247 Asian Media’s Adrienne talks to Chad Future about KCON 2013!
Chad Future, the stage name of American K-Pop artist David Lehre, is a very interesting and often talked about figure in the world of K-Pop. At KCON 2013, Chad Future made his M Countdown stage debut, as one of the opening performers.
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This performance was a wonderful opportunity to see the artist perform, after hearing him speak at the Day 1 panel, The Art of Remixing and Sampling K-Pop. While at KCON, camera crews could be seen following Chad Future, as he was filming scenes for his upcoming MNET America show, Chad Future TV. The first episode of Chad Future TV will feature f(x)‘s Amber, with whom Chad Future has recently collaborated. He attributes the future of K-Pop to establishing strong collaborations between Western artists and artists who are established in K-Pop.
247 Asian Media:You were one of the opening acts for KCON 2013, after participating in the side stage, in the past. How was that experience for you?
Chad Future: I had dreamed of performing on M Countdown for about a year. I had a photo of the M Countdown logo, which I looked at everyday. To see it all come together, was a dream come true.
247 Asian Media: From the early planning stages, it appeared as though KCON 2013 would not include a taping of M Countdown. After you were informed that there would be a filming of M Countdown in Los Angeles, did that add to your excitement to perform?
Chad Future: When I heard the M Countdown information, I realized that my dream was coming true. For M Countdown to have their first LA taping was serendipitous.
247 Asian Media: Many criticize that to be considered an authentic K-Pop artist, one needs to be Korean. That opens to the debate what is K-Pop. Is it still K-Pop if the performer is not Korean is a universal question. However, there are events like the World K-Pop Festival, where entrants are specifically not Korean. What are your thoughts on this concept that non-Koreans are being encouraged to perform K-Pop by some but being criticized by others.
Chad Future: It can be seen as elitist and the wrong way to view life to have one person dictating what reality is. We can create our own reality. No one should stand in judgment of my decision. I will do whatever I dream. If there are challenges along the way, I will not let them stop me from pursuing my goal.
247 Asian Media: M Countdown What’s Up In LA gave us the opportunity to see the results of the collaboration of G-Dragon and Missy Elliot. What musical styles like electronic dance or hip hop, do you feel best work for K-Pop?
Chad Future: Normally, it could be easy to say that pop and hip hop mix well with K-Pop, but we have seen elements of country music used as with 2Yoon. Also, you see jazz in K-Pop, as with Yoseob‘s Caffeine. There are now elements of every style of music in K-Pop. As the boundaries of communication are broken because of the Internet, K-Pop and music are boundless. Everyone can share, remix, and a unique spin on music. It is an exciting time, because now we can all share.
247 Asian Media: What advice can you give international K-Pop fans who want to become more involved in the industry on a professional level? These fans may be involved in cover dancing or singing covers, but do not know how to break in to K-Pop.
Chad Future: The best advice would be to learn the language. I have been on the journey of learning Korean for about four years, now. During a meeting two years ago, J.Y. Park encouraged me to learn the language in order to be profitable in K-Pop. Put yourself on YouTube, in order to share what you are doing, create a team, and generate excitement, as well as a platform with what you are doing.
YouTube allows you to connect to people and fans, as well as to broadcast to others.
If you are not Korean, you need to be bulletproof. In these early phases of AK-Pop or International K-Pop, you need to be willing to avoid the noise. If I would have listened to everything people have said in the past year and half, two years, I would have quit. People try to bully people with their own opinions. You just can’t listen to that.
247 Asian Media: What are some encouraging words for American fans of K-Pop, who may feel isolated because of their love of K-Pop.
Chad Future: It is unfortunate how still there are many people who are narrow minded, in the world. I am of the mindset that if someone doesn’t want to be informed about K-Pop, it isn’t worth trying to change their mind. It is often better to agree to disagree and not bring the subject up with those who are not necessarily open to K-Pop.
247 Asian Media: Where do you see Korean entertainment going in the future?
Chad Future: I see it taking over a lot more than was it already has. Similar to what was seen with G-Dragon and Missy Elliot, I know that is going to happen a lot more. I am already working on that, with K-Pop artists, to blend the styles together.
If you are an American listener who doesn’t know what K-Pop is, I would like to provide an entry point. If you never heard K-Pop before and the first group you are exposed to is Crayon Pop, they a very good entry point for K-Pop. There needs to be good entry points like collaborations like G-Dragon and Missy.
Then, they can start unlocking other elements of K-Pop and recognize the satirical elements of artists such as Crayon Pop and Psy.
247 Asian Media: Where do you get inspiration for your personal styling, as well as the styling for your MVs?
Chad Future: Before discovering K-Pop, I always loved clothing. I had my own clothing line and I have always loved fashion. American males are put in a box to have to wear drab, monotone clothes. There is so much out there to wear. K-Pop didn’t change my style, but I gravitated to the style because finally there were others who shared my perspective on fashion. In K-Pop, you can wear pink as a guy and not be considered effeminate.
For MVs, I am inspired by K-Pop videos and the styling of American music videos from 1999 through 2003. K-Pop adopted the amazing style of American boy bands, took it and made it better. K-Pop has the style that I liked, but the style moved to Korea.
In addition to speaking about his future projects, Chad Future discussed the desire for future audiences to get to know him.
Getting To Know Chad Future
Birth Name: David Lehre
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
DOB: 8/8/1988
Height:6’0″ (183cm)
Weight:138lbs (63kgs)
Bloodtype: O
SOURCE: 247 Asian Media
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