#epik high is here tour | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thatsohkai · 1 year ago

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howdy all! kip here, am i re-introducing myself to you, not really. but kai's my main blog so hi, i'm them. hehe, anyways here is a post tour, organized and updated intro for infinite's bad, baby boy! you can find his profile, kprofile, and pinterest linked and all the updated information is bellow!

—— welcome to infinite entertainment! it's MALACHI 'KAISO' SOH, who is a SOLOIST. i’ve heard whispers that the 23 year old is pretty CHARMING but lowkey DISQUETED. also, doesn’t he remind you of CHOI YEONJUN?

pre-debut

malachi was born to single mother soh jimin (jaime soh) in daegu. she moved to a suburb of chicago before he was even able to talk so he was raised there.

he grew up in a south suburb of the city that wasn’t the greatest place, malachi knew night sirens and metal detectors at the doors of his school the next morning.

his mother struggled with addiction most of his life, and kai often found himself surviving and gathering his basic needs on his own.

he has a love/hate relationship with his mom she was very much not a great woman but she tried.

they didn’t have a lot of cash and kai had to start working at a young age he excelled in school and this allowed him to go to a nice “private” school on scholarship later in his school career, with the extra resources he was able to really excel in the things he loved (art, poetry, music, etc).

with the help of the school and the community around him they budded his love for music and comics and things of that nature, helping get him the things he needed.

while at his new school he met his new gang of friends, and a shared love of music pushed them to form a small little band that took off by being just really really talented kids with a lot of spunk. (side note: fell in love with a girl in said band and well…he’s self destructive.)

but his time there was short lived as the moment he was scouted at a talent competition, (along with another band mate), as their front man he took the first flight they offered to korea and joined a pretty big, though relatively new company. never looking back and getting as far away from jaime as possible.

he came to korea subsequently alone as he does/did his best to cut all contact with the only family he had.

he never got to finish high school in a normal high school and despite being incredibly smart he finished at his performance school with subpar grades, mans was extremely depressed during his trainee days.

at debut

unlike a lot of idols malachi had the opportunity to technically debut 3 times.

his first debut was in 2013, he debuted as the producer, leader, main rapper and center of epik at starglass entertainment.

his time in epik was terrible to say the least, his social anxiety began to manifest in its full form. and of course like most companies back then they hadn’t really care and made little efforts to keep it at bay. instead they pushed him to be the face of the band as the only english speaker and member with performance experience and malachi, fighting his own demons was forced to take care of 6 other boys.

epik was the type of group with a boyish sound (i cannoned their disco to being nct dream and seventeen), they were known for their bright colors and fresh concepts and hard hitting, synchronized choreography.

they were known as a ‘clean group’ absent of scandals and korea’s pride but even in that malachi was not happy.

he did give his all and was granted the third gen ‘it’ boy, title shortly into his debut

even writing and producing most of the groups disco there were seldom any moments he was deliberately proud of the sound and style of the group, on top of his failing mental health and worsening depression. this pushed him to fall from his quiet but entertaining and personable idol to a more reserved, background character of his group even as the leader. while he was a popular member, the decline in his interacting directly led to the slight decline in his popularity.

to add to his work load he was asked to write and produce for his companies girl group at the time (canoned ex-iz*one) later in his career and helped produce a few of their hits

personally he felt as though because of this the company started to ‘neglect him’ a bit more. almost as a punishment for causing fan backlash from his change in ambiance as well as popularity, and eventually decided to prematurely terminate his contract with starglass in 2017.

during his time in epik he’d ground close with their manager, who essentially followed him into the purgatory that was being without a company. he stayed with that manager from the moment he left the epik dorm all the way through his trainee days in the new company.

it was also during his darkest times in epik that he became close with fellow soloist fleur, who resparked the fleeting flame of the job he use to love. she pushed his production career further by allowing him to write a few songs for her, resulting in his very first industry collab as a soloist later dien

during career

in the same year malachi found himself slightly homeless but at a new company (PSYCH Ent.) who was also pretty new themselves. they had two groups under their belt a girl group and a boy group who were popular but not as much (i guess the vibes of like??? g-idle before recently and maybe like stray kids in the very beginning?) but with his faith in them he re-debuted with a new concept, a new sound and something that was unapologetically him.

