Korean rapper and singer Jay Park is contemporary off the discharge of his 20-track R&B album, The One You Wished, one thing he’s been working on for years, when he jumps on a Zoom with The Hollywood Reporter.
The 37-year-old, a Seattle native, has had a prolonged profession in Korean leisure. Starting his as a K-Pop idol, Park moved on to grow to be a solo hip hop artist, he was the primary Asian act signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label. He has since based a number of leisure corporations, together with Extra Imaginative and prescient, the music label he at present resides as CEO of.
The One You Wished, which options a number of collaborations together with Ty Dolla $ign, K-Pop icon IU and Hwasa, has been years within the making for artist – he final launched an R&B album in 2016 and has been working to end his latest album since then. Park says individuals determine him as various things, whether or not or not it’s rapper, CEO, entrepreneur, however he feels that followers most determine with the dance, R&B and pop facet of him and his music.
“I’m not going to be able to do that much longer,” he says, joking that folks roast those that had been “sexy back in the day” however hold making the music. “I know that my time in this space is very limited. And so for me, it was very important for me to, as an artist, definitely to put out this project.”
Park says he recollects telling followers on social media yr after yr that he would launch the undertaking. “I would be in the studio, I would work on R&B songs, but then things just kept on coming up, whether it be me resigning from AOMG and H1ghr Music [the first two entertainment companies he founded] and starting More Vision, Won Soju, other projects,” he begins.
“A bunch of things kept on coming up, so I wasn’t able to finish the album, and I tried to really just set some time aside, I would fly Cha Cha (Malone) out and be like, ‘Yo, we got to finish the album.’ I think we did it two or three times and just wasn’t able to do it,” he says. “I was just too swamped with different things, too many things on my mind.”
Park says he blocked off a time period this yr to dedicate to the album. “I was just determined on finishing it. We finished it and it all just kind of came together very perfectly,” he says. “The seven years was very rough, and the last six months was good.”
Jay Park
Courtesy of Extra Imaginative and prescient
The singer and rapper has saved himself busy in his position as CEO of Extra Imaginative and prescient. The label’s present roster consists of Park, singer Chung Ha, dancer Honey J and her crew HolyBang and MVP (Extra Imaginative and prescient Challenge). Park, nevertheless, is already trying forward, confirming that firm is at present potential K-Pop idols.
“We’re in the midst of continuously producing the idol group, and hopefully we’ll have them debut early 2026,” Park explains. “We have a guy group and a girl group, and they’re getting ready at the same time.”
The CEO says an excellent vocal tone is essential in artists he needs to signal to his label. “You could be the best singer in the world, but if you don’t have a pleasing tone, you’re not going to listen to the music,” he says. “You have a lot of people, they seem great, they sing great, and they do well on certain shows like The Voice or whatever, or YouTube auditions, but their music doesn’t pop off.”
Park explains that is his first time producing an idol group and that he closely relied on his personal intuition when making choices. “Everything’s by instinct and I trust my instinct because that’s what’s got me this far,” he says. “I think I’m the only one that’s started as an idol, went solo, started a hip hop group, first Asian American to sign to Roc Nation. Now we’re coming back full circle and producing an idol group.”
He says he’s feeling good in regards to the present trainees. “I am very confident in the group of kids that we have. They sing great, they sound better than me,” Park says. “I think they’ll definitely be my opportunity to take a step back and just be like, ‘Alright, take the torch.’”
As an advisor to youthful artists, the rapper turned CEO says he takes a distinct strategy than most. “I don’t try to teach, or I don’t try to give answers, but I just try to share my experience, and if that helps ’em in some type of way, that’s great,” he says.
“For me, knowledge and experience, it’s definitely an asset. It is something that is very valuable for me. I don’t try to use that as some type of leverage for people,” Park says.
He provides: “I want to see people happy. I don’t have to monetize everything.”
