It’s the afternoon after Jay Park’s sold-out concert in Singapore, and the atmosphere in the studio is a stark contrast to the electrified frenzy of last night, where thousands of fans were screaming his name and singing along. Usher—Jay’s request—is playing in the background, accompanied by the intermittent clicks of the camera as our photographer tests and adjusts the lights. The energy is calm, the vibe relaxed, as the man himself sits patiently in the chair getting groomed for the shoot ahead.
His entourage of five hover nearby, not in an intrusive way, but like a group of friends who stay close to protect and encourage one of their own. As I would find out later—as they clap, tease, and cheer him on from the sidelines between shots—they aren’t just colleagues, but a chosen family who is fiercely loyal to someone who has given them reason to be.
The team did not come about by happenstance. Jay is conscious of the people he works with, curating personalities as a coach would a squad, with each individual chosen for trust, chemistry and a shared goal. He shares, “It’s not just about us making money together. If our hearts and mindsets are aligned, then these are people that I want to win and whom I want to help win. That keeps me motivated and makes it more than just about myself; this always gives me a bigger purpose.”
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Despite having watched and read many of his previous interviews, I still find myself surprised at how introspective and candid Jay can be. Beneath that tattooed, bad-boy exterior, and the twerks, gyration and body rolls that would make grandmothers faint, is a man who is highly in tune with his thoughts and feelings. And he’s not ashamed to let them be known.
His praise for artists who “have been putting in the work and representing” is as generously given as his quips about stereotypes of a Korean kid growing up in America in the ‘90s: “Asian culture wasn’t that prevalent; it was just all about kung fu and Jackie Chan.” Having been on the receiving end of some very harsh criticism throughout his almost two-decade career, he’s also got a few choice words to say about people who define him “with a headline” instead of taking the time to understand his work. “And that’s fine too,” he is quick to add, “Because I’m comfortable with who I am. I don’t need everyone to perceive me in a certain way. I’m just human, like everyone else.”
Born in 1987 in Edmonds, Washington, Jay was a shy kid just trying to find his place in the world; figuring things out in a country that had yet to embrace Asian representation in mainstream culture. “Discovering hip hop and breaking allowed me to communicate and fit in with people; to learn about different people, their cultures and their lives. So, for me, I always come at it from a place of respect,” he says.
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That foundation eventually led him to relocate from Seattle to Seoul as a trainee under JYP Entertainment—a move that he acknowledges as a seismic one. It removed him completely from everything he thought he knew, and forced him to discover things that he never thought to learn before. “I had to find out a lot of things about myself: What it means to be Korean; why people think the way they think; why we are the way we are; why my parents are the way they are. It was a turning point in my life.”
Three years later, in 2008, Jay debuted as the leader of K-pop boy band 2PM. His charisma and dancing made him a standout but controversy soon derailed his trajectory. Comments he had made years earlier on MySpace—criticising life in Korea—resurfaced and sparked public backlash. By late 2009, he announced his departure from 2PM and returned to the States in a move that many saw as career suicide. But what might have ended a less determined artist’s career became the catalyst for Jay’s reinvention.
While back on home ground, he uploaded a cover of B.o.B’s breakout hit “Nothin’ on You” on YouTube. The world sat up and took notice—as did Korea. By 2010, he was back in Seoul, but this time on his own terms.
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Over the next decade, Jay carved out his own lane in the Korean music industry. Embracing hip hop and R&B influences rather than a formulaic K-pop sound, he released a string of albums that cemented him as both a chart-topping artist and a cultural disruptor. Albums like New Breed (2012) and Worldwide (2015) showcased his versatility, while singles like “Mommae” became anthems that blurred the lines between underground grit and mainstream appeal. Similarly, his music collaborations spanned cultures and genres populated by Korean heavyweights like Dok2 and Zico, to American icons like Wiz Khalifa and 2 Chainz. In 2017, he became the first Asian American signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, marking a milestone for representation.
And he isn’t just a performer; he’s an empire builder. Founding a host of record labels, including AOMG, H1ghr Music, and More Vision, Jay helped to reshape the Korean music scene, giving artists like Chung Ha, Loco, Simon Dominic and Gray alternative paths to thrive outside of the Korean music industry’s rigid idol system. For Jay, it was less about business than it was about creating spaces for collaboration and authenticity. “It’s not about my artistic vision,” he tells me. “I don’t go ‘you need to do this’ or ‘I don’t want to do that’. I never want it to feel forced.
“Trying to balance all that, to be honest, is very hard, because the mindset of an artist and that of a CEO is very different,” he continues. “When I’m working on an album or getting ready for a concert, I have to kick into artist mode, where I’m a little bit edgier and don’t care about what people think. As a CEO, I have to be aware of what people are saying; that’s my responsibility. I definitely want to step back as a celebrity artist and just do stuff I want to do, while managing the company, the kids, and our brand direction.”
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That desire to remove himself from the spotlight and drive the creative vision of his empire stems from his realisation of how fast the industry is changing. From the way music is accessed and listened to, to how it is produced and distributed, the industry has evolved from the one he stepped into as a fresh-faced hopeful in 2008.
“The landscape is changing very quickly. There probably isn’t a single person who doesn’t know what K-pop is, and that’s great! But as a music artist? It’s a little bit scary,” he says. “The most popular thing right now is KPop Demon Hunters and they’re not even real people. There are so many things that you can generate within seconds with AI that took me 20 years of blood, sweat and tears to learn. So for me, I just try to stay true to myself and what I believe in and hold valuable, and invest my time, effort and money into those things.”
One of those things he values is Won Soju, the premium soju label he launched in 2022 as a passion project. There’s also his relationship with Gucci, for which he’s been a global brand ambassador since November 2023, and for whom he trotted out his parents for the world to meet in the Gucci Together campaign. Celebrating familial bonds and authentic connections, the campaign, launched in April this year, featured Jay alongside his parents in a series of intimate portraits captured by photographer Tina Barney. “They don’t really like being in front of the camera, so I was kind of hesitant at first. But I told them that we could all go to Italy together, where they have good food and great wine, and they were like, ‘Okay, we’ll do it for Gucci’,” he shares. “It was very meaningful because we’re not a family that takes a bunch of family photos and goes on family trips all the time. So it was nice to go to Rome with my parents, and have them see and experience what I do for work.” Or at least one aspect of his wide-reaching world.
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I ask Jay if he has any advice for young artists trying to make it in such a cut-throat and shifting industry, having himself experienced the dizzying highs and humbling lows that come with being in the spotlight. He pauses for a minute before answering: “It comes with sacrifices. Work hard, trust the process, be aware of what’s going on and what other people think, but don’t let it define you, because that’s how you lose yourself.”
As I look at Jay, sitting in his chair, surrounded by his loyal team, I realise that he is precisely what he willed himself to be: An artist, an entrepreneur, and most of all, a human being writing his own story on his own terms.
Talent Stylist SOONHWAN KWON/Recyde
Grooming JOOYOUNG HAN/Blacklip
Photographer’s Assistant IVAN TEO