Korean singer-songwriter eldon kicked off his first-ever world tour Saturday, bringing his “Comic Book” series to Asia and the U.S.
The tour kicked off following the release of “Finalé,” a surprise single released Thursday that serves as the final installment in the R&B act’s music series of the same name.
The tour covers multiple stops across Asia and North America, opening the showcases in Taipei, Bangkok and Tokyo before heading to New York, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.
The tour will culminate with a Seoul concert, happening mid-December, eldon revealed. Details on the last stop are yet to be announced.
The singer will feature guest artists throughout the tour, listing the help of fellow R&B artists jeebanoff and Kim Seungmin for the Tokyo leg. “I’ve been a fan of both of them for a long time, so I really, really wanted to do a show with them,” eldon explained.
Meanwhile, the Houston show will feature HOHYUN, with whom he previously collaborated on his 2024 single “Fraud.”
“It was kind of a coincidence,” he said. “Our tours just happened to overlap, so we’re doing Houston together.”
He’s assigning more artists as openers for the rest of the North American shows.
He told The Korea Times that, as much as preparing for the whole project felt surreal, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. “I’ve been eldon for a pretty long time now, and next year, I’m gonna start working on a full-length album. So before that, I just want to go meet people and visit as many places as I can,” the artist shared. “So I was like, OK, it has to be now.”
Going on tour as an independent artist, he admitted to the challenges that accompany such a big move. “[I have] a very small team and a lot of people around the world who said yes when they didn’t have to,” he wrote on Instagram. “I still can‘t believe those city names are on a poster with mine.”
The “Comic Book” project, in the singer’s own words, is “a story about things that aren’t funny at all, told in a way that refuses to be serious.” The concept took shape after the artist realized how he usually turns to reading comic books whenever he wants to escape heavy, dark emotions.
“I always made the safe choice in the past, but I could see myself slowly sinking in that safe place, you know?” he remarked. And so he decided to walk the opposite way. “When I got there, there was another me over there, too.”
While he’s known for his romantic indie pop aesthetics, his latest offerings present an edgier, more seductive soundscape. The opening release in the “Comic Book” series called “Tango,” for instance, blends his signature R&B style with sultry Latin- and Western-inspired rhythms.
“I think my work is inspired by what I’ve been listening to lately, which is a lot of Bad Bunny, Travis Scott and Justin Bieber,” he said, adding that the music is also his way of celebrating touring in North America. These influences are also apparent in subsequent releases “RUN & GUN” and “Juliet.”
True to the project’s comic book motif, the tracks are accompanied by music videos featuring animated versions of eldon and characters based on people in his life. The dog featured in the animation, for instance, is modeled after his own dog, Meong, while Grabber, a demon character, takes its name from the stage name of an R&B artist friend.
“The animated world is actually connected to the real world we live in. So yeah, there’s a lot of my real life in there, if you look closely,” eldon noted.
The full “Comic Book” EP is set for release on Dec. 20, with one more track due out beforehand. “Making this EP, I feel like I got more sincere about my own music,” eldon reflected.
The tour marks his first overseas appearance following his debut North American stage at SXSW’s Friends from Elsewhere Showcase in Austin earlier this year.
Follow @eldon_the_smith on Instagram for more information.
Mariel Abanes (@marielabanes on Instagram) is a freelance lifestyle & culture writer/editor from the Philippines, currently based in Seoul. She promotes indie music and culture, and writes poetry and prose from time to time.
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