To understand why Ten of NCT, WayV, and SuperM is in such high demand, all you have to do is watch him in motion.
Contemporary dance is at the heart of his first solo single, “Dream In a Dream,” which was released four years after he joined Seoul-based company SM Entertainment and one year after he debuted in the ever-shifting NCT U. Empty verses and sparse choruses, as well as a barren set, left room for Ten’s dancing to take center stage. The effect was breathtaking — in 2017, it whet the appetite of those getting their first taste of NCT’s then-novel concept — but more importantly, it showed what Ten brings to the table when twenty-plus members, and multiplying, are seated by his side.
Since then, his work in NCT’s Chinese subgroup WayV and SM’s internationally-focused SuperM has peeled back more layers. Ten is a playful cat dad and doting hyung (“older brother”) to the younger members of the former, and a multilingual, agile communicator in the latter. (Not to mention a powerhouse performer in both.)
On social media, he shares tattoo-like doodles and fluvial, free-diving experiments; last year, he poured his love of visual art into a collaboration with Represent, before becoming the canvas himself in a pigment-soaked video for “Paint Me Naked,” a feel-good pop track. “I really want to do everything,” Ten tells Consequence over a Zoom call, cozied up in a multicolored flannel and beaming.
The music video for his latest single “Birthday,” released on Wednesday (October 26th), positions dance once again at the forefront, as two veiled figures, himself and another, perform a sensual pas de deux. The track — which is part of the NCT LAB project, a series featuring solo releases, self-composed songs, and unit collaborations from members of NCT — is more explicitly romantic (read: sexy) than what we’ve heard from Ten as a soloist before, but there’s another marker of growth for the artist: Here, Ten’s honeyed vocals, high and sweet, play a starring role.
In the below interview, Ten discusses all of the idol mentors, romcoms, and funky hats that have brought him to this moment — and how he’s still figuring out just who Ten really is.
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