EXO member Chanyeol was in ebullient spirits during his solo fan meet in the Philippines last 1 October.
The K-pop singer-songwriter met his Filipino fans at the Philippine International Convention Center courtesy of Ever Bilena, which named Chanyeol its first male ambassador.
The star opened the fan meet by singing “Nothin’.” This was followed by a game called “Yeol can do it” where he had to recite Filipino tongue-twisters such as “Pugong bukid, pugong gubat” and “Pitumpu’t pitong puting tupa.”
Chanyeol also did a segment where he designed three boxes filled with Ever Bilena products. These were raffled off to three lucky fans.
The local makeup brand and “Yeolmaes,” a moniker for Chanyeol’s fans, also prepared a same-day edit video of his visit to the country, much to the K-pop star’s delight.
“I have so many things that I want to say. I have mixed emotions right now, very many emotions, but the biggest feeling that I have right now is that I want to live a better life from now. I am just an ordinary person like you, or am I not?” Chanyeol said after watching the video.
The video, he stressed, made him realize that his presence gives his fans a lot of strength and inspiration, so it’s a responsibility he has to live up to.
“I have this determination that I cannot live without trying my best or trying harder. It’s really my honest reflection of tonight. I really feel and I really know that wherever you are all around the world, you really support me a lot. And so I would really want to be this great person, great artist that could give you happiness and satisfaction. I’m really overjoyed tonight; I was really extremely happy tonight,” he said.
Chanyeol also recalled his previous stay in the Philippines as an ordinary student.
“I think I’ve already mentioned this before: My first foreign country to visit was the Philippines. When I was in middle school, during our vacation, I came to the Philippines for a short-term study program for English and so I have a lot of memories here and it really makes me feel comfortable whenever I come here to the Philippines.”
He added: “I could also say that the only reason, the only engine I have to be on the stage, to do any of these things that I’m doing, is because of you… To all the EXO-L that are here tonight, and all the EXO-L all around the world, our cherry, for all of you I will really do my best, I will really work harder to be your pride, because you guys are my pride.”