by 2018 he released a single, under a new name ‘kaiso’ and beneath the new company and it went viral as the ‘ace of epik’ was finally coming back to the industry

it took him a while to get fully back to it and for awhile he simply released one ep and a few singles and collabs before disappearing for a little. and he would continue to do that for awhile.

though he was hardly in the spot light between releases he gained popularity for a lot of things, and one of them was his ‘big change.’ the dopey leader had become stone cold, he showed his tattoos and faked smiles, he kept his fans close and very few other idols in the industry closer. leaving him with the reputation of being a ‘bad boy.’ backs would straighten and gazes would lower as kaiso entered the green rooms at music shows.

it was a rumor he didn’t care to clear up and honestly enjoyed how people would often not talk to him, leaving him in his little bubble with his fans and company. (think namjoon of bts or eric nam when it comes to fans).

after awhile, with malachi being psych’s biggest money pit, and sent him only on the first infinite tour. it was during this time that malachi met his current girlfriend, officially, and began to open up a bit more to the industry even as they used his past as the ‘biggest reason’ to his success.

but ultimately after the original infinite tour, kai’s company decided to participate in the acquisition for kai’s benefit,. he was their top earning artist and felt like a bigger company would do him good. they decided not to take the two former, veteran groups and while the boy group disbanded, the girls were taken on by a bigger company.

he still likes to refer to himself as a part of PSYC Ent. as the idea of being a part of a bigger company puts a foul taste in his mouth.

as he got bigger he began sending jaime money every month to make sure she was situated and also as an incentive to literally never talk to him again.

infinite tour

during the infinite tour as stated above kai had grown a lot. he acquired space in his friends lives and began to let them take up space in his.

at his current manager’s request he began therapy during the original tour and it had been helping.

he came out with tons of music both years, the constant moving keeping him in the writers room even if it meant he was over worked and overwhelmed.

during the first tour he began to struggle with his idol identity, wondering if he was doing himself a disservice to abandon his years of idol training to become this pariah of low eyes and low energy.

he essentially began retraining and trying to become the idol he was in epik, while staying true to himself unlike he was able to back then.

this led to a lot of uneasiness and malachi scrapping albums after albums over again and putting out more dance oriented tracks, attempting to fall in love with stage again like he’d had in high school.

with the help of some push from friends and a great choreographer (thanks mei) kai released tracks like ‘birthday’., ‘eye on you’ and even was recruited for an all soloist co-ed group by the company (called re:gn) as well as a subsidiary of said group (K!NG)

he quickly became infinite’s only in house producers who was also an idol and has written, produced and composed at least once for every group except tidal. he works the most with braveheart and indigo as their sound(s) are the closest to his style. he’s also the only producer for FLEUR (Kim Seonhwa) and has worked on/produced a lot of the solo releases for a lot of the idols in the company.

with the infinite tour gaining popularity and more idols were beginning to interact with him, he is now known pretty much to be a bit dark and mysterious and unapproachable, but he’s deadass just a ball of shy anxiousness.

during this time he also had come to the conclusion that he loves making music, but detests being an idol but takes the fame anyway because he likes what he does

notable moments include, an incident at a 'kick back' in his home town that would have brought his entire world crashing down. him breaking down into uncontrollable sobs on stage in chicago, and his mother showing up randomly at his seoul town home during a break in the first tour, forcing them to 'revive' their tumultuous relationship. and pre-maturely introduced her to his now current girlfriend.

canons/personality tidbits & quirks

you can call him malachi or kai, though mostly close friends (which he barely has) call him kai

his korean name is soh duri

he’s a scorpio (sun), aquarius (moon) and a taurus (rising)

If you ever work with kai on a song, it’s going to be a masterpiece. not saying it’s bc of his talent as a writer and producer but he’s super particular about music and how it makes people feel

some general aesthetics about him - think of him as, “the feeling of neo soul, marijuana smoke wafting around the studio, the neon lights of the city, the bad boy with a sweet smile, 90s-00s r&b”

he’s the type to be in the studio all night and run off of red bull and cigarettes for the next day

is a pot head and no i’m not sorry about it

if you manage to get close to him he WILL take care of you, always at all times. You well be fed, clothed, and loved through and through

can talk about music all day every day

loves fashion

loves tattoos has drawn all the ones he’s gotten

bi-sexual king, loves him some men and some ladies.

