Eric Nam gets no breaks this summer, not even on a tour stop in his hometown Atlanta. When the K-pop star stops there on June 26, his folks will have no choice but to scramble for one giant get-together if they want to catch him — before long, he’ll be off to make stops in more than a dozen cities for his “Honestly” tour.
The tour, which kicked off June 5, hits 14 North American cities this summer, among them Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
His third EP “Honestly,” which dropped in April right on the heels of the tour’s announcement, takes a new approach to love for Nam, whose music has focused on the initial butterflies of new love or the helpless feeling that comes with that first fall. “With this album, I wanted to share stories that were a bit more honest about love,” Nam said in an email interview. “[‘Honestly’ is] about the more difficult conversations that can come up with love, breakups, heartbreak and the experiences that we go through.”
Nam was discovered by B2M Entertainment after he competed on a popular singing competition on Korean TV in 2012. He debuted as a K-pop singer in 2013 with the single “Heaven’s Door.” The “Honestly” album contains six tracks, two of which are performed in English. The music video for the titular single was filmed in Mexico, and paid respect to Nam’s love for Latin music while prefacing the album’s Latin-influenced sound.
The Korean American frequently collaborates with American artists such as KOLAJ (“Into You”), Gallant (“Cave Me In” featuring Tablo) and Timbaland (“Body”). Similarly, making “Honestly” was a collaborative process for Nam, who wrote almost all of the tracks with L.A.-based songwriters. “I took chunks of time out of my schedule in Korea to really invest in getting in the studio with some great songwriters,” Nam said. “Once we were in the studio, it came out really organically.”
Nam is fluent in both English and Korean, which comes in handy when writing music. Ever conscious of the cultural differences between American and Korean listeners, Nam begins by writing his songs in English and then carefully translating them into Korean in a way that makes the most sense.
For “Honestly,” however, Nam felt it was important to keep the original meaning and lyrics of two songs in particular. “I didn’t want the story to get lost or twisted in any way,” Nam said about the two English tracks “Lose You” and “Don’t Call Me.” “I also think I sound better and more comfortable in English, and with music being such an international medium, I didn’t see the need to translate everything into Korean as we had done previously.”
K-pop is trendier than ever in the United States thanks to acts like BTS. Despite the exposure and curiosity, Nam said he feels many have not yet quite grasped the concept. “I don’t think people have yet tapped into the complexity and the diverse nature of K-pop,” Nam said. But he remains optimistic. “I think BTS has done a lot to really open up that door, and I’m excited to see how audiences respond to other artists that are up and coming.”
Nam next shows in New York City and will conclude in Houston, Texas, on June 29.
