Thai K-pop star Ten on his solo career plans, NCT and WayV – and why Doraemon inspires him

Thai K-pop star Ten on his solo career plans, NCT and WayV – and why Doraemon inspires him CNA Lifestyle spoke with the popular singer at last month's Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2026. “Is that Ten?” I asked a fellow journalist friend last month. The question wasn’t born out of ignorance. Of course, I knew what the singer – and member of multi-million-album-selling K-pop group NCT – looked like. The reason I asked was because the Thai-born superstar, whose real name is Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, was just inches away from us in a 7-Eleven store in Tokyo, casually dressed in a T-shirt and browsing snacks and magazines. Nonetheless, we didn’t approach Ten and, truth be told, the sighting wasn’t exactly outside the realm of possibility. After all, both of us were scheduled to interview Ten at a nearby venue just hours later. Ten was in Japan for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2026, held the following day, where he would go on to present the award for best anime song alongside Puerto Rican singer Young Miko. During our interview, I brought up the near encounter with Ten, now dressed in a dapper but still-casual ensemble. He immediately shot up a smile and said he was also doing “some TikTok filming” back then. His easy-going nature set the tone for the rest of the interview, which saw him speaking about his plans – albeit with that signature coyness you’d expect from someone who’s worked in the K-pop industry for a long time. As many NCTzens would know, 2026 has been a significant year for Ten. In April, he announced that he was leaving his longtime agency, SM Entertainment, following the expiry of his contract. “As I approach my 10th anniversary, I’ve found myself wanting to take on new challenges, explore new possibilities and discover new versions of myself,” said Ten in a statement at the time. “Moving forward, I will continue my activities as Ten of NCT and [NCT sub-unit] WayV. At the same time, I’m excited to show you new sides of ‘Ten’ and to evolve in new ways as a solo artiste in this next chapter!” I asked Ten how his groupmates took the news, to which he replied briefly but sincerely: “The NCT members always support each other’s decisions. “For me, this is going to be a big year.” So far, 2026 has seen him establish a label, Tenth Sound, and this July, Ten will hold a three-day concert in Bangkok, Thailand, to commemorate his 10th year in the entertainment industry. According to Ten, the concert will be “three different shows for three days”, with each day boasting a different theme. So far, guest artistes who have been announced include Thai girl group Pixxie and singer-actor Nont. “I’m excited for the upcoming stuff because I wanna try more things that I didn’t use to do,” said Ten. Beyond music, Ten said that he was “interested in doing some more artwork”. “Nowadays, I’m getting into graphic design, like motion art, because I want to get things done by myself sometimes,” he explained. When asked if he would be incorporating his new interests in a potential new album, Ten’s PR training – honed from years of being a K-pop star – seemingly kicked in as he slyly replied: “That’s gonna be a spoiler; you have to wait. But yes, my fans can expect more artwork that they haven’t seen me do before.” Of course, given that we were at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, I had to ask him about his relationship with anime. Longtime fans will know that Ten is a huge fan of the medium and had even cosplayed as Ciel Phantomhive from the iconic series Black Butler. Among his favourite anime series are Naruto and Hunter X Hunter, and Ten is currently catching up to the hit comedy-adventure Spy X Family. That being said, the shows that have had the biggest impact on Ten are the classics, namely Pokemon and Doraemon – with the latter serving as a source of inspiration due to his resourcefulness. “They were my best friends since childhood,” elaborated Ten. “When I was a child, I had so many things I wanted to do. When I watched Doraemon, he had so many things in his pocket. Things you wouldn’t expect to have in real life. “And that was my inspiration for so many different stuff…Everything can be done if you’re willing to make it happen.” So, given that he’s currently developing his solo career, how would Ten contribute to an anime project if he had the opportunity to do so? “Definitely [performing] the ending song because people are gonna wait [and listen to it] to see the spoilers [for the next episode],” he concluded with a smirk. CNA Lifestyle was in Japan at the invitation of Crunchyroll.