Hoya On Almost Quitting Celebrity Life And The Reason He Entered His Current Agency

Hoya talked about why he chose to leave INFINITE and enter his current agency in a new interview.

Currently, Hoya is housed under Glorious Entertainment, which is also the agency of other celebrities such as Ji Chang Wook and Hyun Woo. Because all the celebrities in this agency are actors, people assumed that Hoya was turning over a new leaf as an actor.

However, Hoya refuted this fact, saying, “In fact, it’s the exact opposite. After I became a free man last June, I received calls from many agencies. There was even an agency that only cared for singers. Naturally, I was interested in it because I was thinking of continuing my activities as a singer. However, if I go to an agency for singers, there will be an A&R Team, producers, and composers, and since the agency needs to make money, I can’t help but do commercial music. If I yield to all of that, I thought I wouldn’t be able to do the music I truly wanted to do.”

When Hoya decided to leave Woolim Entertainment and INFINITE last year, he also thought about quitting being a celebrity once and for all. He explained, “I started this life simply because I like singing and dancing, but because I lived as a celebrity, I spent a lot of time doing business rather than singing and dancing. There was a lot of business I had to do in order to sing one song. So it felt backwards.”

Hoya added, “Also, rather than singing the songs I liked, I felt like I was walking on eggshells wondering what kind of music the public liked. Because those feelings of fatigue piled up, I thought about quitting celebrity life.” In the end, he decided to continue being a celebrity because he likes music as much as he likes dancing and thought he should continue being a singer for his fans.

The reason why Hoya chose Glorious Entertainment was because the president of the agency readily agreed to let him release an album. Hoya said, “By mere chance, I was able to meet the president and talk with him. He said he wanted to sign a contract with me because he thinks I can do various things, since I can sing, dance, and act. So I told him, ‘I don’t have to act, but I must release an album,’ and he willingly said he would let me do it. He said, ‘I don’t know anything about music, so do whatever you want,’ so I thought this was the best path for me to take in order to do the music I want. The agency has no intention of making money through my album anyways, so I think I can make money for them by acting while doing music I want. In reality, I am currently making an album without my agency interfering. It’s definitely a lot harder, but it’s more fun.”

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