Topp Dogg

**Taran Damsong (**तरणดำสงค์) is a member of EX0T1C. Originally from Thailand, he began his career as a pop star there, before moving to America to seek a wider audience.

## Early Life (1994-2007)

Taran was born in 1994 in Bankok, Thailand. He was often teased as a child, usually being called "Mị̂p̄hị̀" (ไม้ไผ่) or "bamboo" as a joke about his height. His later nickname, Topp Dogg, is a subversion of his former self-consciousness about his height derived from this constant teasing.

In 2005, Taran was scouted by a local clothing brand for his good looks, intending him as a nameless child model in commercials and print ads. He quickly became dissatisfied with the passive work but continued to model for the good money associated with the job.

His noticeable good looks made him something of a heartthrob for the young girls reading fashion magazines and his name quickly became highly-sought information. His identity was eventually tracked down and, seeing the reaction that came from his image alone, in 2007 the Thai-based music label, TLMM, decided to scout him despite his lack of musical skills for the sake of his excellent marketing capabilities.

## Joining TLMM (2007-2010)

With little to no music experience or skills, Taran struggled to find a place for himself at TLMM. The label was happy to market him freely for the revenues, but hesitant to promote release any music and shatter the illusion they had created. As a result, Taran was constantly juggled between groups, mostly existing as the eye candy for a brief time before the group either fell under or got tired of the dead weight hanging onto them.

Frustrated and humiliated, Taran decided to take singing lessons and learned to play the guitar to improve his music skills. Both were, however, novice level at best. It did make him a slightly better asset to TLMM, and they finally decided to give him a shot; as a solo artist, so that he would not be a risk to their other groups. He was left as an island, all but abandoned by the label. He was given no songwriters, composers, or producers as his performance, if he tanked, would reflect negatively on them. By this point, Taran was almost outright set up for failure and could jeopardize the label as a whole.

Isolated but not deterred, Taran chose to take all of the different aspects upon himself. He struggled but pushed on through the songwriting, composing, singing, and producing all by himself. The result was a mediocre but passionate 2009 album, full of clumsy yet heartfelt lyrics and absurd yet compelling arrangements. It was not a total and absolute failure, as TLMM had suspected.

They offered to supply him with all the songwriters, composers, and producers he would need to create a fantastic followup album for 2010. However, Taran was not interested in renewing his feeble 3-year contract,, nor signing a larger one, feeling that he did not need TLMM and had already proven it. Thus, he parted ways with TLMM in 2010. He decided to move to America shortly after, for a fresh start.

## Independent Work (2010-2014)

After moving to America with no connections or contacts, Taran fought to get a foot in the door with the music industry. His singing still sub-par, he found it difficult to coast on his good looks as he had done back in Thailand. After a year of fruitless searching, for an in, he decided to fall back to modeling. In his own words, "it was preferable to moving back to Bankok" and thus his modeling career in New York City began. Taran found himself with surprising rapid success at modeling in America. Not only had he inadvertently moved to the fashion capital of America, with frequent runway shows all throughout the year, but he also met a very niche and required market of taller asians. Whereas his height had once been a hinderance, now it was a benefit.

Once he had made a name for himself in American modeling, it wasn't long before his history as a musician was surfaced. Not long afterwards, he was contacted by various music labels looking to sign him on. He eventually chose to sign on Vision Records in 2014, just in time to join their new boyband.

## Joining EX0T1C (2014-Present)

Taran signed onto Vision just in time to join their new project. With BLACC preparing to go on hiatus while they sorted out their own internal affairs, the label needed a new act to headline. The initial idea was to form a sort of BLACC replacement, something to fill the void until BLACC was able to return to active performing. But in the meantime, a new group was to hold the spotlight for them. This new group was a seven-member unit originally titled GRAYY and was meant to perform in the same genres and styles as BLACC. Taran embraced the idea of performing in a hip hop unit, as it would allow him to explore new types of music he had not before tried.

When GRAYY was changed to EX0T1C in 2015, the band was finally given their own identity and allowed to flourish into the popular boyband they are today.