GOT7's JB Gets Candid About His Views on Masculinity & Femininity

JB of GOT7 is on the digital cover of Allure‘s Beauty of K-Pop issue, out now.

Here’s what the 26-year-old Korean singer had to say…

On the contradictions between JB the K-pop star and Jaebeom the regular guy: “I’m usually the type to steer away from the typical ‘star’ character, but my job is to fulfill that. I contemplated a lot about, What should I do? What should I do? I came to think it would be interesting to show myself as a character. I am myself, but I’m expressing one side of it.”

On weaving together conventional representations of masculinity and femininity in his presentation: “[Rather] than thinking in two separate categories of masculine and feminine, I just express [the things that I like] in the way that feels like me. Of course, [my definitions] change from time to time.”

On how his views of masculinity and femininity have evolved: “When I was growing my hair out, at first, I thought I would look feminine. Then, I realized there’s no masculine or feminine way of doing things. And after trying it out, I felt like the look is just like me in my own style.”

On what prompted him to grow out his hair and wanting to provide alternate representations of what a male K-pop star can look like: “I wanted to get out of that box of K-pop style. When you look at pictures of other guys, they usually have the same [stereotypical], two-block hairstyle (K-pop’s take on an undercut). Because it’s part of our jobs as idols to look impressive, I wanted something different — a new look with more texture. This is my own way of expressing that.”

For more from JB, head to Allure.com.