Eric Nam is no stranger to facing the heat after his run on the recently wrapped season four of Peacock‘s hit show The Traitors, so it’s no surprise that for Billboard‘s latest episode of Takes Us Out, the singer-actor selected teppanyaki restaurant Shogun in Pasadena, Calif., where the fiery metal cooktop is just as scorching as the flames at the Fire of Truth.
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It’s also where the K-pop artist — who released new song “How the Fire Started” and its Traitors cast-filled music video March 3 — decided to share some of his secrets with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly.
“I initially had said no to doing Traitors a few times,” reveals Nam, who grew up in Atlanta. “I was very hesitant because it’s reality TV in the U.S., which is also very different from reality TV in Korea, and I just didn’t know how it would play out. But I thought it would be a great way for me to introduce myself to a bigger population of the United States and to hopefully introduce them to my music. That was the big bold decision I took.”
The artist calls filming the Emmy-winning show “insane” and “psychologically a lot,” but despite the challenges, there were some big positives. “I walked away with a lot of new friends,” he shares, before teasing that he could perhaps play better if offered another shot, giving The Traitors‘ producers a nudge. “Maybe next time, I’ll get [the Faithfuls]! I’ll get ’em all! … I hope it’s for All Stars!”
Some of those new friends — Faithfuls Maura Higgins, Natalie Anderson, Ron Funches and Yam Yam Arocho — starred in his video for “How the Fire Started,” a country-tinged revenge song of sorts that could also apply to The Traitors victor Rob Rausch, who appeared in the humorous visual as well.
“I’ve been stabbed in the back a lot, and I realized there are a lot of people in my life … who were in my life, who saw me and what I was or whatever as an opportunity more than as a person or as a friend,” the singer, who was dinged by contestant Michael Rappaport for his “magic ears” after misidentifying a Traitor’s laugh, shares of his new song. While Nam was talking about his life, it also applicable to the competition show’s finale, during which Rausch — who had recruited Nam to be a Traitor — betrayed the musician’s trust and banished him during the Fire of Truth alongside Higgins to ultimately take the nearly $221,000 prize for himself. “I think I’ve been through some really really crazy relationships whether that’s romantic or platonic … Sadly, sometimes it just doesn’t end great.”
“It was one of the scariest things I put together,” the singer-actor admits of the music video fro “How the Fire Started,” which is also the first single for a new album he hopes to release this summer. “I have a hard time asking for favors and asking, ‘Do you mind doing this?’ But everybody was so down and so excited, and they were incredible! We had a good time! For us, I think it was a way to just kind of wrap up the entire experience in a way that twas fun and cheeky and still pulled the music in, which was my biggest hope.”
Watch Eric Nam’s full episode of Takes Us Out above, during which he dishes on whether he ever suspected Rausch, what fans would find most surprising from behind the scenes of The Traitors, tests his “magic ears” by trying to identify Billboard Hot 100 songs and much more!
