When we talk about music, most people picture artists under the spotlight, albums celebrated for their artistry, and songs that dominate charts around the world. Yet behind every hit record are the individuals shaping its sound, emotion, and the moments that linger long after the final note fades.
One of them is Jang Yi-jeong (better known as EL CAPITXN), a producer, songwriter, and founder of Vendors Production. He has spent more than a decade helping craft the success of some of K-Pop’s biggest artists, including BTS, TXT, SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, NCT, ARTMS, and IU.
His work has gathered billions of streams and is part of the global reach of the Hallyu wave, further cementing the place of Asian artists on the international music stage. But 2026 marks a new chapter in EL CAPITXN’s journey. After years of operating behind the scenes, he officially steps into the spotlight with his debut solo single Breaking Through, a collaboration with Jeremy Zucker and TXT’s TAEHYUN. The release also marks his return to the stage for the first time since 2017, when HISTORY (the group in which he served as lead vocalist) disbanded.
In conversation with Esquire Vietnam, EL CAPITXN reflects on his evolution from a producer working behind some of the industry’s most influential artists to a performer telling stories under his own name. He also shares his thoughts on the future of K-pop, the growing influence of Asian artists on the global music landscape, and why the greatest challenge is sometimes not creating music for others, but finding the courage to speak in your own voice.
Esquire Vietnam: When did you realize it was the right time to come back to the stage?
EL CAPITXN: For a long time, my role was shaping other artists’ stories into their best possible form. But at some point, I started to feel that my own wounds, my attitude, my way of surviving were showing up inside the music I was making.
What were you trying to overcome creatively and emotionally with this project, which you named the title track Breaking Through?
What I wanted to show through this song wasn’t a perfect return. It was that you can still move forward even while broken. Creatively, I wanted to step out from the familiar image of “producer EL CAPITXN.”
Emotionally, I wanted to push past the fear and silence I’d been carrying inside. This song isn’t really about healing. It’s closer to the image of someone still in pain, breaking down the door and walking out.
Do you think genre matters less to younger generations today?
Yes. I think the current generation receives music through feeling and attitude before genre. What matters isn’t “what genre is this” but “where does this music take me.” And while mixing anything together is easy, mixing convincingly is hard. In the end, what matters more than genre is whether that combination feels inevitable for that artist.
How does your experience as a performer in the K-pop system influence your production?
Because I’ve stood on that stage myself, I never think about a track purely as something that sounds good. I imagine what expression the artist will have singing this part, what movements will come out on stage, where the fans will react. The K-pop system is brutal, but the instincts I developed inside it became an enormous weapon as a producer.
Where does your dark, cinematic style originate, and was it difficult to define your identity?
The aesthetic of EL CAPITXN isn’t about making darkness look cool. It came from the actual texture of emotions I lived through. Wounds, defiance, isolation, and the self-assurance that refuses to disappear even through all of that. Those things naturally led to something dark and cinematic.
The process of finding that identity was difficult, but at some point the answer became simple: stop trying to look good. Just show even the parts you wanted to hide.
What atmosphere do you want to create for your audience?
WHO KILLED EL? is something I want people to experience less as a concert and more as an incident. More than just listening to music, I want the audience to feel like they’re witnessing someone’s death and resurrection, collapse and awakening. By combining the energy of a DJ show with the narrative of K-pop performance, I want people to walk away not just feeling entertained, but feeling like they went through something together.
What do people outside Korea still misunderstand about K-Pop production?
A lot of people seem to see K-pop purely as the product of a very calculated system. The system is powerful, no doubt. But inside it is an enormous amount of emotional judgment, instinct, experimentation, and human obsession. K-Pop isn’t music produced on an assembly line. It’s the result of pushing human instinct to its limit inside an incredibly intense system.
What is the role of Asian artists in the future of the industry, and are we in a new era?
I think Asian artists are no longer the “alternative” or the “unusual phenomenon” in the global music market. We’ve already moved into the center, and going forward, we won’t simply be following the Western market. We’ll be proposing new standards and aesthetics. This is clearly a different era. What matters more than language or region is how strong your identity and worldview are.
Has massive success changed your relationship with music?
Success has definitely broadened my perspective, but the most fundamental way I approach music hasn’t changed much. In the end, I still think about the same thing I did at the beginning: “Will this one moment stay with someone?” But now I know it better. Numbers are just a result. Music that lasts comes from genuine emotion and precise detail.
What do you hope people discover about you, Jang Yi-jeong, as a person and artist?
I hope people don’t see me as simply a successful producer who started a solo project. Through this album, I want people to feel what Jang Yi-jeong has been through, and why I had to step back on stage under the name EL CAPITXN. I’m not making this album as someone who’s fully healed. I’m making it as someone still in pain, but no longer willing to stop.
