chicteen: You Catch My Eye - Mark Tuan of GOT7

Sweetness that comes naturally from him

The shyness that is deep within his personality made him slightly lower his head sometimes when he was answering questions, his smiling eyes were like the crescent moon, when he raised his head again, the smile still lingered. When faced with some questions, he would smile to himself for a while before answering seriously.

Fans gave him a nickname “Tuan Fairy”, he is one who vie for things the least within the GOT7 team. When on shows, Mark is used to quietly getting things done and not attracting attention, there was once he was made to introduce himself, he pursed his lips shyly and said, “Hi everyone, I’m the quietest one in the team.”

It was my first time seeing someone introducing himself like that.

Fans always hope that “Tuan Wang/King Tuan” can speak up more. After finding out, Mark went blank for a few seconds before saying, “Are they calling me King?” He lowered his head and sniggered for a while, and when he raised his eyes, there were stars shooting out from his eyes; he clasped his hands and kept thanking everyone for their love. He is an overly pure and humble young man, introverted and does not say much, but is able to make the atmosphere around him simple and bright.

The members always pretend to bully him and tease him together, but it is just finding excuses to get closer to him. Those who understand know that the unity of GOT7 cannot be faked, the trust that shows in their eyes unconsciously, the closeness when they interact with one another, all these are not pretentious nor odd; each one of them may not be perfect but when they gather together, their existence is so happy and indestructible.

Whenever they gather together, you can see that Mark relaxes which he seldom does, revealing the comical and aegyo side of his. “Because I’m quieter and I don’t really say much, if there is someone with a more bubbly personality beside me, I seem to have more to say unconsciously.” When speaking about the team, warmth gathered in Mark’s eyes. “We’ve been together for almost 9 years, we went through the tough but meaningful trainee life.” His level of Chinese had gotten better, he didn’t have to think hard for phrases and was able to converse smoothly. “If we face any difficulties, everyone will gather together, confide in one another and console one another.”

Now, GOT7 members are already an existence that is like a habit and family to one another. When they are not working and have some free time, the members often gather together to practice, chat, play games, “or to have a little drink together”, Mark said.

Stars that scattered on earth

Each time that Mark is in China, one thing that can’t be missed is to have hot pot. After having tasted the hot pot in Chengdu he became obsessed. His secret combination is very simple, “vegetables, meat and beef.” Other than that, Peking Duck has also become one of his favourites.

Mark is really good at skateboarding, and he is able maintain his balance well when surfing; using his own words, he is the game in-charge.

There was once he had to bungee jump for a programme, he was the first to jump off, like he could not wait. For the whole time he was jumping off, you could not hear a single scream and he accomplished the mission without much effort, like he enjoyed the whole process. “I really like challenges, I always want to challenge new things. If I challenge something, and I succeed in the end I will have a very strong sense of achievement!” He said that those extreme sports that he wanted to try, he had now experienced them once through the programmes, that was also the reason why he liked to participate in sports programme.

As the one in charge of rap and having a deep voice in GOT7, Mark who grew up in LA since young is fluent in English, his pronunciation when he raps is charming, plus he is good looking, he was scouted to join JYP Entertainment for training when he was in high school.

Before that, Mark did not dare to have high hopes for things like that, he felt that he did not have anything that was especially attractive. For example, he had never received love letters when he was in school. He thought of many different directions, “When I was in junior high school I wanted to become a firefighter, and when I was in middle and high school I didn’t have a clear direction for my future and I was troubled.”

His journey as a trainee in Korea took him 3 years. From debut till now, it was not all smooth-sailing, there were times when he was troubled by comments or tabloids, “In the past I might just listen to songs by myself or shut my eyes and sleep. Lately I will look for the members or my friends to have a chat to resolve it.” He said, he would resolve it when his mood was not good and not regret his own choice because of it.

In the new GOT7 album released in December 2018, Mark wrote the song and lyrics for his solo song “OMW”. He wrote his determination into the song. In the lyrics, he wrote: this is my dream, this is my love, I will do my best.

