The fourth member of one of K-pop's most precisely engineered groups built his solo career on a joke date. Kim Jong-dae, known as Chen, released his first mini-album on April 1, 2019 — a day when fans expect pranks, not a pivot into stripped-down balladry. The record landed at number two on the Gaon Album Chart, a position that felt almost accidental for a project this quiet. Chen turns 34 in 2026, and that debut still reads as the strangest power move in EXO's history.
He grew up in Jeongwang-dong, a district in Siheung, far from the Seoul training rooms where SM Entertainment shaped its idols. In 2011, at 19, he entered the company through the casting system — no televised audition drama, just a teenager with a voice that cut through the noise. By December 29 of that year, SM introduced him as the fourth member of EXO, a group built to split itself in two.
From Siheung to SM
His first public appearance came alongside Luhan, Tao, and Kai at Gayo Daejeon, a stage that functioned as a controlled leak. The company was testing how the pieces fit before the official debut. In 2012, EXO launched with "Mama" in both Korean and Chinese versions, and Chen was slotted into Exo-M, the Mandarin-speaking unit. The architecture was deliberate: one group, two markets, and Chen's voice as a bridge.
The ballad route opened early. In 2014 he joined SM the Ballad, the label's rotating showcase for vocalists. On the group's second album, Breath, Chen recorded the Chinese version of the title track with Zhang Liyin. That same year he delivered "Best Luck" for the series It's Okay, That's Love, a soundtrack cut that hinted at the solo lane he'd eventually claim.
Soundtrack lane opens
Soundtrack work became a parallel discography. "Everytime" for Descendants of the Sun in 2016 arrived when the drama was a cultural event, and the song rode that wave. Two years later, "Cherry Blossom Love Song" for 100 Days My Prince showed the same instinct: attach a voice to a moment, let the scene do the rest. By then, Chen had become the member you called when a scene needed to hurt.
April, and a Flower arrived on April 1, 2019, and the title track "Beautiful Goodbye" was a deliberate anti-anthem. The mini-album's second place on the Gaon chart proved the audience was there, but the sound was quieter than anything EXO had pushed. Chen wasn't competing with the group's choreography; he was building a separate room.
Later in 2019 came Dear My Dear, a second mini-album led by the single "Shall We?" The two releases formed a diptych: spring and autumn, hello and goodbye, both anchored in contemporary R&B and ballad structures. Chen was also writing songs, a detail that shifted his role from vocalist to something closer to an architect of his own material.
The EXO-CBX subunit gave him another lane, but the solo records are where the voice is most exposed. There's no group harmony to hide inside, no dance break to reset the mood. Chen's range has always been the instrument, and the ballad format forces it to carry every measure. That's a different kind of pressure than a stadium show.
Chen's range has always been the instrument, and the ballad format forces it to carry every measure.
In 2026, Chen is 34 and the math of his career is strange: 15 years since he entered SM, 14 since the EXO debut, 12 since SM the Ballad, 10 since "Everytime," 8 since "Cherry Blossom Love Song," and 7 since the solo turn. The numbers stack up like a discography that never stopped moving. The April Fools release date was either a joke or a promise, and the records since have refused to clarify which.