1. Johnny originally trained with members of EXO, but did not end up debuting with them. He trained at SM during his summers while still going to school in the U.S. After his high school graduation, he moved to Korea to train full-time in 2013 and ended up debuting in NCT in 2017. Although he debuted with NCT 127 in 2017, he appeared in episodes of the reality series NCT Life, as well as pre-debut work with the other eventual members of NCT, including SM Rookies.
2. Johnny is an avid photographer, who actually had his photography shown in an exhibit in Seoul.
3. Johnny is a DJ who has performed at EDM festivals and hosts a DJ show for SM. (He was also a radio DJ on a show called NCT Night Night with group mate Jaehyun.)
4. Johnny became the most mentioned man at the prestigious fashion event, the Met Gala in 2022. His stylish ensemble, created by esteemed designer Peter Do, helped make him the most mentioned man at the event, even ahead of movie stars! He became only the fifth male kpop idol to attend the event.
5. Johnny is a native English speaker, highly fluent in Korean and speaks some Japanese, Chinese and Spanish. He often serves as the interpreter for other members during English interviews. If you pay close attention, you can often see him softly translating for other members when another member is answering in English so they understand. He also usually takes the lead in these interviews or in partnership with Mark Lee, the other native English speaker. Johnny is considered by members to be their loving big brother and you can really see this in the way he tries to keep members included in English and Korean interviews.
6. Johnny hosts a popular series, Johnny's Communication Center, which has many episodes and jokes that are referenced across the fandom. JCC, as its called, is mostly in English and features Johnny and often his group members trying different activities. Johnny has learned how to pole dance, surf, brew beer and do yoga, as well as learning how to be a barista, brewer and tailor. It also follows him doing more everyday things with the members, like setting up a home aquarium, trying on different clothes or making Christmas cookies.
This popular episode follows Johnny and group mate Jaehyun during a silly shopping trip in Ikea.
Johnny is one of the lead dancers in NCT 127, known for his powerful style and expressive face. His dynamic dance is especially impressive because he is so much taller than the other members (over 6 feet, which is its own fandom joke and mystery - probably about 6'3" but his official height says he's only 6 feet allthough he's visibly taller.) Being taller makes it trickier to dance in general, but especially to match your strides and movements to match the group well.
1. Chain is a great example of Johnny's abilities. This is a fast, hard and intricate choreo throughout, which you can see, and he comes forward to the center for the dance break at 2:58. He's in the blue knit cap. (It's worth noting NCT 127 has 4 lead dancers and often deploys them in the back and wings to strengthen the entire formation and draw your eye away from the weaker dancers [Taeil and Doyoung]. Of course NCT's weaker dancers are still much stronger than others!)
2. You can see in this early dance practice how he has to hold his body lower than the others to match their positions.
And here on Faster (which is about 4 years after that song), you can see his dramatic facial expressions and the way he interacts with the audience.
3. Johnny has a rather famous solo dance in Neo City that is quite sexy - but what's really interesting is how physically difficult it is. When he is on the actual stage, he pulls himself up like a pull-up, does a jump-split on a sink and drops and lowers himself repeatedly.
His practice is time-stamped.
4. Johnny is also a sub-rapper and sub-vocalist. He often doesn't very many lines on songs, but his lines often become memorable fan-favorite phrases like "pak pak sugar" in Sticker, "NCT we are so sexy" in Simon Says or "Blue's Clues" in 2 Baddies.
5. He rarely gets singing verses in songs, although he often does harmonies, but Johnny has a pleasant singing voice. He is one of only three baritones in all of NCT.
Here is harmonizing with one of the main vocalists, Taeil.
Here is his part on White Night, where all members sing parts separately.
Here he is after the three main vocalists. He's the last singer in this clip.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Read more about our cookie policy.
