With a new solo EP and an ongoing world tour, GOT7's JAY B talks about crossing the line from idol to solo artist and evolving as a person by choosing to always live in the moment.

After a decade of working tirelessly in an ever-changing industry, there is one thing of which JAY B is certain &ndash; he is where he needs to be. The South Korean idol, whose experience ranges from multiple debuts to company changes to group disbandment rumors, shows his fans that there is definitely no stopping his train anytime soon.
Lim Jaebeom, better known to his fans as JAY B, technically first debuted as an actor in the drama Dream High 2 in 2012. The drama also featured other stars such as Park Seojoon (What&rsquo;s Wrong with Secretary Kim) and future GOT7 bandmate, Jinyoung, with whom he shared his first debut as a musician in the duo JJ Project. GOT7 debuted in 2014 with JAY B as their leader and later went on to become one of the most prominent male idol groups in South Korea and the rest of the world. The top-class idol group has a string of awards ranging from Best New Artist at the Golden Disk Awards in 2015 to Artist of the Year at the Asia Artist Awards in 2018. &nbsp;One would think a list of work experience this rich already makes for quite the resum&eacute;, but the 28-year-old idol doesn&rsquo;t seem to think so.&nbsp;

Shirt and trousers FENDI; Necklace and ring LVNA

Just this year, he released three albums as a solo artist. Be Yourself was released in September, and nearly immediately after, Lim set off on his world tour Tape: Press Pause, kicking it off in Manila. Though he stood onstage alone, the GOT7 leader filled New Frontier Theater with thousands of ahgases (the GOT7 fandom name) and only had positive things to say about the crowd that cheered him on and sang along to even the songs off of his newest record. &ldquo;It was so much fun. It was such a great feeling; it's like I received a lot of good energy...how do I put it? It felt like I was given an opportunity to give it my all. It was already great when I came here with GOT7, but I'm so grateful for the warm reception even though I came alone.&rdquo;
After leaving JYP Entertainment in January 2021, fans feared it would be the last they would see of GOT7. But in a pleasantly surprising turn of events, they were given full trademark rights to their band name. In 2021, they released a single entitled Encore, which put to rest some fans&rsquo; worries about the group disbanding. In May 2022, the group released a six-track self-titled album. Not surprisingly, three out of the six songs were written by JayB.&nbsp;
Like most K-pop group leaders, the Gyeonggi Province-raised Lim is unerringly perceived by fans as fierce and determined. The group&rsquo;s comeback displayed how he championed the group as he coordinated schedules with the other members&rsquo; respective companies. But when asked about how he managed to do all that, JAY B says, &ldquo;That was all possible because JYP gave us the rights (to our name), and it's not like I went out of my way and said I'd do all the paperwork on my own.&rdquo;&nbsp; At every stop of his tour so far, fans have produced video messages to the GOT7 leader, expressing their gratefulness to him for keeping the group together and for making sure the group would remain, as they say, &ldquo;7 or Nothing.&rdquo;

As I made the songs, I just thought it would be great if they conveyed the message &lsquo;Let's live comfortably. Let's pay less attention to the opinions of others and live by our own standards and perspectives.'