“In the beginning, I wanted to write songs that fans will like, but lately I want to write songs about myself, songs that can express what I think”, he said. Lately, he is obsessed with “A Star is Born”, this movie directed by Bradley Cooper, which he also acted in, revolves around a sad love story but is also a story about chasing your dreams. The passion and dedication for singing of the character portrayed by Lady Gaga touched Mark, some people seem to be born with the love for singing, and can hold on to this faith and be crazy about it.

The sky is like how it has always been

Mark’s reflexes are rather peculiar. Once when he was angry, the member patted his stomach, he then broke out from the angry mood, touched his stomach with his hand and froze, like he was deep in thoughts about his stomach. Such a move often made the members laugh.

He is doted on by all the members. Every time when he spoke on shows, the members always listened intently; when he joked around and did aegyo, the members tried their best to go along with him too, with a sense of joy that their own silly kid dared to express himself. In this atmosphere he gradually relaxed when participating in programmes. Once during a hand pushing game, in order to win, Mark pouted his lips and gave a flying kiss to his opponent, which made the opponent fluster. The opponent could not handle it and lost. This brought great effects to the programme.

“Regardless of what game it is, I’m also the most serious one, I always have the mindset of wanting to win,” he said.

Such a strong sense of wanting to win of his has become the highlight in shows. Now when everyone sees it, they find it interesting and will be tickled by it, the comments all say that it’s too cute.

The Chinese variety show “Change Your Life” invited Mark as a guest on the show. “It was my first time having to control the progress of a show by myself.” He was a little nervous, “My Chinese is not that fluent yet, but the director, the writers and some of the other guests and contestants on the show really took care of me, when we really got down to filming, it was more relaxed than I had expected.”

During the photoshoot, because Mark was lightly dressed, he was so cold he ran all around, so the director found a jacket for him to wear; when he was a little shy in speaking up, everyone was cheering him on at the sides and this gave him encouragement and courage. Actually his kindness and pureness infected everyone, such that everyone couldn’t help but wanted to protect him.

For everyone who has met him, his sincerity is unforgettable. Knowing that fans were worried because he injured himself, he was sorry and grateful at the same time, he kept saying, “Sorry that I made everyone worried! Thank you for worrying about me!” Then he promised rather innocently, “I’ll be careful in the future.”

After debut, no matter how much love he receives, he always reminds himself to be grateful and humble and these have been infused in his every action and detail about him. He said, “When we are on stage, the fans cheer for us. We hope that everything can go well for the fans too. If they face anything difficult/tough, we hope that we can comfort each other and cheer each other on.”

Recently, Mark participated in the Milan Fashion Week. Through the process he discovered much joy with regard to fashion design. In his daily life, he has a distinct dressing style and is often asked for tips in matching outfits. When talking about whether he would establish his own brand, he thought for a while and said, “When I designed clothes with Represent previously, I thought about designing clothes that everyone can wear. I don’t know if I will have my own brand in the future. If I have the opportunity I’m very willing to try it out.”

Looking forward to Mark establishing a clothing brand, a shy and introverted young man focusing on an area that he likes, being able to be kept busy for this is a lucky thing in life.

Lastly, he shared excitedly about the gift album for the Ahgases that was just released at the end of 2018, “Present: You” &ME Edition. The title song for the album “Miracle” has a special meaning in his heart. “It’s like a song talking about the story of us GOT7, it was really in the cold winter that the 7 of us gathered together to practice and prepare.” And to En En, Ahgases are the biggest miracle. “As long as we’re together with Ahgases, it is the warm spring, the feeling of cold is totally gone, you all are the most precious existence.”

[Stories from the shoot]

Artiste coordinator

“The shoot this time made us realise the professional abilities of top Korean artistes, he knew his manners but was not distant, he was just cool and handsome with a little cuteness added, the charm of his personality was full marks~”

Video editor

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that he was glowing when he walked in hahahaha, he is a born artiste, he was very cooperative during the shoot, be it his showmanship for the stills or his performance for the video, it was very professional and cute. It was a shoot that made him gain new fans, now my idol is number one, he is second.”

Fashion editor

“I have to say that Mark’s skin was really very good, so much so that it would make girls pale in comparison. He was also very cute and very easy going, he didn’t have any airs at all. After telling him the style and direction of the shoot, he understood it well immediately, and he did very well too, it was a very smooth and enjoyable shoot.