Kim Jong-dae’s (Chen) Profile
Kim Jong-dae, better known by his stage name Chen, is a South Korean songwriter, singer, and actor. He is currently 25 years old. He was born on September 21, 1992 in Siheung, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. He has one older brother whose name is Kim Jong-deok. His blood type is B and his astrological sign is Libra. He is not so tall among other EXO members, as he is only 173 cm tall and he weighs in at 64 kg. He has a kind and gentle personality but sometimes he can be a prankster too. Right now he is still active as an EXO member and he is also in EXO’s sub unit, EXO-CBX, along with Baekhyun and Xiumin. He has also released a couple of songs as a solo singer, and has done some collaborations with other singers.
Kim Jong-dae’s (Chen) Career
Chen auditioned through S.M. Entertainment’s Casting System in 2011 when he was 19 years old. On December 29, 2011, he was formally introduced as the fourth member of EXO. At first, his family did not approve of him becoming a singer, but after knowing that it was S.M. Entertainment who offered their son the opportunity, thye became supportive. In 2011, Chen made his first public appearance as an EXO member alongside Luhan, Tao, and Kai in SBS’s Gayo Daejeon. EXO was divided into K and M, K stands for Korea meaning that half of them will be promoting in South Korea and M stands for Mandarin meaning that the other half will be promoting mostly in China. Chen is the main vocalist of EXO-M. In 2014, Chen joined the ballad group formed by S.M. Entartainment in 2010, called S.M. the Ballad. Chen sang the Chinese version of the title track “Breath” with Zhang Liyin on the group’s second album, Breath. He then also sang a duet with f(x)’s Krystal entitled “When I Was… When U Were…”, and “A Day Without You” with Shinee’s Jonghyun. In the same year, he released his first solo single, entitled “The Best Luck” as an original soundtrack for the SBS drama It’s Okay, That’s Love, which stars his fellow Exo member D.O.. This song was later awarded as the “Best OST by a Male Artist” and “Best OST Song” at the 5th So-Loved Awards and the 16th Seoul International Youth Film Festival respectively. Pretty impressive, huh? In June 2015, Chen started to write songs by co-writing the lyrics for “Promise,” a song from the reissued edition of EXO’s second studio album Exodus, along with fellow members Chanyeol and Lay. Two months later, Chen made his musical theatre debut playing the role of Benny in the SM C&C production In the Heights. He then appeared in the eleventh round of the music television show King of Mask Singer under the alias “Legendary Guitar Man” and succeeded in becoming the runner-up. In the following year, Chen made a collaboration with South Korean singer Punch titled “Everytime” as a soundtrack for the KBS drama Descendants of the Sun. The song was a success and it debuted at number one on Gaon’s weekly digital chart. In April 2016, Chen did another collaboration, this time he released a duet single titled “Lil’ Something” with South Korean rapper Heize. Four months later, he did another collaboration but this time he collaborated with fellow EXO members Xiumin and Baekhyun on an original soundtrack entitled “For You” for the SBS drama Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo. In October 2016, he came up with another spectacular collaboration with world’s renowned Swedish DJ, DJ Alesso, by releasing a track called “Years”. In late October, S.M. Entertainment formed the first official sub unit of EXO called EXO-CBX, which consisted of Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin. The group debuted with the extended play Hey Mama!. In 2017, Chen did another collaboration, and this time he worked with Korean hip hop duo, Dynamic Duo that consists of rappers Choiza and Gaeko. They released a track called “Nosedive”, this made him the first artist to be featured in the group’s collaboration project “Mixxxture”. In the following month, he released an original soundtrack entitled “I’m Not Okay” for the MBC drama Missing 9 on which his fellow EXO member Chanyeol played a supporting role. In November 2017, Chen collaborated with South Korean singer 10cm on a song entitled “Bye Babe” for S.M. Entertainment’s station project. Currently he is still active as a member of EXO and also EXO-CBX.
