my solo activities, I&rsquo;m still part of GOT7,&rdquo; BamBam explains.
It gives him a sense of comfort knowing that he&rsquo;ll always be part of something bigger&mdash;something that he can always come home to and feel welcomed by. That pushes him to keep moving forward and improving his craft.

&ldquo;Every song that I sing, I try to make it my own style, but you know, when I put my voice in something, when I want to tell my story through my music."

Since his solo debut in June of last year with his first mini album, riBBon, BamBam has consistently shown his growth and versatility as an artist through music and concepts that are both unexpected, but somehow also distinctly BamBam.
&ldquo;You know, people always say that every artist has to have their own [sound or style]. But for me, although of course, I have certain things that I like or that I want to put out, I think the colour, the style, is in the artist, not in the music,&rdquo; he shares. One look at both riBBon and his sophomore mini album, B, instantly confirms this, as both are light and whimsical, especially in comparison to most of the darker, sexier concepts he has channelled as GOT7&rsquo;s BamBam.
And if in the past he was recognised more for his rap and dance contributions to his group, this time around, BamBam is making moves to highlight his uniqueness and musicality. &ldquo;Every song that I sing, I try to make it my own style, but you know, when I put my voice in something, when I want to tell my story through my music, then any style becomes BamBam style. It doesn&rsquo;t matter what style you&rsquo;re doing. If you&rsquo;re doing it, then it&rsquo;s your style,&rdquo; he says.
With his third album already in the works, his fans can only guess what he&rsquo;ll do or where he&rsquo;ll go next. That, perhaps, is precisely why BamBam has captured a loyal audience that enjoys what he puts out in the first place&mdash;because like him, it&rsquo;s music that&rsquo;s experimental, ever-evolving, and always, always exciting.&nbsp;

&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just sipping beer, you know, listening to jazz, chilling with my cats, and then I just have that moment where I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Oh, when did this happen? When did I get all of this?'"

One of the biggest challenges that many idols are faced with is growing up in front of the camera, and away from their families and the &ldquo;normal&rdquo; lives they could instead be living. For BamBam, pursuing this idol path meant leaving his life in Thailand and learning to fend for himself in a place he knew next to nothing about.
Now, having spent half of his life in South Korea, BamBam has only good things to say about the country that raised him. &ldquo;I came to Korea when I was 13. I spent my life here. When you spend your 20s in Korea, you learn a lot more about your life and you slowly gain friends and stuff. I have no friends in Thailand. I only know my family and my dogs.
But in Korea, I have a lot of friends&mdash;some from LA, from New York, from all around the world,&rdquo; he shares. Putting down roots in South Korea has also allowed BamBam to take a step back and properly appreciate the life he&rsquo;s built for himself. &ldquo;I have moments when I sit at home by myself, just reflecting while sipping beer, shot puno,&rdquo; he shares, not forgetting to inject his sense of humour&mdash;and his recently picked up Filipino slang&mdash;into what would have otherwise been a serious moment of contemplation.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just sipping beer, you know, listening to jazz, chilling with my cats, and then I just have that moment where I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Oh, when did this happen? When did I get all of this?&rsquo; I just realise, like, why did this happen so fast? I&rsquo;m staying in my dream house, I have my cat family that I love, I have friends around. Life is perfect right now.&rdquo;

Even with all the years of hard work he has put in and all the accomplishments and accolades he has picked up along the way, BamBam has managed to keep himself grounded, and still catches himself in awe when he realises how far he has come.
&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s the way my mom taught me to be ever since I was young. I didn&rsquo;t come from a rich family; I came from a poor family. My family had a lot of problems, my dad passed away when I was young&hellip; It&rsquo;s a lot of stuff. Of course, sometimes I also forget where I&rsquo;m from, and I&rsquo;m just so happy with everything I have, and I want more, more, more. But then there are also moments when I&rsquo;m like &lsquo;Why do I want more? I should be thankful that I have all these stuff right now.

&ldquo;It&rsquo;s for my future! If I get married, I want to send my wife to work, and then I want to clean the house."

It&rsquo;s easy to keep wanting more of something once you have it. Looking at a superstar like BamBam, who has been given nicknames like Prince of Thailand and Young &amp; Rich (both of which his GOT7 members are responsible for), you&rsquo;d think that his dreams are only getting bigger.
While there will always be new heights for him to reach, for BamBam, the goals that matter are the little things he has to work hard for. &ldquo;I want to learn how to do housework,&rdquo; he shares. With fans often pointing out his obsession for cleaning (run a quick Google search and you&rsquo;re bound to find videos of him sweeping floors on set or giving tips on how to properly clean your bed), the unfiltered explanation he provides for his dream of becoming more domesticated is an unexpected but welcome surprise.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s for my future! If I get married, I want to send my wife to work, and then I want to clean the house. And if the table breaks, I want to fix that. I want to fix all the stuff! And when my wife comes home, I&rsquo;ll be like, &lsquo;Oh, welcome home, I made you dinner!&rsquo; I want to do that stuff,&rdquo; BamBam shares in between laughs.

Whether he&rsquo;s talking about settling down, making jokes about early retirement plans, or simply poking fun at his wrinkles and many other signs of ageing he&rsquo;s been experiencing, every word that comes out of BamBam&rsquo;s mouth is a comforting reminder that at the end of the day, when the designer clothes are off and the layers of makeup have melted away, he really is just like everyone else, worrying about real-world problems that have nothing to do with making music or performing in front of thousands of people.
That, and that he truly lives up to his reputation of being completely, refreshingly honest. &ldquo;Behind the camera or in front of it, I&rsquo;m really the same person,&rdquo; he shares. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want people to love me as the person that they want to see. I want them to love me as the person I am.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Good news, BamBam. We already do.

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 The October 2022 "Fearless Future" issue featuring Bam Bam is now available in selected newsstands and bookstores in Malaysia.
 For all local and international online orders, please contact <a href="mailto:ordermy@heart-media.com">ordermy@heart-media.com</a>.
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COVER CREDITS:
By Nielli Martinez&nbsp; Styling: Danyl Geneciran Photographer: Tae Koo Kim Makeup: Eunju Lee Hair: Taehyun Kim Photography Assistant: Suya Lee Styling Assistant: Dooho Ahn

Interview: Get inside BamBam's mind on everything he represents

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