DKZ’s Jaechan has officially stepped out as a solo artist!

On September 6 KST, the idol held a media showcase to commemorate the release of his first solo mini album ‘JCFACTORY’ at Seoul’s YES24 Live Hall, attended by local press, including allkpop. During the event, he posed for photos, performed songs from the album for the very first time, and took questions from attending reporters and the event’s MC Yoo Jae Pil.

Title track “Hello” is a synth pop track combining an exciting and bright ‘pluck’ sound with 808 bass and an urban pop/R&B minimalist sound. The music video shows 'ordinary Jaechan' and 'celebrity Jaechan' side-by-side, with the former admiring the latter as he appears on television as a news anchor, award-winning actor, and even the star of a luxury car commercial.

Other songs on the album include “Oh Girl,” where he tells his unrequited crush he wants to give them everything, “MAYB,” a refreshing love song featuring Chinese singer-songwriter Nathania, “Replay,” expressing regret after a breakup, and “Time,” the album’s pre-release single. To craft his solo sound, Jaechan said he worked to find a middle ground between what kind of music the public wants to hear and the kind of music that he wants to make.

“Honestly, I’d never written or composed performance-oriented music [before ‘Hello’]. I felt that the album’s title song should be a performance element,” he explained about how “Hello” became the lead single. “Originally, I was going to use a song created by another composer, but I ended up making the song myself.”

Through ‘JCFACTORY,’ fans are introduced to Jaechan as a solo artist – with the idol not only having sung on the album but also writing every song’s lyrics and composition. Due to the ‘made by Jaechan’ feeling of the new album, fans have nicknamed him ‘factory owner Jaechan,’ with the idol even joking that he hopes the new album will earn him the moniker “the best factory owner” from those who listen to it.

“[These solo tracks] were something that had been planned for a long time. In the case of ‘Oh Girl’ specifically, the demo first came around two years ago,” he revealed. Jaechan then explained that making his solo debut was something he had wanted to do for a while, with the company having told him it would happen ‘eventually’ but never moving forward until he talked to them again at the beginning of the year.

“I’m the first member to be making their solo debut, and there’s honestly some pressure. Even still, I’m also excited to show a new side of myself through solo promotion,” he confessed. However, even his solo preparations have been full of his groupmates’ support. “The other members are always looking at my calendar and checking out my schedule. For example, on a day when I was shooting one of the music videos, they would contact me and say, ‘You’re shooting a music video? Fighting!’ and hang up.”

During the Q&A portion of the press event, a reporter brought up the many male idols making solo debuts recently, asking Jaechan what will differ him from the other male solo idols promoting these days. He responded, “Lately, there’s a lot of great music. Both visually and musically. Rather than thinking about what makes me different, when I make music, I think about what kind of music I’m capable of, what kind of music really demonstrates my personal color. [My music is] ‘me.’”

The recent exit of Jaechan’s groupmate Kyoungyoon also briefly came up. Earlier this year, Kyoungyoon went on hiatus and eventually left the group entirely following a controversy involving his family's alleged ties to the JMS cult, the Korean cult profiled in the Netflix documentary ‘In the Name of God: Holy Betrayal.’

“Something bad happened to our group, and to say it hasn’t been difficult would be lying,” Jaechan candidly commented. “However, [despite this], we’ve concluded that we’re going to work harder so that we can offer our fans some great energy.”

Jaechan was quick to assure that even though changes have been made to the lineup, DKZ has not gone anywhere, adding, “The members have been talking a lot about group activities, particularly what direction we’d like to go in. There are some activity constraints when the member lineup changes. Right now we’re in the process of rebuilding. Once we’re able to, we’ll be promoting actively [as a group].”

Finally, toward the end of the showcase, Jaechan thanked the press for attending and asked them for their support for his future activities, saying, “The advantage of solo activities is that I’m fully able to enter my own thoughts [when preparing music]. Through this round of promotions, I’ll be showing you all my personality and the direction of my thoughts.”

Meanwhile, ‘JCFACTORY’ was officially released on September 6 at 6 PM KST. 

Check out the music video for "Hello" below!