😘Hot Import Dan! Growing up I always wanted to be a car model and look at me now lol. They only let the hawt ones near vehicles - it’s the law! Go watch the clip if you don’t want to break the law (the other law is that you have to watch said hot people be hot or you get fined a million dollars!)🫣
☀️Was very appreciative to be able to partner with KIA for this campaign to kick start the year. It was a dream to do this - not only a very cool project to take part in, but that I was able to highlight my music and share that journey through the campaign was icing on the vehicular cake! 🎂🚙
🌕It’s no fabrication that for me atleast, I really do get very few moments when the inspo and timing overlap. Sometimes I’ll get the inspo but will be backed up on other life things that it leaves and i’m unable to recreate the lyrics/feelings/etc. OR sometimes the timing is good and i’ll set myself aside for a day or two to write but nothing comes to me. SO when those two things overlap, I really do need to honor the feeling and make it my turn to really rev those creative engines. Vroom Vroom. Or since this is a hybrid, Vroom + (very quiet humming sound) 🤝❤️
☝️☀️2026 is going to be My Turn to finally release all the new music i’ve been sweatin’ over! Escaped LA in the beautiful #KiaSportageHybrid to get some inspiration. THINK IT INSPIRED!
🫰🏼It’s a challenge balancing the music with all the other priorities that pop up - but can’t wait for my new track “Paper Planes” to release soon (and so much more) #myturn
@kihonglee tag! It’s your turn next 😉
🤷🏻🧬 LETS PLAY A GAME. IS IT DAN OR DAD? I always thought it was NURTURE over NATURE. 70% Nurture / 30% Nature. That the DNA is just the CLAY and the environment is what shaped us the most. BUT…I was wrong. It’s Nature all the way.
👀That I was able to reunite with my biological family, for them to still be married, to discover an identical twin brother that was raised with them, and to still be in reunion is nothing short of a miracle. It’s extremely unique and lucky to have been given an opportunity to uncover more about my background; 100% miracle.
😯BUT WOW. Guys. Like. GUYS. It’s been over a decade of me reflecting and sharing details about this experience and it was THIS last trip back to Korea that was the most educating for who I am.
I made this trip to celebrate my biological father’s 70th birthday. After this trip, its no question. I’m his seed.
😵💫The energy in that guy for one! At 70! He’s a wanderer. He can’t stay still. I didn’t really notice it until this trip, but like he always needs something to do. On the positive, it’s amazing and gives me hope that my energy will never stop either. He does really funny random things too - like he really wanted to ride a horse on the trip we took. And so he did. VERY much a thing I would have done.
😙He’s constantly going on walks outside, meeting with people when he’s bored, it’s like his mind won’t stop (maybe anxiety too!). He’s also really impulsive (I can make a dark joke about my adoption here, but I’ll refrain) – buying things & making decisions quickly and out of nowhere.
🕺🏼Finally, peep the photos in slide 4/5. Maybe he wanted to be a movie star or something when he was younger too. I thought my vanity came from living in LA, but whatdoyaknow, Vanity is a passed down trait LOL.
🧬 Learned a lot. Still lots to learn. You can’t spell DAN without DNA. And you can’t spell DNA without C15H31N3O13P2. So. Same.
🥚💾Why going to Korea as an adoptee feels like the TV Show “Severance” 👯
The phrase that stuck with me the most from the last season of Severance was “They gave us half a life and think we won’t fight for it?”
I like how the moment that I land in Korea, I immediately become this other version of me. Like, I’m still me; “The You You Are”, hail Ricken! Right?! 🫡
For instance I take on another name (Park, Insu is my Korean name) which is not really my name but still VERY much my name.
The me in Korea is my Outie, the version of me that has lived out their life in what typically would have been my life, and obviously knows that …a part of them has been transported to an extremely different environment, but doesn’t fully get what that means.
And the me that was raised in the USA is my Innie. The me that has learned to live by rules & structure that are drastically different than the Outie; yet still has built a life of sincere purpose & joy. I play it both ways. I mourn for the person I might have been but have such extreme happiness for the life i’ve been able to experience.
👯 Also the twin thing gives it another layer. That sometimes when I talk to my twin, it feels like i’m literally talking to my Outie. Trying to explain how although i came into existence in a strange and stunted way, how full my life still is with the world I built around me. 🥹
Here’s some other fun examples; When i’m in Korea….
▪️There are copious luxury meats!
▪️The department of optics and design and Choreography and Merriment are truly top notch
▪️Lots of Eggs!
▪️The work of KPOP is mysterious and important
▪️Finally….. Because we’re people, not parts of people. Even with what little they gave us, these are our lives. No one gets to just turn you off
FILMED A KOREAN DRAMA!!!! 🥲
…kidding, lets save that for the hotties! 🫣 Really excited to have shot a music video while I was out here. Very thankful for the crew for making time and helping me bring an extremely meaningful Song to life. Definitely a tease for right now. Will be sharing the video probably sometime later in 2026 but yooooo look how pretty Seoul is this time of year!!!
I really wanted to take advantage of filming in Korea since it’s such a naturally beautiful & unique environment. I’ve only really shot videos locally in LA for my tracks, so when an opportunity to film something here came around I HAD TO!
Originally was just going to maybe run and grab shots randomly around the city and just find some interesting backdrops - but thanks to everybody involved in this we were able to put together a contained story and have some more intention with some of the locations that we were able to film at. Plus, it was an excuse to see some new places that I’ve never seen before. I MEAN yooooo look how pretty Seoul is, seriously!! 🥺
Thx to Yohahn, Hyeamin, and Grace for making time! It’s so amazing working and meeting new people around the world. Something I will never take for granted. The world is much smaller. I love the connections.
These past lives im continuing to live. 😉
🫰🏼SEOUL OBSERVATIONS
- have really only experienced Korea in humid & rainy weather and my goodness, although its chilly, it feels soooo good walking around. ❄️
- Seriously, each time. I look around and feel so the same yet so different. Sometimes I wonder if korean locals that i interact with wonder what my story was and why im not here in Korea. I have so much to tell them. Man. Just so many Koreans.🇰🇷🇰🇷
- I was talking loudly on my phone one time and there was a baby near by and the baby looked at me weird like why does that person that looks like my parents speak so differently. What are those noises 🥺
- Korean babies are so kyute tho 🥺
- KPop Demon Hunters is everywhere here. More thoughts on this phenomenon later but its a trip seeing something thats so korean american be celebrated by Koreans here🌕
- Everybody is in seoul right now. Seriously 👋🏼
- Seeing a lot of sweet potato trends out here. Time to start it in USA. 🍠
- Translation technology has gotten so good yet so far from being what i actually mean hahahahaha. 🥲
- lol at the last slide 🥲🥲🥲
