K-pop Goes February: Day 25- Jay Park

Hello all, the final Thursday is upon us. Today, I am looking at probably the most left-field of any of the acts that I’ve covered in this project, as you will see. He raises the question of where the line distinguishing K-pop from other genres begins, and who does or does not qualify. I almost changed my mind on choosing him for that reason, but I figured, it’s a name I’ve heard of, and he is part of the K-pop conversation. Hell, he’s even a former boyband member. Without further ado, let’s get in to Mr Jay Park.

Who is Jay Park?

Born Park Jae-Beom in the US in 1987, Jay Park is, as hinted at above, a very interesting figure in the Korean music scene. Growing up in Seattle, Park was a keen b boyer and lover of hip-hop music, who fell into K-pop through a successful audition with JYP. Shipped off to Korea as a teen, he debuted in the boy group 2PM in 2008. One year later, however, online comments of his surfaced where he had apparently been derogatory towards Korea, and the ensuing media storm meant that he had to leave his group, apologising and returning home to the US. However, the comments were eventually revealed to have been mistranslated, and his reputation was restored enough for him to return to the country in 2010, where he launched his own YouTube channel and solo career.

Quite a ride huh? Well, since going solo, Park has become one of the biggest names in the K-hip hop scene, and has created two labels (AOMG Entertainment and H1ghr) of his own, parting ways with JYP in 2010, and solo management SidusHQ in 2016. His style is influenced largely by nineties hip-hop and R&B music, though Wikipedia assures me that some electro pop does sneak in there. He has creative control over his own work as well, which you can clearly see in his creation of his own labels. Though he’s not strictly a K-pop artist at all anymore, he certainly came from this genre, and has collaborated or performed with artists like Hyuna and Ailee. By including Park, essentially a rapper more than an idol, I thought I could get a different angle on Korean popular music. He is adjacent enough to the scene for the choice to be valid, in my opinion, but the music should be different. In addition, this could start up a debate around what actually defines an ‘idol’ vs a ‘musician’ in Korea, a question which I legitimately don’t know the answer to, though I suspect the boundaries are foggy. But anyway, I’m excited to hear what he has to offer now.

The First Song

Now, the first song that got Jay Park known as a soloist was actually a cover, of B.o.B and Bruno Mars’s Nothin’ On You/Count on Me. Park’s version was uploaded to his YouTube account in 2010, getting two million views in under twenty-four hours and propelling the original song to the top of the Korean charts. I wouldn’t normally have chosen this in this review format, as it’s a song I already know, that’s already famous by someone else. But, given that it does seem to be what singularly launched Park as a soloist, I gave it a go. Though I don’t remember the original song to exact standards, from what I can recall this cover is a pretty faithful reinterpretation, except with the verse sections being in, you know, Korean. What I can say is that his singing voice is impressive as it sounds very similar to Bruno Mars here, no bad thing. When you read that Park’s musical influences include Usher and Michael Jackson, you can understand that in his voice. It’s the same delicate, melodic tone, and it sits in this song completely naturally.

Five of the Big Hits

Yay, music by the actual artist I chose! There was less feedback from my good pal Reddit here, probably due to Jay Park falling a little further out on the K-pop graph, so I used YouTube to help me out too. What I cumulatively came up with is Mommae, All I Wanna Do, Me Like Yuh, Drive, and, as a little nod to my theme this week, Solo.

I started out with 2015’s Mommae, which is roughly an anglicisation of the Korean word for ‘body’. And damn, this song is, um, hmm. I’m absolutely not the person to talk about feminism in hip-hop, but, um, this song is essentially about hot girls and their hot bodies. They are pretty explicit references (in Korean) to breasts, butts and hips, with a very unsubtle video to match. I really don’t need to be zoomed right in on a butt with a denim thong on to get that arses are nice, calm down. I can’t say that this really won me over, but musically the song is fine, with a nicely minimal electro melody underlying the repeated ‘mommae’ riff to catchy effect. I just hope that the other songs, I don’t know, advance their themes a bit.

