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[Exclusive] A Day with Eric Nam (Part 2)

April 29, 2014December 10, 2019 Emi

Hey Eric Nam fans! Read part 1 of the interview? Here comes part 2!

Being Eric, with multiple talents, on TV and radio, what does he do on a daily basis? “If I don’t have a schedule, I wake up at around 1pm, or 2pm if I’m really tired (O.O). Then I’ll go to the gym, workout then probably head to the practice room and practice. Lately its been dance practices and a bit of work at the office. I have a lot of ideas, marketing wise and I’ll see if there are any opportunities out there. After that I’ll probably end up having dinner with friends then back at Sweetune (who produces Eric’s latest comeback Ooh Ooh) and spend all night there until about 3-7am and go back to sleep.” So that’s why Eric woke up late, haha.. “Usually when I’m at Sweetune I’ll sing a chorus for someone, do a demo or just be in the musical atmosphere which I love. And if I have time, I’ll go for a movie, or watch some TV.” added Eric about his normal daily life.

In Ooh Ooh, Eric danced along with the dancers. “I don’t usually dance. The song Ooh Ooh is a dance song, and I don’t want to dance previously and if we were gonna do it, I told them if we can keep it as simple as possible. And they were like “Yeah, we’ll see about that”. Then one day they said “Eric, just dance!” and I knew I was in trouble. The first couple of times my dance instructor was like “You might need to just stand on stage and people will dance around you” and I’m cool with that. But then we worked hard and before the music video shoot, we practiced every single day for 3 weeks, at least 3-4 hours a day. So we’ve definitely come a long way from where it was and it was my first time really dancing. I can foresee people saying that I’m an awful dancer but I’m hoping that it’ll come off as “Ok, he worked hard, and he looks cute” So don’t expect any EXO or 2PM intensity. The dance moves just fits perfectly with the song” (And yes Eric, you looked cute and the practice shows off)

“I’ve always wanted to go into acting but because Korean is not my first language, it’s a bit hard for me. Unless its a role of a foreigner staying in Korea or a Korean who lives overseas. I would also like to do variety shows” says Eric when asked on his plans other than singing. “I’ve done singing but I’m not really satisfied with what I have done. I want to do my own songs, also new and different genres as well. As a singer, I feel its good to try different genres and just to challenge yourself. For my first album, it was acoustic but with Ooh Ooh, its more groovy, and funky. I also want to try jazz or RnB. Hopefully I got to show those in the future” continues Eric on his future plans.

So if Eric were to be in a drama, what genre would he like to be in and who does he want as his leading lady? “I’m ok with anything except melodramatic stuff. I think I might be good in at maybe a comedic role or sarcasm? (lol). For my co-star, hmm, there’s so many options, who will be good for me? (thinks hard – Eric looks cute with his thinking face). Obviously I would like to choose Suzy but too many people wants Suzy nowadays and.. Jun Ji Hyun! Jun Ji Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun (both were in the number 1 drama, Man Who Came From The Stars), if they were in anything together, I would be happy to just be around them and maybe be a servant or a driver in the drama. These are the 2 hottest people to work with right now. As for Suzy (of Miss A), I think it would be fun to work with her, and Ha Ji Won (acted in Secret Garden), I think she’s cool but maybe she’d beat me up (:P) I’m always up for anything. And definitely, I want to work with the hottest actor and actress in Malaysia!”

When asked about his inspiration in life, Eric said “First, it would be my parents. They migrated to the States almost 30 years ago, not knowing how to speak English and not having anything. But my dad got his way through education. He would go to class, get his notes, translate the text book in Korean, memorize everything and translate it back to English. Just imagine going through translating everything and memorizing it. My parents provided a life for my brothers and I, and I’m thankful for that. I get to have a proper education, and was able to experience a lot of things. Looking back at what they did was amazing. They are hardworking, passionate and loving people, which I think is very important in life. They’ve always been very giving, not just to family but to other people too” (Aww.. now we know where you got that trait from Eric.. thanks to Eric Nam’s parents).

“Musically, Bruno Mars is my idol, and if I were able to meet him, I would freak out and pass out (lol, Eric the fanboy)! Other than Bruno Mars, I also like John Legend, Adele, John Mayer, Alicia Keys and Beyonce. Bruno Mars and Beyonce are really good that when I look at their videos, I was thinking ‘How do they think of that!’. The two of them are brilliant and creative artistes.”

Looking at Eric Nam, you’ll never know of his bad habit. “I want to be cleaner! Not physically cleaner, not with my body but my home. I have this bad habit of not cleaning and putting things away where they belong. Its not to do with dust as I’m kind of a germaphobe (a person who is obsessed with cleanliness), but when it comes to putting my clothes away and doing the dishes, that’s when it goes bad. Like when I’m busy, I don’t spend too much time at home, so my home looks like a trash can. That’s one thing I’d want to fix.”

Being on After School Club show, is there anything that you wish you hadn’t done? “Apparently I cursed on the show, which I was not aware of. Sometimes things happened, I said things wrongly and it came out sounding like a curse word. I wish I hadn’t done it but its an honest mistake.”

Spring is here, so any recommendation of a good song? “Definitely my song, Ooh Ooh!” (laugh) Eric sang a couple of lines from the chorus and we were bowled! It was so good!

With that ends our interview with Eric Nam. We finished at Garosugil and was brought over to Sweetune’s studio where Eric practiced for his song Ooh Ooh (we were really excited as at the time the song was not released yet!). We managed to see Eric’s professionalism while in the studio and how cool he is behind the glass window.

After voice practice, we head out to dinner first then off to B2M Entertainment and met Eric’s choreographer and backup dancers. There, Eric showed us the dance for the new song and proved that the practice he had was worth it. (Eric is a pretty good dancer and it shows off in the music video and the live performance too.) But all good things must come to an end. That night, after spending a few hours with Eric, with a heavy heart, we had to say goodbye. Yet in our mind, the song for Ooh Ooh kept on playing on and on and on and.. (we can’t help it, it’s so catchy!)

Hope you liked our two part interview with Eric Nam and that he inspires you as much as he has inspires us. May he continue to inspire people all over and keep on listening to Ooh Ooh! featuring Infinite’s Hoya!