Hip hop and rap star Jay Park has a lot to juggle, but he’s confident that it’s all meant to be. The charismatic Korean American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and founder of multiple music labels is working on an R&B album.
He founded a new label More Vision early in 2022, currently serves as the emcee of the Korean music talk show The Seasons: Jay Park Drive and recently released two new songs. One of those songs, Yesterday, is a hopeful song about heart-pounding love. But the other song, the honeyed duet Love is Ugly, sung by Park and Hwa Sa of the k-pop group Mamamoo, deals with the less than ideal reality of relationships.
“Yesterday and Love Is Ugly are R&B-based songs with an acoustic vibe,” said Park. “Yesterday has a sincere message, saying, love me as I am, not my circumstances. Love Is Ugly portrays both the beautiful and sometimes not-so-pretty sides of love when two people are working on a relationship.”
“Love Is Ugly is a song I wrote about four to five years ago,” said Park. “I wanted to portray all the heartaches and sacrifices it takes to work on something in order to get bliss and happiness. Yesterday is what I feel love is about, whether it be your significant other, friends, or family. I wonder how people would look at me if everything I have disappears one day. I hope that those who love me would still love me as I am.”
“What has stayed consistent is my ambition to grow and progress as a person and in my music,” said Park. The content of my music grows as I am as well, since I’ve been writing my own songs for over a decade. I not only stay keen on sounds and genres that are popular, but also put that classic Jay Park spin on it.”
His love for and curiosity about all kinds of music also led him to participate in reality shows such as Show Me The Money and Unpretty Rapstar and he currently serves as host for The Seasons: Jay Park Drive, a musical talk show.
“It gives me an excuse to meet people I wouldn’t normally meet and ask a lot of questions,” said Park. “I’m a curious person and I like to pick people’s brains, learn and share information.”
The Seasons: Jay Park Drive, is a music talk show featuring different genres of musicians. That’s what appealed to him about hosting.
“With most of the music shows on Korean TV being very idol groups heavy, there isn’t a lot of space on major network TV for musicians of other genres to appear on,” said Park. “As someone who is influential and well-respected within the music community, I felt it was my duty to do my part when I got the offer. The responses from the network, fans and artists that were on the show have been great, so I’m very grateful for that.”
He promises there are exciting developments in the works at his new label More Vision.
“As of right now More Vision represents myself, the Street Woman Fighter winner, the female dance crew, HolyBang, and the male dance crew, MVP (More Vision Project) formed of some of the most talented dancers to hail from South Korea,” said Park. “We are also in talks with a few artists, and a few trainees have just started their training for the artist development for our future idol groups.”
Managing his own career, hosting and making plans for More Vision does require some juggling, but he doesn’t plan to narrow his focus.
“It’s a lot of responsibility and it can be exhausting at times,” said Park. “But I feel God put me in the position because he knows I can handle it and I was chosen for the job. It’s my duty to God to give it my all. I’m very thankful for my life, all the people he has put into my life, and everything he has allowed me to do. At the end of the day, I just try to work hard with good people, trying not to lose myself in this fast-paced industry.”
Park’s last tour The Sexy4Eva tour ran from July 2019 to January 2020, ending just before the pandemic shut down concert venues. The tour included 30 concerts in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. Now that concert venues are open again, Park is considering another tour.
“Yes, after I put my full-length R&B album out, I plan to go on tour,” he said. “Which will most likely be my last one. Let’s go out with a BANG.”
This story was originally published on forbes.com.