Going from being a part of a group to performing alone was not exactly simple or easy. &ldquo;Back then and even now, I continue to work hard. What&rsquo;s changed, of course, is I guess that&hellip;I was in a group of seven, and now that I&rsquo;m alone, I have to work and fill the spots of the six people I&rsquo;m not with on stage anymore, so (when I work or perform) I worry about that a bit,&rdquo; Lim shares. At the concert, he continuously expressed his gratitude to the attendees, saying there have been times when he would forget the fact that he was the leader of a world-famous group, and that performing onstage and hearing their cheers were welcome reminders of the position he still held. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; From his first solo album SOMO: FUME &ndash; a play on the Korean word (somopoom) for &lsquo;consumables' &ndash;&nbsp; to his sophomore release Be Yourself, it is evident that Lim&rsquo;s fans are also never far from his mind. &ldquo;As I made the songs, I just thought it would be great if they conveyed the message &lsquo;Let's live comfortably. Let's pay less attention to the opinions of others and live by our own standards and perspectives. There are six songs in the album that express a freer side of me and I included a lot of songs that will hopefully give listeners a sense of healing.&rdquo; The album is a definite crowd-pleaser that includes two songs in English &mdash;&nbsp; Fountain of Youth and Holyday &ndash; a pleasant surprise to fans. &ldquo;I would like to (write more songs in English) and write about more things. Since English is something that's understood by more people, I think maybe I will.&rdquo;
Under his other moniker, Def., he released the albums &ndash; Love in January and Abandoned Love in October. His music as Def., a name he says he got the idea for from a Musiq Soulchild music video, is all produced independently and used to only be available on SoundCloud. When asked how he manages to shift from one persona to another seamlessly, Lim says, &ldquo;To be honest, it's just &ndash; when I get the feeling of &lsquo;Oh this seems right&rsquo; or &lsquo;That seems right&rsquo; &ndash; then I seem to be able to go back and forth quite comfortably. And since both (JAY B and Def.) are me, I think we can&rsquo;t help but have similarities in that respect.&rdquo;

One might say switching between aliases is nothing more than a marketing ploy. But the multi-hyphenate singer explains that the shifting between the two names stems from more personal reasons and the kind of music he wants to make. "When (I make music as JAY B), I think more about the listeners. When I want to talk about myself more, then I use the name Def.&rdquo;
With all that under his belt, it would be hard to believe that the world star is also quite the hobbyist. An advanced open-water diver, a photography buff, and a voracious reader, Lim is so often seen carrying a book or two in photos that people around him have started to ask if it was just a schtick. His arrival photos in Manila also show him carrying his current read. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve just finished reading a book called Sparks of Genius by Robert Root-Bernstein, and I'm about to start Alain de Botton's The Joys of Sorrow, he shares. &nbsp;
However, the K-pop veteran is no stranger to the struggles of the type of life he leads. In 2021, Lim revealed that he had been diagnosed with clinical depression. Though not an alien concept in this day and age, there is admittedly still a stigma surrounding the topic of mental health in South Korea, with 78 percent of the elderly still thinking depression means a person is weak. But Lim openly speaks of his condition, even appearing as a featured artist on Mindset, a daily self-care app that features various artists who talk about their life experiences and how they deal with setbacks and overcome challenges. When asked how he deals with his condition, the known camping enthusiast explained, &ldquo;I take my medication regularly. And I mostly talk to my closest friends or take walks. When I'm feeling down, I try to go out as much as possible.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Sweater LOUIS VUITTON; Trousers KENZO; Necklace LVNA

So is there more to the multifaceted artist&rsquo;s to-do list? Can fans expect the return of the 7-member idol group? There is an understandable amount of hesitation and caution in Lim&rsquo;s answer as some members of the group, including himself, are expected to fulfill their national duties soon, and the fact that all seven members are actively carrying on with their solo activities. &ldquo;There are some worries and things to consider like....how we should go about things. I will do my best to maintain GOT7 as a team but honestly speaking, I can't make any promises about what exactly will happen just yet. I can promise to try my best, but I can't give any certain answers about it. But I will definitely make an effort.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s easy to believe he would keep his word when he still consistently introduces himself in interviews as &ldquo;JAY B of GOT7.&rdquo;&nbsp;
With his multiple albums, diverse musical styles, and seemingly endless possibilities to evolve, there is no question that JAY B has so much more left to show. &ldquo;I have to work hard. It&rsquo;s the only life we&rsquo;ve got, so I&rsquo;m going to live it well,&rdquo; Lim muses, and his body of work proves that he already does.

Cardigan, shirt, and necklace LOUIS VUITTON

I have to work hard. It&rsquo;s the only life we&rsquo;ve got, so I&rsquo;m going to live it well.

The Self Definition of JAY B

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