#my life as a sunflower revolves around appreciating and praising Haechan

[holobethyname]

📝 haechan journal

🌿 Entry No. 1

There's just something about Haechan and his attitude towards his career that makes you want to root for him.

He debuted at 16. He wasn't as famous as the rest of the group then. He was the youngest. He's yet to establish his role in NCT. He even admitted recently that during the early days of NCT, he was just happy to be there.

He's extremely talented. Despite that, he went through comebacks where he has little to no lines in songs, and barely any exposure in their choreographies, especially in 127. He was a vital part of Dream, tho, so it was bearable.

Heachan being reassigned as a main vocalist in 127 and debuting in an NCT U vocal group with a YYJ ballad was just a thing waiting to happen. He's born to be a singer. His parents are both musically-inclined. He grew up with respected musical influences that shaped his identity. He's also a great dancer with technical training pre-debut, and he was the best rapper among his fellow trainees during their training period. It's just natural that with time, he'll get recognized for his talents.

That said, the time came earlier because Haechan, aside from being naturally gifted, is also a hardworker. This shows whenever he's in a recording studio, during dance practices, or when they're shooting their music videos.

According to their producers, Haechan is usually the Neo who finishes recording in the shortest span of time. That makes sense because he enters the studio having figured out what to do with his parts.

Haechan is very goofy and playful most of the time, but the shift in attitude whenever he enters the recording booth is undeniable. You'll really find him the most serious when he is recording.

He records his parts knowing what he already wants to do with them. It's actually rare to see him ask the producers what he's going to do with his parts. He'd rather ask for opinion about a change he wants to do to his part which I think speaks volumes about him as an artist.

This also reflects on his dream as a singer-songwriter. He's a very goal-oriented person who knows what he has to do to succeed. He's very proactive about a future solo career that I just wish SM would give him more oportunities to grow individually. So far, he only has one OST to his name. It's a good thing that he released 2 of the songs he made during The Link concerts, but I hope in the near future, they will be available on music platforms. The songs deserve to be heard by more people.

He's also very diligent about dancing. He's trained in ballet, jazz, contemporary, and sports dance. I bet it was hard to incorporate a more ballet/contemporary training in kpop compared to a more urban hiphop training but he made it work beautifully.

He is also one of the members who easily memorizes choreographies. Although he's in three active units, meaning he has more choreographies to remember, he doesn't slack off. He's one of the Neos that the mebers go to when recalling choreographies.

He's also seen in a lot of their music video shoots practicing the dance steps during his free time. With a schedule as grueling as his, he might not have the time to practice as much as the rest of the group is. His dedication to his craft is immense because you will never catch him slacking off despite this.

I'm aware that for some, recording seriously and practicing choreographies during your free time might be a bare minimum, but to me, it speaks about his work ethics and his whole perspective about his career.

He's relatively one of the most successful members of NCT at this point, just basing on the fact that from an average member, he's carved a place in the group that only he can fill. He's also built and grew a stable fandom even though he only had opportunities for solo promotions in 2022. He's one of the most popular now (and his selling power good lord). All these and he remains humble (that sometimes I just want him to be more vocal about his achievements cos I always get the urge to push him to the mic and give a speech whenever they win on music shows). He works just as hard, if not harder, as when he was a trainee.

He's such a great person to root for and look up to, and he's inspired me to work harder for myself in more ways than one. 🧡