Ok-pop star Eric Nam was having a gathering in New York when he all of the sudden felt a ache in his chest.
“I assumed I used to be going to should name 911,” he stated, recounting the expertise from 2019. However as a substitute, he remained sitting and “needed to quietly breathe my method” by means of the assembly, he stated.
Equally, Jae-hyung Park, higher referred to as Jae from Ok-pop band Day6, was in a cab getting back from a music video shoot in Seoul final 12 months when he skilled what felt like a coronary heart assault.
At first, he put it right down to stress, saying that for years he had handled “misplaced” and “bizarre” emotions. However he realized he couldn’t ignore the signs, and within the “calmest voice” requested the driving force to take him to a close-by hospital.
“I’m … feeling like I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die,” he recounted.
Park and Nam stated they later came upon that they had suffered panic assaults.
Many recording artists battle to deal with the trimmings of fame. In South Korea, as in lots of cultures, speaking about psychological well being points is seen as taboo, inflicting Ok-pop stars to grapple with despair and psychological sickness on their very own.
Nam and Park have joined different Korean American Ok-pop artists in elevating consciousness about psychological well being past the Ok-pop group by publicly sharing their private journeys.
Nam moved from his hometown, Atlanta, to Seoul in 2011 and launched his music profession after competing on a Korean music tv present. A Boston School graduate, Nam stated the racism he endured rising up in suburban Georgia left deep scars on him.
He explains he was bullied and even spat on by a classmate. “It was one of the crucial degrading, embarrassing, infuriating moments of my life up till that time,” Nam recounts on the primary episode of MINDSET, a paid podcast collection he’s simply launched to advertise conversations about psychological well being and wellness. “And I feel nonetheless to this present day that could be a subject that I by no means really feel comfy talking out about.”
Nam stated he additionally struggled with an identification disaster as a Korean American, being handled as an outsider in each South Korea and the US.
“It felt like I didn’t belong wherever,” he instructed The Related Press.
Park, born and raised in California, stated he had problem navigating between two vastly totally different cultures. And the extreme competitors within the business additionally affected his psychological well being.
“It’s a dog-eat-dog world,” Park stated of Ok-pop.
Park was provided counseling from his file label, JYP Leisure, however stated he discovered it troublesome to attach along with his therapist and finally took a break from his profession final 12 months, when his band went on a hiatus.
He took half in Nam’s podcast collection as a star speaker.
Nam is hoping the reveals can tackle stereotypes and stigmas surrounding psychological sickness.
“I by no means thought that I would wish, I might wish to discuss to any individual about my psychological well being,” Nam stated. “However when you’re in that place, I simply didn’t know actually the right way to take care of it. And so I bear in mind these very isolating sorts of moments that I had had earlier on in my profession.”
