Jacket, Louis Vuitton
Never meet your heroes. Distance, after all, has a way of flattering an image. Up close, everything magnifies, and the more you uncover, the easier it is to see the flaws. That is perhaps why the idol industry has perfected the art of carefully constructing personas, and why, even years on, an artist can find themselves living inside an image built for them. These days, that distance between person and persona has become harder for BamBam to ignore.
You would think that someone who has it all on paper — a sprawling discography, a career that has only climbed since his debut, and a fanbase spanning Thailand, Korea, and far beyond — would be exempt from the kind of existential questioning every year-end seems to bring. BamBam, as it turns out, is not. When the 29-year-old sat down for our interview, he told me that approaching his 30s was a kind of reckoning. “Last New Year, when I was 28, I sat down and looked back. I realised that 2026 would be the last year of my twenties. I asked myself, ‘What have I done for the past 10 years?’ And the thing that I found was: I never lived for myself. You get what I mean?” It is hard to say I do, especially when confronted with every accomplishment he has amassed over his 13 active years in the music industry.
Jacket, pants, all Louis Vuitton
Coat, shirt, pants, tie, shoes, all Louis Vuitton
There is not much BamBam has not done. The GOT7 member and solo artiste has more than 50 songwriting credits to his name, has released five solo EPs and albums, walked the Louis Vuitton runway as ambassador, and sold out Bangkok’s Rajamangala National Stadium on his BamBam THE 1ST WORLD TOUR [AREA 52] concert — a period of his life he describes as the most memorable. “It was my first solo tour, and I got to visit a lot of cities,” he reminisces. “Since it’s different from touring with all my [GOT7] members, I learnt a lot of new things behind the scenes. I got to achieve my goals through that tour, and I think it was a time in my life that took me to the next level.”
For so much of BamBam’s career, that ‘next level’ always persisted — another release, another stage, another fan to win over. “I think a lot is different now. Actually, I’m still trying to catch up these days, because everything moves so fast. Oh, this makes me feel so old. Shit,” he laughs. “Back then, we didn’t have TikTok. We didn’t do challenges and stuff. It was just about making good music, performing on music shows, touring, doing content on radio stations, YouTube… and that was it.” Now, he says, good music is only the starting point, because the world always wants more.
After more than a decade, keeping his gaze fixed on that ‘next level’ becomes almost instinctive. “How did my life end up here without me knowing?” he remembers thinking on that New Year’s evening, when he turned his gaze inward. “I just kept running, running, and running,” BamBam said, reflecting on his career. While making Hometown, BamBam embraced his own pace. He shed the heavy makeup, the glamorous costumes, the brightly dyed hair — and, for a two-week expedition to Thailand, his entourage too.
Jacket, pants, Speedy P9 Bandoulière bag, all Louis Vuitton
Jacket, pants, shoes, all Louis Vuitton
Returning to his birthplace, Bangkok, felt like something he could do entirely on his own terms. “When I was in Thailand, instead of being swayed by other people, it felt like I could do what I really wanted. If I wanted to go [anywhere], I went. And if I didn’t want to do anything, I didn’t.” He brought up a striking memory from his trip. “I was hungry, and walked out to this food truck. I don’t know if people recognised me or not, but I just sat there and ate.” He smiled. “And no one stopped me.”
Take away all the embellishments of stardom, and BamBam’s ambitions come across as remarkably ordinary. It tracks along his idea of a ‘perfect day,’ one where he goes to bed early, wakes feeling refreshed, and has a moderate — not too heavy (he stresses) — breakfast. Even the immense task of spotlighting Thai culture internationally comes to him with ease. “I’m not trying to link K-pop or T-pop. For me, music is just music, and language isn’t a wall that separates two styles. I’m just being myself, and being myself is already super Thai. That’s how I feel I can represent Thailand.” For all the spectacle that surrounds him, BamBam is, in many ways, a regular guy who makes music, sits in the front rows of Fashion Week, and has 17.9 million followers on Instagram.
Coat, shirt, Speedy P9 Bandoulière bag, all Louis Vuitton
Jacket, pants, shoes, all Louis Vuitton
Mention the numbers, and BamBam will tell you that he is letting go of that too. In making Hometown, BamBam realised how much he had come to measure himself in numbers. “You don’t live for that. At the end, engagement and all the social media stuff — it’s just a number. You live in the moment, and those things come after without you having to try,” he says. “Once I stopped chasing that, the engagement actually got better. I gained more attention and more fans while enjoying my life more and stressing less. I think it’s because people can see the soul inside. Every photo I post is truly me, and every post is something that I want to post — not because anyone is telling me to, but because I want to.” He brings this philosophy with him into the more glamorous parts of his life as well. “At first, I was so nervous about Fashion Week. I felt like I had to act cool, but then I realised none of that makes sense. [Now,] Fashion Week to me is about meeting good people, and enjoying the moment.” He recounts another travel memory that made an impression on him. During a particular Fashion Week season, BamBam chose to stay in at his hotel to dine with his bandmate Jackson Wang, instead of heading out.
This simple act speaks to a shift in the singer’s values — rather than pursuing the next industry high, BamBam is drawn to spaces where there is no need to perform. And with his GOT7 members, familiarity has replaced any need for pretence. “It’s so weird because no matter how much experience I gained, I feel like I [can be like a] little kid again when I’m with them. I’ve been with them since my trainee days, when I was 13, until now at 29. We’ve been through thick and thin, the bad days, good days and all. We don’t need to fake smiles with each other or act mature, because we’ve pretty much shown every side of ourselves to each other. I can be myself.”
Shirt, sweater, pants, tie, belt, all Louis Vuitton
On who that version of him is, he directs us back to Hometown. If the album’s start coincided with his return to Bangkok, it ultimately marked BamBam’s return to himself. After years of dwelling in hindsight and running toward the ‘next level’, Hometown gave BamBam the space to be fully present in the life he already had. “My other albums were always about me talking about the past. But when I looked back again, it seemed like I was so obsessed with the previous version of me, and what I’d been through. I never paid enough attention to the person I am now. After Hometown, I feel like I can be more myself. I don’t need to please people any more. I don’t care about the past. I don’t care about the future either. It’s just BamBam right now.”
Jacket, Louis Vuitton
Photography Kim Hee June
Creative Direction & Styling Izwan Abdullah
Interview & Executive Producer Manfred Lu
Story Vanessa Grace Ng
On-Set Stylist Ahn Dohoo
Hair Eojin | MIZANGWON by Taehyun
Grooming Lee Eunjoo
Production Assistant Kieran Choe
Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our October 2026 issue.