Jay Park: From Seattle Roots to K-Pop Stardom and Global Business Ventures
Jay Park has been one of the hottest names in the Korean music scene for over a decade, dominating rap and R&B charts since his debut, but before that he was spending his life in Lynnwood where his love of music and performing began.
SEATTLE – Jay Park has been one of the hottest names in the Korean music scene for over a decade, dominating rap and R&B charts since his debut, but before that he was spending his life in Lynnwood where his love of music and performing began.
“My father had an office in downtown Seattle. I used to go to church on Beacon Hill. I went to Edmonds Woodway High School. I would go to the shoreline rec all the time and, you know, practice, be one with my (b-boy) crew, and then we would enter jams anywhere from Marysville to Tacoma to Seattle,” he says.
Getting his start in the K-pop industry in 2008 with the group 2PM, Jay quickly made his way into becoming a compelling and successful solo artist, being added to Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s label as the first Asian-American artist, and starting the popular music labels AOMG and H1gher Music before stepping down from both in 2021, while still remaining an advisor.
He had even bigger plans following his departure though, starting his current label MORE VISION which houses artists like CHUNG HA, Honey J, HolyBang, and MVP, and starting his own brand of soju called Won Soju.
Being an American while also being in the Korean rap scene has given Jay a lot of responsibility that he feels he has to live up to.
“If you want to be loved and if you want to be accepted by whichever scene you’re going into, you really have to put in work. You have to lay the groundwork. I think you definitely have to put in the work, and you definitely have to acknowledge the people that have made this scene, and to do your due diligence. You really have to try to understand and soak in the culture,” he explains.
Now he has released his latest album through MORE VISION titled, “THE ONE YOU WANTED.”
박재범 (Jay Park) – ‘Gimme A Minute (Feat. CHUNG HA)’ Official Music Video
The title track, “Gimme A Minute” features MORE VISION artist CHUNG HA, and has been viewed over 2.5 million times on YouTube.
With 20 tracks, “THE ONE YOU WANTED” has multiple genres featuring numerous artists, like NINGNING of AESPA and Ty Dolla $ign.
“I obviously am very sincere and authentic and hardworking when it comes to my music, but I don’t go so deep into it where I’m a perfectionist, right? So I like to be more just kind of go with the flow, be more natural, be more fun with it,” he says.
The first track “Ohx3” featuring DUT2 is an R&B track which he says he started with to set the tone of the album, and is followed by 19 tracks of multiple genres that he put a lot of thought into, including tracks produced by longtime Seattle native and friend, Cha Cha Malone.
“I want people to just feel something, whether it be they want to dance or whether they can relate to the lyrics, be sad, be happy, whatever. I don’t want it just to be a TikTok challenge, you know,” he explains.
The album ends with the track “Piece Of Heaven” featuring ISOL, a track that “leaves you thinking basically…and leaves an everlasting emotion,” he says.
“The main goal is just for me to be proud of it, right? Whether it gets a hundred streams or a hundred million streams.. I’ll feel the same way about the album. I know that it’s a good album and I know that even if it doesn’t get the acknowledgment right away, that it’ll last for a long time,” Jay says.
His work ethic is known to everyone in the industry, but with so many projects and business ventures under his belt, the average person would experience burn out, but Jay has his ways of preventing that.
“It’s definitely very strenuous and exhausting. But, I feel like I try to continue to find motivation and inspiration so I don’t get burnt out to the point where I have a breakdown, right? Even though I’m tired and exhausted, I always find a way to keep going, and so I think that’s just me trying to stay grounded and be thankful for the simple things, whether it be health or good people around you, food in my stomach, house over my head, nature and just another day of life,” he says.
His motivation and inspiration are being passed down to a new generation now, with MORE VISION set to debut their first K-pop group in the near future.
“We’ve been in this training program for a couple of years now, and it’s my first time doing this too, so it’s like I didn’t know what I was doing. I was like, ‘okay, let’s just play it by ear,’ and then now I’m very confident in the group of kids that we have, and I feel like I’m their mentor,” he says.
Even though he just released “THE ONE YOU WANTED,” and is planning a K-pop group debut, Jay is still doing what he does best, which is working to put out content for his fans, and himself, to enjoy.
“I think I definitely want to work on a rap project after this one, and then maybe a more global project, and then maybe go on tour after that,” he says.
The Seattle native has a lot of plans for the future of his company and for himself, and his worldwide fans will continue to watch to see what is next.
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