I moved on to 2016’s All I Wanna Do, and breathed a sigh of relief. That’s better. I don’t know how much a lack of subtitles had to do with it, but here we are in full R&B groove mode, rather than….leery weirdness. Park’s R&B singing style is really allowed to flex here, and the featured artists, Hoody and Loco, add great dimension to the track. The female singer, Hoody, particularly shines with her smoothness. The electro keyboards, clicking, slapping beat, and joyfully relaxed riff of “All I wanna do-oo-oo/is kick it with you-oo-oo” build into a song that you want to do just that to. Oh, and the dancing. Boy’s got skills.

Also from 2016 is Me Like Yuh. Spotify seems to suggest this in Korean, whilst on YouTube I watched in English, so basically I’m amazingly multi-cultural. This song felt like the perfect melding of Western R&B and K-pop EDM/electro-pop, with calm, tropical, almost dancehall rhythm synths and the delicate vocals of Park (and Hoody in the Korean version). The chorus is mainly a small, distorted vocal hook, not rich like All I Wanna Do, but I can’t deny the charm of the singing here. Also, through Park’s songs, I’m noticing just how much K-pop artists aren’t allowed to express as I see what is possible here. The video and song both hint at the kind of grown-up times that a K-pop song would have to be much more opaque about, and I love hearing an artist throw that approach out of the window. It’s not at all that the song isn’t sweet, only that it’s honest. Just, we don’t need to go as far as Mommae, OK?

2016 looks like it was a busy year for Jay Park, because the next choice, Drive, came out then as well. I feel very similar vibes to Me Like Yuh here, though the backing instrumentation is richer here, with some sneaky violins, and what might even be some subtle brass samples, I can’t tell. This backdrop smacks of sunshine and nineties hip-hop summers, fitting with the central idea of “going for a drive” neatly. I think Park is at his most Mars/Usher/Neyo here, with little quivering runs, and lyrics that emphasise how important his girl is to him. We’re still in the R&B side of his persona here, and the featured artist, GRAY, adds a nice, handsome (sorry not sorry) edge. Also, I think this is the first time I’ve heard someone sing “Victoria Beckham”. Kudos.

Last up is Solo, from 2015, meaning I managed to pick a very narrow window of tracks here. Apologies. After listening, it’s clear I’ve picked mostly from the ‘soft R&B side’. Well, after the first song anyway. It isn’t super memorable if I’m honest, another mid-tempo, gentle backdrop, delicately sung track, this time with Park asking a beautiful girl to become single (“solo”) because he’s crushing on her. Hoody features as said girl here, and once again I’m impressed by her own vocal flow: the main thing I really take away from this song is wanting to hear more from her. Ironically, I think this song is closest to K-pop, and could probably be pulled off by a low-key group as an album track. But it’s not my favourite.

The Latest Song

Now, I’m not sure if I’ve got this one right, as Wikipedia seems to have ignored most stuff that Jay Park has apparently done in 2020. Guess the editor got bored or something. According to a quick google, Park released the song Twist the Plot in October, in collaboration with DJ Wegun. If I’m wrong, sue me.

Now, this is hip-hop. A minimal backing drum machine beat is studded with stuttering electric beeps, and occasional record scratches. The first half of the short song is DJ Wegun, with Park taking over in the middle. The ultimate effect of the backing is mechanical, almost invoking a heart monitor, echoed by the video’s medical midpoint setting. Park’s rapping is calm yet powerful here, with lines like “they look at you like a dog minus fur minus love minus leash” hitting hard through his confident flow. It’s always great to hear rapping used to its, in my eyes, truer purpose of expressing great emotion or complexity, rather than the fairly limp (to be kind) version you hear in most modern K-pop. If you aren’t going to do it like Jay Park, maybe just sing.

