SHINee Member Key Gets Candid And Shares The Rebellion He Had Against His Parents

“I secretly studied dance in school.”

SHINee‘s Key got candid about his life as a K-Pop star in an interview with Allure Magazine.

| SM Entertainment

The interview recently went live on Allure Magazine’s online website. During this interview, Key talked about numerous different topics, from his age, his androgynous outfits, to his family.

| SM Entertainment

Key kickstarted the interview by talking about his current age of 30 and how different he thought his life would be at this age.

Technically, I turn 30 on September 23, but in Korea, I’m actually already 30. When I was younger, I thought I would be someone’s husband or a father by now. Thirty years old seemed so grown-up. My parents got married when they were 28. I’m already late. I can’t even imagine that now.

— Key for Allure

Key then talked about how he didn’t realize he would still be in the K-Pop industry at this age.

I didn’t think I’d still be a singer at 30, actually. When I looked at other artists, I noticed by 30 most of their careers would start to dwindle. I didn’t think I would still be doing this so actively.

— Key for Allure

| @bumkeyk/Instagram

The veteran boy group member continued on to talk about his family and what his parents had wished for his future.

My mother is a nurse and my father was a financial investment advisor. They always wanted me to study a lot and become a doctor, but hell no.

— Key for Allure

Father, baby Key, mother | @bumkeyk/Instagram

He continued with the interview by sharing about the time he rebelled against his parents, which ultimately turned out to be the right decision for his future.

I secretly studied dance in school, and of course, loved to sing. At 15, I started auditioning for SM behind my parents’ backs. After my SM audition, I sat my parents down and told them I want to be an idol. (I didn’t actually get it though.) After that, my parents didn’t sleep for 3 days, staying up all night talking about me. But I slept well. Eventually, they realized that even if they said no, I would still want to be a K-Pop star.

— Key for Allure

SHINee’s Taemin and Key pre-debut | Instiz

He then shared the struggles he personally went through in order to achieve his dreams.

Every weekend, I took a two-hour train ride to Seoul, trained, and went back to Daegu, my hometown. I envied the trainees who lived in Seoul. They could come to the company every single day.

I was desperate for every lesson and rehearsal. I cried a lot on the train. I never got to rest on the weekends. And still, I wanted to practice more. There was this uncertainty of my future. I had to make sure this went well so I could debut.

— Key for Allure

Key then talked about his famous androgynous looks and what that symbolized for him.

For me, there’s no boundary between femininity and masculinity, and I try to be even more natural in my own reactions to people expressing themselves. I modeled for Jill Stuart Accessory Korea. In the photo, I was holding a bag. I didn’t want anyone to think, ‘Oh, I wish my boyfriend would buy me the bag he’s holding.’ I wanted to look so natural that anyone could say, ‘I love how that bag looks. I want to buy it.’

I’m wishing for a day when seeing women only wearing men’s clothing, or this person doing this and this person doing that, is completely natural and no one will bat an eye.

— Key for Allure

SHINee’s Key for Jill Stuart Accessory| Jill Stuart

Key has always been known for his candidness and this interview wasn’t any different. You can check out the entire interview, here!

Source: Allure

SHINee