James

From the rink to the practice room

James played ice hockey for around ten years. Then he got into dancing, starting with locking, passed the audition and trained for about seven years before debuting. He had joined another company before moving to BigHit in 2020, and in March 2021 he was revealed as a member of Trainee A.

That group later disbanded, and he is the only former Trainee A member who stayed at BigHit and actually debuted. Even before CORTIS existed he was contributing choreography to groups like ILLIT and TXT, and he danced behind Jungkook on “Seven” at Inkigayo and at AGUST D’s D-DAY final concert.

The two Jameses

He is the oldest and somehow often the most childish person in the room, in the best way. His social battery jumps from twenty per cent to a hundred with no warning. Then it runs out and he goes quiet, which people sometimes misread as tension with the members. It is not. He is just tired, like a person.

At work he flips completely: mature, focused, responsible. He rooms with Juhoon, the calmest person in the group, and both of them have said it works because they are perfectly happy sitting in silence together, two introverts recharging from the same outlet.

We also wrote about the day he became the first person ever on the cover of Vogue Man Korea.

Facts worth knowing

Credits

Full breakdown here: songs CORTIS produced for other artists.