In a departure from his boyband image, South Korean singer and songwriter Jay Park proves himself as a solo artiste, writes Loong Wai Ting
FANS of South Korean singer and songwriter Jay Park got up close with their idol last week at his showcase in KL Live. The artiste was here to promote his latest album New Breed.
Some had also spotted Park enjoying a swim at his hotel.
The singer held a showcase in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah prior to his KL visit.
Born Park Jaebeom in Seattle in United States, the 25-year-old artiste is the former leader of South Korean boyband 2PM. Park is also one of the members of Seattle-based b-boy crew, Art of Movement. He parted ways with 2PM in 2009.
In 2010, he surprised his fans by posting a video of himself on YouTube doing a cover of B.o.B and Bruno Mars’ Nothin’ On You. The video received two million hits within 24 hours.
Park has managed to brush off his “idol image” and stepped it up as a solo artiste after taking a year off from the music scene to produce New Breed.
“Nothing comes easy for me as an artiste, but I enjoy what I do — singing, dancing and producing,” said Park at a Press conference before the showcase.
He also joked with the Press and his fans during the showcase. “I am a funny guy with a laid-back personality,” he said. “I am thankful for the support all these years, especially from the fans here. I feel especially blessed as well to see all the Jaywalkerz (his fans) tonight.”
With the release of New Breed, Park has placed himself as an all-rounder, as he has written and produced all the songs in the album.
“There is a variety of music in New Breed, R&B, acoustic, love songs etc. I guess being a solo artiste has its advantages as I can write whatever lyrics I want and not just focus on catchy songs like those I wrote for boy groups such as U-Kiss,” he said.
The tracks in his new album are good and have the right elements, from song selection to mixing different musical instruments together.
“I don’t feel like I am competing with the other K-pop idols. I am just doing my own music and carving out my own career in the industry. But I don’t mind being compared to other Korean artistes.”
Park performed five songs for 1,000 fans at his KL showcase, showing off his dancing as well. He sang Nothin’ On You, and Star, Know Your Name and Girlfriend from his new album.
This is Park’s last stop in his promotional tour which covered Singapore and the Philippines.
New Breed is now available in music stores.
- Harian Metro
- Berita Harian
- Business Times
- My Gadget Planet
- Travelific
- Harum
- Eats
- Properties
- News Image Bank (NIB)
- New Economic Model
- NST Reviews
- NiEXUS
- Friends of Travel Times
- Property News
- NSTLIVE Archive
- Spell-It-Right
