Chen

Juggling duties across the K-pop landscape, Korean singer and songwriter Chen entered the scene in the early 2010s and dominated charts throughout the decade both inside boy group EXO and inside its multilingual dance-pop offshoots EXO-M and EXO-CBX. Branching into solo work as early as 2014, he delivered his first official EP, the ballad-focused April, and a Flower, which reached the Top Three on both Korean and U.S. rankings.

Born Kim Jong-dae in Siheung, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, Chen was signed by S.M. Entertainment in 2011 and became an EXO member before the year ended. Alongside his eight bandmates, he supplied lead vocals for five number-one albums that decade, moving millions of copies throughout Korea, Asia, and the United States, where EXO topped the Billboard World charts on four separate occasions. Beyond core EXO activities, he also served in the Chinese-language subgroup EXO-M alongside Kris, Xiumin, Luhan, Lay, and Tao, as well as the additional subunit EXO-CBX completed by Baekhyun and Xiumin. EXO-M put out two projects—2012’s Mama and 2014’s Overdose—before Kris, Luhan, and Tao departed the roster. Chen and Xiumin then teamed with Baekhyun to launch EXO-CBX, whose run of chart-toppers included 2016’s Hey Mama plus 2018’s Blooming Days and Magic. The trio also released a Japanese-language album, 2017’s Girls. Throughout the same period Chen contributed to the label’s collaborative S.M. the Ballad series, which released its second EP, the Chen-featured Breath, in 2014.

Parallel to group commitments, Chen cultivated an independent path. His first solo single, “The Best Luck,” surfaced in 2014 and was succeeded by joint tracks with Vibe, Heize, Alesso, Dynamic Duo, 10cm, and additional artists. In 2019 he issued his debut EP, April, and a Flower, a ballad-heavy collection anchored by the single “Beautiful Goodbye,” which climbed to number four in Korea. The EP itself reached number two domestically and number three on the Billboard World Albums chart.