loves loves art so much

has so much respect for idols before him

quiet boy

give him sweets he’ll become your personal puppy

he’s a brand ambassador for dior but is wanting to possibly change that

he loves anime, manga and comics, fave superhero is spiderman, fave anime is one piece, fave manga is chainsaw man

overall kai is the resident bad boy with a heart of gold. his upbringing makes dealing with his anxiety and anger hard, and his shyness is just something he's working to over come. he's had a hard life in general but the addition of his hard time as an idol has really thrown in him in a hole he's struggling to dig out of. he finds tranquility in the smoke of marijuana or in the arms of the chair in his studio whether he be working on music or art and uses his life experiences to navigate his life in the future. he'll hang on to your every word even if it seems like he's not listening, take in all the little details about you and every gift you receive will always be special...you just gotta...yah know be let in first. so fingers crossed he talks to you!

updates post tour

not much has changed post tour, kai is still pursuing the merging of all the different versions of him, his chicago boy, his global superstar, and who he’s become now.

since coming back to seoul he’s brought on his girlfriend to live with him.

he plans on releasing more music for himself and with various artists by the end of the year

he’s strongly considering changing up his sound and experimenting a bit more out of his r&b wave.

he’s wanting to branch out a bit more, get in with some idols he hasn’t really talked with as well as mend some relationships he’s broken a bit.

also loathes the reality tv idea but is happy they’ll be stationary for awhile.

will add more as post tour goes!

connections/wanted plots

motive - kai notices that you’re getting close to him. he can feel the lingering eyes and notice the soft touches but you’ve always been some sort of loose canon. he can’t tell if this bad boy/girl/person demeanor is real and if it is what are you motives with a shy and quiet being like him? (open to anyone)

first love - kai’s relationship with music is something that can be admired, he gets accolades from interviewers and other artists and thats the thing you bond over. you often find yourselves sharing earphones or in some studio. whether you’re dancing, creating or singing its easy for night to turn into day just in each other’s presence. now your friendship goes beyond music. you’re each others confidants in your most stressful moments. (danbi)

pretty little fears - he’d grown a crush on you from afar, but after a chance encounter he seems to be infatuated. his shy and bashful demeanor battles with his want to play cool. and he finds himself lost in watching you speak and aching to hold your hand, wanting to sweep you off your feet but...his anxiety just wont allow it just yet. (dae)

midnight sky - malachi and your relationship was one full of electricity. but one thing he couldn’t handle was feeling small. you’re older than him and in the midst of the rendezvous he felt as if he was a baby toddling after you at all times. maybe it was the way you treated him or maybe it was his own insecurities, but sometimes he finds him self missing the security of your arms. breaking up was some form of rebellion in his eyes and he pretends to feel liberated but he’s not sure if his pride got in the way of something good, or if he dodged a controlling bullet.

nonchalant - to say you have a feud in the industry is maybe an overstatement but the boiling blood is still aroused. you’ve been an artist of your caliber for awhile and you think malachi is gimicky. his transfer from being in such a big idol group to kr&b was a large leap and the inkling that he’s riding on old fame with a fake image is a prickle in your mind. kai respects you too much as an artist and often finds himself trying to prove to you that he’s where he should be. even if that means muddling disses into his music.

best friend/patonic soulmates (can be plotted) (seungho)

industry friends ( 0/3 would be kind of like a clique of friends that are known in the industry similar to the third gens ‘97 liners )

produced for you/your group

smoke buddies (hanuel a friend he often takes care of/babies (ren)

older sibling figure (seonhwa)

old bandmate that he got scouted with (angel)

manager (ilsu)

mother figure (islu)

and literally anything else pls just love him

muse overviews and analysis & extra links

✘ character study #1 - 'a good boy's bad habits' ✘ character study #2 - 'the stage' ✘ the muse as zodiac signs ✘ favorite stage outfits - 2021 / 2022 / 2023 ✘ general task #1 ✘ character study #3 - 'the idol': photoset 1 / 2 / 3 / analysis & viral moments ✘ playlist #1 - 976 E. 132nd Pl. Chicago, IL (subject to be replaced/updated) ✘ komca credits ✘ through the eras - malachi ‘kaiso’ soh ✘ muse tag

#infinite:intro #here's kai's updated intro #again not much has changed just some updates #more details and some extra stuff that i added that i was sitting on but never announced!#i'll add more to the after tour tidbits and other canons as well!

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