The Latest Album

Again, it looks like Wikipedia lied to me here, because, according to hiphopkr.com (and they would know), Jay Park and DJ Wegun dropped the EP Everybody Sucks in October of 2020. What a 2020 title that is. This is the first totally collaborative album (from the performance perspective) that I’ve looked at, but hey, Jay Park’s on it, so what else should I do? Spotify agrees, so Sucks it is. Ha. I will say that this is probably the first hip-hop album/Ep-type thing I’ve actually listened to in full (oh wait, no, there is MIA), so I am absolutely not talking from a place of expertise.

Wow, we are not in K-pop Kansas anymore. The EP opens with the smooth Batman, with DJ Wegun hitting the lower notes, whilst Jay provides the higher register, higher energy raps. The backing synths are low and calm, with a shaking basss in the song’s final thirds as Park suddenly growls his words, almost like a metal singer. It’s only the first of many moments where the genres switch up along with the rhythms, and next to show this is Deep Sea DRIP. The hype is turned up slightly here, with a hypnotic distorted keyboard playing an almost nursery rhyme hook insistently underneath the more aggressive raps. Here as well, we have a changeup in the song’s final third, with guitars suddenly replacing the hook as the rap turns into loud, distorted singing. It’s a slow-down of rhythm, but a turning up of the power. The overall effect is wonderfully jarring, as your attention is constantly being misdirected.

Next up is Wegun Is My DJ, echoing the sound of N.E.R.D initially, before the booming drum hits bring in some more electro synth sounds, which take us out of the track along with Daft Punk (RIP) style vocoder voices. This is only track three, and already following the through line of this EP is like a maze. Not because it’s messy, but complex, and relentlessly playful. You’re clearly not allowed to sit down and let this album tinkle by: you are going to sit up and listen, chasing this weird hip-hop unicorn as it runs gleefully amok. Nomad feels the most straightforward of a rap track, and again I want to note the changing of flow and rhythm that Jay Park just seems to be playing around with in his hands. There is aggression, speed, quavering of the voice, overtly mocking tones at times, the work of a man who is confident to flex his muscles as he wants.

The EP finishes with Out Of Place, winding the energy down to a laconic speed, with a distorted old-fashioned piano hook underscoring the slowest track here. The backing track has an eerie, clockwork toy-like feel, and the lyrics swerve from aggression to an ultimate apathy: “I'm so sick of everything I just wanna leave this place/Send me off to an island or even better outta space”. It’s an assertive note to leave this collaboration, declaring that these artists are not happy with the world they’re in, and the lack of sincerity in particular. I would go into more detail if I understood all the lyrics, but you can still sense this frustrated anger and despair through the song’s overall tone. It’s a refreshing change from the K-pop EP standard of a warming EDM crowd pleaser, and I love that I’m hearing something that is so fully the expression of the artists I’m hearing. I don’t always need it from my music, but damn Jay Park does it well.

Thoughts?

My main one is that, today, I haven’t really reviewed a K-pop artist, in so much as Jay Park doesn’t happily sit in one genre. Having heard all the tracks I have, it’s intriguing to know that he started in JYP, the same company that gave us Twice. I can’t think of many Korean tracks further away from Likey Likey. I’ll have to watch one of his old 2PM videos to get the full context, because for me, I see a soft R&B rapper mixed with a mercurial rapper. Both of these genres obviously influence K-pop hugely, but it’s particularly great to see what can be done with them in the Korean music scene with a creator who has total control. Whilst Mommae just didn’t really sit well with me (I’m clearly a crotchety old lady), his other hits were smooth, and his EP with DJ Wegun was by far the most inventive of the records I’ve heard in this project. And probably beforehand as well. Jay Park, I don’t know if you count as an idol, but your talent and style are clear, and I hope that the work you make only influences ‘purer’ K-pop to get as imaginative and expressive.

P.S. Jay Park sir, you have a lot of tattoos. I somehow, unusually, like this.

Good work.