SF9’s Rowoon is on a roll.

First, he’s on the cover of Cosmopolitan’s August issue, wearing threads from Louis Vuitton, which enhanced his striking visuals. In the interview, he opened up about how thrilled he is that SF9’s career is on an upswing. After Kingdom: Legendary War, they made a comeback with their ninth mini album TURN OVER and its title track “Tear Drop.”

When it was released on July 5, SF9 broke their personal first-day sales record. TURN OVER sold 81,365 copies on the first day while 9loryUS, their eigth mini album, sold 72,272 copies when it dropped in July 2020. TURN OVER went on to sell an impressive total of 143,989 copies in its first week.

Rowoon also revealed that “Believer” is one of his favorite songs on their new album, because it’s the same song SF9 performed for the Kingdom: Legendary War finale. His members Chani, Hwiyoung, Youngbin, and Zuho helped write it, and listening to it reminds Rowoon of how hard they all worked to put on a good show for their fans. Looking back on those times makes him proud to be part of SF9.

Meanwhile, Rowoon is also busy preparing for his next acting gig. He’ll be in the upcoming KBS2 historical drama Love. As Rowoon tells it, the show will give him a chance to become the kind of actor he’s always wanted to be—one who makes people curious. He dreams of playing different roles, including bad, good, and grotesque characters.

“On the surface it seems like a happy story, but deep down it has sorrow and tragedy. Historical dramas are particularly charming to work on. It’s a genre that requires a significant amount of imagination on the part of the actors involved,” he says.

Rowoon has come a long way since his landing his first roles on the shows Click Your Heart and School 2017. In a previous interview, he was asked what he learned from working on dramas like Extraordinary You and She Would Never Know. He said his sunbaes Ha Jung-Woo and Lee Byung Hun taught him that acting is all about fighting to be convincing.

“When you act, you have to be immersed in the emotions of the character and you have to express them as they are,” he said.

In other news, Rowoon has also been chosen to be the new face of global cosmetic brand Esteé Lauder. The brand confirmed the news last July 1, and released some never-before-seen clips from his past shoots for the brand featured in Marie-Claire magazine.

The advertisements featuring Rowoon will be released mid-July on Esteé Lauder’s official SNS accounts and YouTube channel.