Beomhan Now Knows The Limit Doesn’t Exist

Debuting with a new fashion collection and his first single, Beomhan is learning he’s an all-around artist.

It might come as a surprise to you to learn that Beomhan, once one of the most popular trainees in K-Pop, started a fashion line. Sure, he’s always had great style but when you run down the list of things Beomhan is most known for, singing, dancing, telling an amazing story, fashion would probably be farther down the list.

However, on January 1, the singer announced that he had produced a winter fashion collection which incorporates the text of “Beomhan” into a tiger face, inspired by the meaning of his name. “The theme of the tiger is symbolic with my whole career and perseverance, how I’m willing to take challenges or when difficulties arise I push through that,” he told me this week from a quiet cafe.

The fans, who Beomhan calls Tiger Cubs, who’ve followed Beomhan since the beginning are well aware of how much perseverance it’s taken to get to this point. When we last spoke in September, Beomhan was only a week out of his contract at FM Entertainment and still plotting his next moves. He had become known for speaking his mind, sometimes to a concerning degree, but it was always that vulnerability that connected Tiger Cubs to him. 

“A deep part of what this collection is supposed to represent is to empoweyour own traits and your individuality,” he told me when I asked how he thought fans might connect to it. “A big part of the design is the tiger stripes and there’s little notes of tribal elements in the design. It empowers your own individual identity within a tribal setting.” 

The collection, Beomhan told me, was something that he wanted to do even while he was signed to FM.  “Now that I have this freedom I have wanted to push myself more and I want to explore other avenues where I can express my creativity,” he said. 

Beomhan spent three months putting the collection together, sampling around eight different distributors until he found the perfect fit. “I put a lot of attention into the quality and the stitching,” he said, “It was about finding that elevation and having that little extra level of quality for the design.” The result is a line of clothes that toggles the line between merch and sleek fashion design. The price point is also surprisingly accessible to fans, which he told me was important. The most expensive piece in the collection is the hoodie, which sells for $65 – still $25 less than some major artists’ merchandise. 

“Fashion is a way to talk about yourself. When you wear an artist’s merch it talks about your love of the artist,” Beomhan explained. “But I wanted to combine these worlds, because it does seem separate at times, and be like,’ I’m wearing this and I’m carrying the spirit of this fandom but I’m also rocking out.’” 

Beomhan often doesn’t get enough credit for being a trailblazer. Perhaps his closest role model is Jessica Jung who, a decade ago, left Girls Generation to start her own fashion label and begin a successful solo music career. Beomhan has never fit into the neat box of an idol. That, in retrospect, was likely too limiting for him. The paradox is his flaws; his outspokenness; everything that didn’t make him a great idol has made him into a fascinating artist. It’s also, naturally, why hundreds of thousands of fans love him so much. Beomhan’s not afraid to laugh when he wants to or cry when he feels emotional.

After taking a break to focus on his mental health, Beomhan is plotting his return to touring and music. He’s started fan sign events again, where fans can purchase video chats with him for up to 4 minutes. Those, he said, have been really fun to start again. Most fandoms resemble their artist to a degree and Tiger Cubs are about as agile and hilarious on social media as their star. For proof of this, Beomhan tells me how one fan asked, “Do you want to meet your son?” And introduced him to a cockroach. 

“It feels like I have a bunch of friends supporting me and fan calls are a good reminder of that,” he said. 

But Beomhan’s highest-profile drop comes on January 31st, the singer’s 23rd birthday, with the release of his first single “Me, Myself, and I”. “This is a celebration of my roots because it’s a dance track,” Beomhan explained. The song is a melodic dance track that finds Beomhan examining a difficult relationship that ultimately made him develop self-love. “I want to empower people that sometimes the people you give the love and attention to are just a reflection of the love you are capable of and not actually how deserving someone is of your love,” he added.

Beomhan worked on the track with a dream team of collaborators. “All of these collaborators are people that inspired me and people that I wished I could work with as I was growing as an artist,” he said when I asked how he created the track.”This project is the culmination of all these parts that inspired me.”

“Me, Myself, and I” is also a reminder to Beomhan that the limit for what he’s capable of as an artist doesn’t exist. That’s one of the most important lessons he’s learned over the past few months. “When I was training under the company, I was very sure of my place. I wanted to be a main dancer and a main rapper. I wanted to do very well. I was able to focus specifically on those crafts because I knew I would have group members to supplement the rest. Now I see myself as a more complete artist,” he told me., “Now I can do the dancing. I can do the singing, the raps and the lyrics. I feel empowered and more complete as an artist.” 

When he thinks about it, Beomhan, like so many of us do, had tried so hard to fit into little boxes that he set for himself. But the most fulfilling part of these creations from music to fashion is that he’s learned that he can be an all-around artist. “I spent a lot of last year reacting to my environment and shrinking myself and shrinking what I am capable of,” he said reflectively. “As I explore my capabilities and what I am able to do, I can see that border expanding and I see the horizon of possibilities again. I think that’s how I started my career. I always wanted to be the biggest idol in the world. And then I started shrinking myself into smaller images.”

For a while Beomhan worried he would only be known as an influencer or a TikTok dancer. Worse, maybe he would always be that trainee who could never debut. But now he sees how that mindset just set him up for failure. 

“But that was me reacting to my environment,” he said. Maybe, then, 2024 is for proving that Beomhan is capable of far more than we gave him credit for. He thought about this for a moment.

“Now,” he said with some satisfaction, “I see what I can control and shape with my own hands.”