NCT TEN has spent a decade as one of K-pop’s most watched performers, first as a member of NCT and then with its China-based unit WayV. In April 2026 he left SM Entertainment, the label that trained him and launched his career, and started over with a company of his own. Seven months later, he is on his first solo tour of the United States and talking about the move as a fresh start.
“It’s like I’m starting again from zero,” he told Billboard during a sit-down conversation in Los Angeles. “I’m trying to make a new journey, my own journey, starting from the beginning to find who TEN really is.”
The interview, published on November 13, came days after NCT TEN wrapped his first US solo headlining tour. The tour brought him to 14 venues across the country and ended on Tuesday, November 10. He already has plans to return in 2027 as part of a more expansive world tour.
NCT TEN left SM Entertainment in April
NCT TEN ended his exclusive contract with SM Entertainment in April 2026, after nearly a decade with the company. SM confirmed at the time that his contract would end on April 8, and that he would remain a member of NCT and WayV and could still take part in group activities. He was the company’s first Thai artist.
He debuted as a member of NCT U in 2016 with “The 7th Sense” and joined WayV in 2019. The decision to leave, he said, was not about unhappiness with the label. “The story is like very simple. I was sitting on my sofa, and I realized I have so many ideas, so many visions that I want to try,” he told Billboard. “It’s not because of how [things were going] with the old company. I just wanted to write a story of my own. I want to take risks, and that’s how everything started.”
“I don’t want to regret not doing this in five years’ time,” he added. The new company, a creative agency called ILLIMNT, is now six months old. He said it supports his projects across Korea, Thailand, the United States and beyond, and that running it has pushed him to trust his own judgment. “I’m more comfortable with giving out my ideas, my vision,” he said.
NCT TEN built a new release from scratch
His first release outside SM Entertainment is a new English-language EP called Outwest, which he co-wrote. The EP holds two songs, the title track “OUTWEST” and the b-side “IRL,” and it is the first project under ILLIMNT. NCT TEN spent nine days at a songwriting camp in Los Angeles working with producers, songwriters and topliners, and he is credited with writing and composing both tracks. He also took part in the art direction and the visual concepts for the release.
The change shows in how he describes the work. He has compared his old creative process to being handed a plate that was already prepared, which he could adjust to his liking. At ILLIMNT, he said, he starts with an empty plate and decides what to put on it himself. The EP is the first result of that approach, and its promotion cycle is now complete.
NCT TEN has also marked the 10th anniversary of his debut. In July he released “If You Don’t Mean It,” his first original track in Thai, which looks at the uncertainty and pain of unrequited love. The single was the first project from Tenth Sound, a production company under ILLIMNT that he co-founded.
NCT TEN keeps his group ties and his schedule
Leaving SM Entertainment did not mean leaving his groups. NCT TEN remains a member of NCT and WayV, and SM said at the time of his departure that it would coordinate with him so he could still take part in group activities. The arrangement follows a pattern set by other K-pop acts, including members of BLACKPINK, who have kept group work with a former agency while managing solo careers elsewhere.
Beyond music, NCT TEN has taken on brand work through ILLIMNT. In October he became the global brand ambassador for Simplus, a home appliance brand from Thailand, in a deal announced on October 26. The company described the partnership as a match between a brand born in Thailand and an artist who grew up there and now works around the world.
For now, the focus is on the road ahead. The US tour is over, the EP is out, and the next tour is already planned for 2027. TEN described the new chapter as an expansion of what came before, rather than a rejection of it, and the work so far suggests he means it.