What Happened to Henry Lau?
You must be familiar with Super Junior, a second-generation boy band that debuted under SM Entertainment in 2005. To extend their popularity, SM added two Chinese members to debut with the five already-debuted Super Junior members in their subunit, Super Junior-M, which stands for “Mandarin” in 2008. In other words, Super Junior-M was intended to promote mostly in China. One of the added Chinese members was Henry Lau who became the maknae (youngest) of the group. Before debuting, Henry had appeared in Super Junior’s “Don’t Don” music video in 2007. He showed off his skill in playing the violin in the middle of the song.
He also made his solo debut and released his first EP Trap in June 2013. The title track “Trap” featured his fellow SM artists like Super Junior’s Kyuhyun and SHINee’s Taemin. He was still active as an actor as well as a Super Junior-M member in the meantime. However, after his contract ended, he decided to leave the agency to go solo. Why did he leave the agency? What kind of activities has he done after leaving? How is he doing now? Byeol Korea will provide you with a detailed run-through od information about Henry Lau and his activities after leaving the agency. Stay tuned!
Henry Lau Showed Signs to Leave Before?
The suspicion of him leaving the agency actually arose in 2016. In August 2016, his Weibo profile changed to “Former Super Junior-M member” which panicked the fans. Soon after that, Henry tweeted that it was a misunderstanding and that he pressed the wrong button, denying the rumor of him leaving the group. Later, in December 2016, the rumor came back as he posted a picture with a caption that targeted his agency. As translated by Allkpop, the artist wrote, “Difficult. Getting tired. I can’t do it alone anymore. Been a mistake since 9 years ago. It’s gotten so big… Cannot support anymore. What do I do from here on?” He also added a comment, “I… only have my fans left. If you see this message, please speak for me. My agency doesn’t listen to me.” This angered the fans and some even suggested him to leave the agency. At the time, he himself was reported of establishing his own agency to continue his career in South Korea. You can no longer see the post as it has been deleted.
At the end of April 2018, Label SJ, an SM’s subsidiary dedicated to Super Junior, made an announcement that Henry would not renew his contract and would part ways with the agency on April 30th as his contract officially ended on April 29th. In other words, Henry would also part ways with Super Junior-M after 10 years being together since debut. Many fans sent their support and wishes to the artist through hashtag #ThankYouHenryLau on Twitter.
Many people have thought that the reason Henry left the agency was that they didn’t treat him well. However, Henry revealed in an interview with Forbes magazine that he left the agency in good terms and not because he hated the agency. He stated that he had the feeling to take more responsibilities. “Whatever I release, whatever I do, I wanted it to be from me. I wanted more control. I wanted to be the main driver of me. I think that any artist that gets to a certain point, that’s what they want to do,” he explained. He continued by saying that he wanted to do music like he wanted to do and felt like everything he does would matter now that he stood independently.
Henry Lau’s Hollywood Breakthrough
Henry posted a picture of himself on Instagram (@henryl89) on August 27th, 2018. In the caption, he wrote, “Honored to be working with Steven Spielberg’s Studio, @Amblin, on their next movie A Dog’s Journey. Please cheer!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm9u5qZja53/
It was later confirmed by the agency of The Cre8tive Lab that he would play in the movie. A Dog’s Journey is a sequel to A Dog’s Purpose that was released in 2017. It is a family movie about a dog named Bailey who is trying to find the meaning of its existence through reincarnation and the movie is narrated from a dog’s perspective. The movie is directed by Gail Mancuso, an American director who directed the popular TV series Modern Family. Other artists who will also star in the movie include Katheryn Prescott, Dennis Quaid, and Josh Gad. Henry would play the role of a boy named Trent and it marks his debut in the Hollywood movie industry. The movie was released in May 2019. Watch the trailer below!
A Date With Henry Lau
Henry is not called soft-hearted for no reason. On June 15th, 2019, a YouTube channel hello82 released a video titled “I Spent A Day With A K-Pop Star.” It was revealed that it’s Henry’s fan named Tina who spent a day with Henry himself. In the video, narrated by Tina’s and Henry’s voices, each introduced themselves as a fan and artist.
At first, Tina thought she was just filming a K-Pop fan documentary while she was making a K-Pop themed dessert. Then suddenly Henry appeared and made a surprise for his longing fan who’s been a fan since 2007. Tina was surprised and was told by Henry that he was there to spend 3 hours with her. She seemed quite shocked that she couldn’t concentrate and asked him not to get close. But he’s such a tease…
Tina continued on decorating her cookies and told Henry that he could write anything on them too. Suddenly her sister, Tracy, came out and Henry greeted her too. Then he asked if he could take Tina out before Tracy answered that he could keep her. Tina checked her things to bring and when she wanted to bring her wallet, Henry stopped her.
They went to a picnic in a park and Henry started to ask her if she had met him before. She said that she had met him before twice and that she could go on and on about how talented he is. That’s when Henry fed her. She then told him about how she felt when she first saw him. She also said that she wanted him to be happy with his own music. After a while, they took a selfie together and Henry helped her tidy up her hair.
Suddenly it started raining and Henry tried to cover her head with his hand but she said she loves rain. She explained that in LA they barely got any rain but for Henry, she wished she could spend the day on the brightest and sunny day with him. When he said she’s so sweet, she said it’s the only way to thank him and him being there was already enough that even tops payday.
On their way back in the car, they continued talking and she told him the struggles of being a foreign fan of K-Pop artist because she needed subtitles but with him, she kind of didn’t need that because he speaks English. She also said that he paved the way for foreign idols to be in K-Pop.
Henry said it was indeed not easy to be part of the K-Pop scene but he found one or two comments that supported him and he thought one of them was her.
Then they talked about what they’re gonna do in twelve years referring to a mid-life crisis. Henry comforted her by saying that it’s okay to not know what to do in the future and he actually felt the same way. Henry also sang for her as if they’re in a real concert. However, their date had to come to an end. Henry said goodbye to her after saying that he would take good care of her for twelve years and would do more. Watch the full video below!
