SEVENTEEN’s Joshua on John Mayer’s Influence, Justin Bieber, and a Market Outing

SEVENTEEN at Coachella, when? In this episode of Billboard ‘s Takes Us Out , JOSHUA speaks with host Tetris Kelly about touring with the full SEVENTEEN unit, wanting to do Coachella, getting into acting and much more over a meal of Korean seafood at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market, a 24-hour fish market in Seoul.

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“It’s very new, but I’m learning new things,” JOSHUA shares of trying his hand at acting. “It’s helping me express my emotions more because I feel most of the time I might be a little closed off … I’m having a lot of fun with it.”

Acting isn’t the only new venture JOSHUA is taking on lately. The K-pop idol shares that he is producing solo music, and with that, he is getting into songwriting, something he historically did not have time to do before.

“I’m trying to do more of that these days,” JOSHUA says of songwriting.

The singer also talks about what kind of music he wants to put out as a solo act: “I want to show acoustic music because that’s what I grew up on and that’s how I got into music, so I want to show more of that side of myself to me fans.”

JOSHUA then shares his inspirations in the world of acoustic and indie music.

“I really love John Mayer, ever since I was a little kid. That’s how I got into wanting to learn guitar,” JOSHUA explains. He also names musician and YouTube stars Gabe Bondoc and AJ Rafael as two of his other inspirations. “And I really like Justin Bieber.”

The K-pop star and Kelly express their excitement for Bieber’s Coachella set, which had not yet happened at the time of filming, before JOSHUA shares that he would love to play at the festival.

“That was like one of my dreams, to go and perform at Coachella,” JOSHUA reveals. “So hopefully in the future.”

Watch SEVENTEEN’s JOSHUA’s full Takes Us Out episode above.

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/seventeen-joshua-john-mayer-inspired-him-takes-us-out-video-1236239990/)._