Translation into English by WIRUNYUPHA
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May include some inaccuracies.
Talk of the Cloud
Got to be you
An exclusive backstage interview with the one and only Thai member of GOT7
By Phatthareeya Phuaphongsakorn
Photo by Maneenuch Bunreung
The calm before the storm.
I think of the aphorism, ‘the calm before the storm,’ when talking about the interview with a boy who living as a singer in Korea. Out of the white room is so silent as if the breath can be heard. The amount of fans are waiting for the appearance of Bambam-Kanpimook Bhuwakul, the member of GOT7, in the est Cola Bambam One Man Show Event. The atmosphere of excitement, waiting and happiness are full and mixed in front of the stage. The streaming of love has started many hours before, and will be exploded more when the superstar goes out.
And I am in the room with a few questions, few minutes which I can talk to him exclusively, and the excitement like I’m going to hit the test.
When the red hair boy comes in and sits in front of me, then I understand.
That’s it, the storm has come.
The Beginning of Knowing the Real Life
Bambam’s life graph is different from usual people. While many children are studying in their secondary school, 13-year-old-Kanpimook left Thailand to become a singer in Korea. Learning the language, the singing, the dances, practicing life out of the classroom, until he debuted as one of the members of GOT7 in 2014. To be in work life since he was so young has to pay lot of things. The lost of teenage experiences becomes fame and money, which lot of people dream to.
“I have both regret thing and good thing, the regret thing is I don’t have my childhood, I don’t have any close friends in Thailand. It was the time that people would be friend with their high school friend and then went to the university together, but I was a trainee in Korea. However, it was good to work since I was young, if I was in a wrong way, I could change. I still had time to make my decision.
“The best thing happened to me after my debut was I can change my family life to be more comfortable, before the debut, my house was so small, the roof was made from zinc and it always leaked when it was raining. To change the environment, change my house, is the best thing.”
This year, Bambam will be 20, he is going to be in adult age, while the approval of GOT7 is increasing continually. Their song begins to be the 1st winner and gets many rewards from many year end programs. Also the boy band just finished their concert tour in Thailand, in Nakhon Ratchasima, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Phuket. GOT7 is the first Korean boy group that has their show all over the country. So the one and only Thai member can have a chance to come back to work in his hometown more often. He also has his solo schedule here like what is going on right now. It is so obvious how the boy has grown up physically and mentally.
“I’m not sure that I’m an adult now but I’ve grown up. I started to know what the real life is. I think I know it faster than many people in the same age as me, who probably are studying in their 2nd year in the university (sophomore) and never be in a ‘real’ society. I don’t have my school society but I have met a lot of people, and I have learned to prepare myself for the future, where I am right now, and if I want to be in that place, how I should do.”
Eccentric Learning
Singing, rapping, dancing, Korean, and English, these are probably in JYP practice room, but the work experience is unteachable. The life under the light has been a good lesson for Kanpimook to grow up by leaps and bounds
“I may not learn much from books but I got lot of thing in eccentric learning, either making friend, or behaving. I’m a young man but living like an adult. I started to learn how to do in some situation, how to do when meeting some big man, when working, what my responsibility is, what I must be careful, what time should be my privacy, and how to manage my free time.
“This circle is so high competition, to survive is not easy. When I was young, I just did what they wanted me to do. But now if I have some different thinking, I’m going to try what I believe in. It may works or not but when I’ve learned, I started to know how to play the game. Suppose there’s a show we have to go. A person who doesn’t know how to play a game will not prepare himself, he won’t know what the show is, how to prepare himself, what he can talk, and he will not know what the audiences want from him. I’m not a 100% expert but I begin to know what many people want from me. What they want to hear from me, what they are curious about me. So I will talk what they want to know better than what I want to tell.”
So what we are seeing now is real or not? I’m curious. If the expression of idols on the screen or the stage is just a role, in the moment that the expect of the fans or Ahgase squeezing in, is some parts of Kanpimook erased?
“No. I’m not fake or lying. If there’s something they want to know, I tell them. If I don’t have anything to say, I say ‘it’s nothing,’ It’s not that pressure. If people start to know what I really am, start to know my real side, I should say some truths, not only what they want to know.”
Icon VS Ordinary People
After working for many years, Bambam can see his goal he wants to reach, he knows that he wants to continue going down this way. Nevertheless, idols or any superstars are just human. Bambam honestly says that sometime he wants to be just an ordinary guy.
“Sometimes I want to end everything and back to my ordinary life. There’s a day I think that if I’m just some one, I will not face this kind of thing. But it’s hard to explain about my dream. To say it in easiest way, I just want to be an inspiration for other people. Many people say that they want to be like P’Bambam. So I want to be an icon. Not only for those who want to work like me, but to be in this kind of job, it has to sacrifice many things. I sacrificed my freedom to work what I favor, sacrificed my childhood. So I want to be the inspiration in working, being patient. But I don’t behave like a superstar, I’m still what I am. Be chilled and be crazy on the stage, go to the market when I come back home. (laugh)”
The expression of the professional singer’s eyes is so sincere and joyous. In a few minutes, Bambam will go and hand out the happiness to the people who love him. The red hair guy meets my eyes and says:
“I want people to know the real me, they don’t need to see me as anything, just Bambam. If they don’t like, it’s fine. That’s better than to be fake to make people like you. I’m not fancy that kind of things. I’m just a chilled person, I don’t take anything that serious. I’m not good in expressing my sad emotion. If someone tell me like ‘Bambam, cry out.’ Oh… I’ve never been successful in pretending to be sad. I can’t cry. It has to be too sad so I can cry out.”
The sound of the fans who are waiting for Bambam slightly louds from outside the room. The time of our conversation ends up with Kanpimook’s smile. He stands up, ready to hold people’s feelings like the professional. I keep my question about Bambam’s tear in my mind while I’m walking out through a lot of people who are waiting for him with hope and happiness.
It’s time for the storm.
Sources
WIRUNYUPHA 