How JB Defined His Public and Private Selves

Through a pair of tinted glass doors, my eyes inadvertently fall on a young man descending the slate staircase, headed toward the photo studio I’m standing in. His unzipped camo-green down parka flows behind him, exposing his simple white tee and gray track pants underneath. A sudden silence falls over the photo studio as everyone else’s attention draws toward him.

He opens one of the doors and pads inside. I remain at a table 10 feet away while nearly a dozen people — producers, directors, stylists, assistants — rush over to greet him. With a soft smile, he leans his body forward, shaking hands with them all. When his tousled hair, middle-parted and raven black, falls into his face, he doesn’t pause to brush it away. It’s like his shield from the flock of attention. His low, even-keeled voice is easy to miss; each “hello” and “nice to meet you” is uttered in decibels just above a whisper. He never utters his name. Everyone knows it: JB.

As fast as he arrives, he disappears into his dressing room. Half an hour goes by. Our cover star reemerges in a seaweed-hued leather jacket and black leather pants. The photographer, Ahn Joo Young, snaps a quick test photo. As the flash goes off, the 26-year-old is instantly illuminated as JB — leader of internationally renowned K-pop group GOT7. The shoot begins.

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JB whips around, improvising choreography putting the fringe hanging around his neck in motion. Every step, strike, and spin is as explosively executed as in his performances, as though JB has a crush on each member of the audience, anyone who sees these photos, and wants to impress them all.

“I think JB is an idol and a superstar,” he later tells me, making me recall this magnetic moment. “I don’t know if I can say this or not, but I make up my mind that I’m a special person. On stage, I’m the best version of myself.”

At first, this brazen statement strikes me as weird coming from a guy who seemed didn’t want to be looked at when he arrived. It’s quite loud for someone with an ASMR-level of confidence. As soon as his hair is slicked back and sooty mauve eye shadow blankets his lids, though, Lim Jaebeom shifts into JB mode.

Weeks have passed since JB has been able to take the stage, and the next time is hard to say. GOT7 was scheduled to perform in Singapore two days before the shoot and head to Macau at the end of the week, but the remaining stops on their Keep Spinning world tour were either postponed or cancelled. Mounting concerns over COVID-19 cleared the K-pop group’s schedule, as well as my own. One of my last days working outside of my home was spent witnessing JB in his element.

By the time we sit down in his dressing room for this interview, the rusted brown pigment rimming JB’s eyes 20 minutes earlier has been wiped away. He ran a hand through his hair. The street clothes are back on. His piercing gaze softens into warm eye contact, reflecting the bejeweled yellow smiley face charm hanging from his neck. He hugs his knees, feet tucked up on the makeup chair.

As he flows between speaking to me in Korean and English, I’m not sure if I’m talking to JB or Jaebeom. It’s like the thin layer of foundation remaining on his skin is making him glitch between the two. Sometimes, he’s frank, honest, and vulnerable as if we’re two friends catching up after a long day at work. Other times, he’s vague, evasive, and disarmingly optimistic in the way I’ve become familiar with when interviewing K-pop stars. These contradicting sides of himself have been warring within him since his debut in 2012.

“I’m usually the type to steer away from the typical ‘star’ character, but my job is to fulfill that,” JB admits. “So I contemplated a lot about ‘What should I do? What should I do?’ I came to think it would be interesting to show myself as a character, JB. I am myself, but I’m expressing one side of it.”

For a moment, I imagine JB cutting off a slice of himself to serve on a silver platter for public consumption.

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This piece started being prepared in 2009. JB joined JYP Entertainment, one of K-pop’s leading entertainment companies, after tying for first with fellow GOT7 member Jinyoung in an open audition. After three years of intense training, JB was introduced to the world for the first time as not as a singer but as an actor playing an idol in K-drama Dream High 2 named...JB. Several months later, the role became a reality when he officially debuted as half of K-pop duo JJ Project, complete with blonde hair with a middle-school emo phase haircut and clip-on bangs in orange and fuchsia. (Jinyoung was the mohawked other half.) In 2014, he debuted once again — this time as the leader of GOT7. March 2019 marked his third debut with Jus2, which is a subunit with, well, just two members of GOT7, along with Yugeom.

With eight years of K-pop stardom under his belt, JB has sharpened exactly who JB is — and what he should look like. As of April 2020, he has chin-grazing hair, a nose piercing, and often wears one colored contact in blue or red. (If a remake of 10 Things I Hate About You came out right now, Patrick Verona would look exactly like him.)

No matter what tweaks he makes to his presentation, JB delicately weaves together conventional representations of masculinity and femininity — a hallmark of male K-pop stars that intrigues me most about the industry. JB, in particular, blurs the binary by pairing suits with smoky eyes; glossy raspberry lips with track jackets. JB verifies makeup and masculinity are far from mutually exclusive; indulging in classically feminine things don’t make you any less of a sex symbol/Internet boyfriend/object of fangirl’s affection. He’s just showing the world how he sees JB.

“More than thinking in two separate categories of masculine and feminine, I just express them in the way that feels like me, the things that I like,” he explains. “Of course, [my definitions] change from time to time. One time, I thought manicures were feminine, but now, I think they’re really cool. I respect guys who are getting them. I might try black, white, or gray [polish] one day. Also, when I was growing my hair out, at first, I thought I would look feminine. Then, I realized there’s no masculine or feminine way of doing things. And after trying it out, I felt like the look is just like me in my own style.”

How would you describe your style, though, I inquire. He sighs, drawing out the words JB’s style as he ponders my question. He finally says he hasn’t thought about it in detail.

However, JB seems to subconsciously have an almost astrological set of defining traits for the idol character he’s created: sleek, stubborn, disciplined, and sharp. His actions on camera, his outfits, his hair and makeup should perpetually portray these characteristics. Thinking of him in these defined terms is easy because K-pop stars are often seen in confined situations. Their social media is strictly monitored. Their schedules are tight, limited to performances and TV appearances. You rarely see what they do in their free time because paparazzi don’t follow them in the way American celebrities experience. GOT7 fans will tell you JB’s no-nonsense, stoic, loyal, and assertive.

According to the stars, Lim Jaebeom is a Capricorn: ambitious, practical, generous, and patient. (After spending the day with him, I’m certain he fits the bill. I’d also add witty and empathetic.) He was born on January 6, 1994 in a city just outside of Seoul, South Korea. When JB closes his eyes, he can’t imagine at any point thinking he’d ever be where he is now, like doing his photo shoot for a U.S. magazine, going to the farthest cities from Seoul on world tours with a chart-topping septet, and winning major awards along the way. He was simply a kid who knew he wanted to sing, dance, and compose songs for as long as possible.

“I’m surprised so many people like us,” he says in English so sheepishly that I know he genuinely means it and it’s just being a humble idol. “I feel so nervous and happy. So many feelings come to my heart.”

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Those unfamiliar with K-pop may not realize it, but most idols don’t have a JB level of autonomy over their look. Most of the time, they’re willing canvases. JB is more discerning, veering his aesthetic more toward edgy and dark instead of the typical glittery and bright. Nothing is wrong with the later, JB says. Rather, he prefers to provide alternate representations of what a male K-pop star looks like. Growing out his hair helped him do exactly that.

“I wanted to get out of that box of K-Pop style,” JB tells me. “When you look at pictures of other guys, they usually have the same stereotypical two-block hairstyle [K-pop’s take on an undercut]. Because it’s part of our jobs as idols to look impressive, I wanted something different — a new look with more texture. This is my own way of expressing that.”

And the gradient of onyx, crimson, and cocoa often seamlessly blended onto his lids and the foundation evening out his complexion and giving it a glow is just for JB, he notes. When he isn’t working, JB hardly puts anything on his skin. Even when his skin is breaking out, he skips moisturizer because he believes drying out his skin helps clear it up. I wince at this revelation, and he quickly adds in English, “That’s only my tip, only for me.”

Piercings are another way for JB to experiment with boundaries. In October 2019, he got a stud in his nose. Three months later, fans were shocked when they discovered a picture on Instagram of him with an anti-eyebrow piercing, which was basically a barbell placed underneath the skin atop his cheekbone that looked like two studs below his eye. One of his friends, who has one dermal stud in the same area, inspired the unexpected placement, he tells me.

He did both on a whim, but they have thoughtful implications. “I wanted to show people that piercings aren’t a bad thing or good thing, but it’s a new cultural thing,” he notes, referencing the changing mindsets Koreans have about tattoos and facial piercings as accessories more than gang affiliations like they did in the past. Although piercing is legal in South Korea (unlike tattooing), getting them on anything other than your ear still makes many cringe. But that’s no different than part of America.

I tell him my parents freaked out when I pierced my septum. “Same,” JB says. (K-pop stars: They’re just like us.) “But I wanted it, so I got it. It's my body and my life. So I just did it.”

“Do you feel like getting piercings gives you more control over yourself?” I ask.

“Yes, I get the feeling that I'm responsible for my life when I get piercings,” JB remarks.

The subject of tattoos comes up. “I want one, but I change my mind too often,” JB shares, releasing a long sigh. “I have thought about the design, but then I think ‘would this be better than this?’ Because of that, I haven’t been able to get one.”

Because K-pop stars change up their concepts so often, the same aesthetic antsiness has seemed to trickle down into JB’s everyday life. He took out his anti-eyebrow piercing because he got tired of it. He recently dyed his hair petal pink just because. Although he hints during our interview that the hair color is a possibility, it’s unexpectedly vibrant for someone who has carved out a dark aesthetic for himself. For once, JB seems to be matching his multichromatic music.

Over the past six years, JB has penned GOT7’s title tracks like “Eclipse” and “You Calling My Name.” He’s also written and composed beloved B-sides, like my personal favorites “Teenager” and “Page.” Each is more synthesia-inducing than the next. Under an alias, Def., JB also drops moody, meditative songs without his face attached to them on Soundcloud or with his crew of friends called Øffshore.

Because JB is constantly making music — for GOT7, for Def, for Øffshore — I wonder aloud how he has anything left when he’s giving so much of his creativity to others. JB doesn’t make music when he feels unmotivated, he reveals. Instead, “I rest, write for myself, draw, or walk around town,” he adds. He’s even taken up painting. And if JB ever loses steam on stage, “I put on both in-ears and turn up the volume,” he continues. “Then I kinda go crazy as if I’m at the karaoke and tell myself, ‘I’m having fun.’”

Looking down at the time on my recorder, I notice our time together is running out. If his manager had it his way, we would have been done 30 minutes ago. When he wanted me to wrap up the interview then, JB cordially reassured him we were OK to continue.

“Are there things that you want for yourself in the future?” I decide to ask.

JB thinks for a second. “How far into the future?”

“How far can you see?” I return.

Although he’s a big picture person, JB says he hasn’t given the future much thought. “I just want to do what I want to do and keep constantly working,” he adds. “I tend to have a big disappointment if I get greedy and have expectations.”

Originally Appeared on Allure