JAY PARK’S GQ KOREA AUGUST 2019 INTERVIEW
translation by cjeffect
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Jay Park: “Being sexy is a matter of self-confidence”
Jay Park knows who he is. His story begins with this sentence.
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Q. How does it feel to kick off your first world tour in Seoul?
JP – Since I’m based in Seoul, I wanted to get started right here. It’s about time I did that, since I’ve been active for 10 years.
Q. Your tour is called “SEXY 4EVA WORLD TOUR.” “SEXY 4EVA” is also the title of your song released last year. What does ‘being sexy’ mean to Jay Park?
JP – To me, being sexy is, imagining the person I want to be. I believe I am this or that person, and act like it. Then, other people also eventually see me that way, even though they didn’t at first. So, being sexy is a matter of self-confidence.
Q. Is that how you’ve always been?
JP – Yes. I knew from the beginning what kind of person I am. Even when others had doubts about me, I didn’t change myself to please others, but I have done things my way. Even those who initially looked down on me have started seeing me as the person I imagined I wanted to be. If you don’t believe in yourself, then who else would believe in you?
Q. Documentary <Jay Park: Chosen1> tells the whole life history of Jay Park. Why is it called ‘Chosen1’?
JP – Doesn’t it sound awfully ‘arrogant’? I wanted to go with another title. Seriously. I think anyone is a chosen one. There are lots of talented people. I am not the kind of person who’s exceptionally great in one thing. It’s just that what kind of mentality you have, what sacrifices you’ve made to achieve your goals. That makes the difference.
Q. I saw the clip where you sing ‘Nothing on You’ you posted 9 years ago. I thought, Time really does fly by.
JP – That was the beginning of Jay Park. Back then, everything was plain and simple.
Q. Come to think of it, it amazes me how on earth this person was ever put into an idol group.
JP – I know, it amazes me too.
Q. When you went back to the U.S., you visited the tire shop where you used to work. How did it make you feel?
JP – I felt great going back there. Even back then, I didn’t think working at a tire shop was a big deal.
Q. I thought then Jay Park is such an optimistic person. You wouldn’t have worked there had you been depressed.
JP – Honestly, though, I could have died if I had been seriously depressed. It was that big a deal then. But I was only thinking of what to do in the future while making money. It was this one incident in my life, and everything would be okay as time went by. If I were the kind of person who cared too much about what others think, I would have had a really hard time. I wouldn’t be here right now, either.
Q. Since then, Jay Park has kept proving himself. Every time you think it necessary, you’ve improved your skills and proved yourself in many different areas.
JP – No matter what scene I was at, I did my best to get recognized there. I discovered that my strength lies in doing many different things, even though I’m not exceptionally great in one particular thing. I am the type of person who tries his hand at many different things. When you attempt to do many things, some things may not work out for you, but there are things that do.
Q. Have you ever experienced failure?
JP – A lot of times. Not all my albums were successful.
Q. Your latest release <The Road Less Traveled> is filled up with serious hip-hop tracks with only very few Korean lyrics.
JP – I thought this album isn’t for popular consumption. It is not an album that appeals to popular tastes. This is an album dedicated to hip-hop culture and Seattle. I wanted to bring my Seattle friends on board for the album, and I wanted to do some proper hip-hop in English. I’m proud of this project.
Q. What kind of place is your hometown, Seattle?
JP – It’s the place that made me who I am. It’s the place where I was born and raised. My friends, relatives, b-boy crew, and hip-hop club where I was a member back in school. In hip-hop, there is this community culture where you treasure where you’re from and your people. In Seattle, the hip-hop scene is not that big, so I want to give my friends there opportunities.
Q. As an Asian living in the States, haven’t you faced any limitations in enjoying b-boying and hip-hop?
JP – I’ve been told so many times: “Why is this Asian playing basketball?” “Why don’t you go study math?” some stuff like that. But I’m not the kind of person.
Q. What was Seoul like when you first came here as a teen?
JP – I came to Korea alone, and this time, I am American. I was told ‘Yankee bastard,’ people made fun of me because I couldn’t speak Korean. I was lonely. But at the end of the day, it was Seoul where I built my identity. Now, I find Seoul even more comfortable than the U.S. My favorite alcohol is soju, too.
Q. I guess the life of Jay Park has been like constantly fighting prejudice, such as ‘Asians can’t do hip-hop’ and ‘Korean idols must look like this.’
JP – I hate making assumptions. Idols should be like this, rappers should be like that, Asians should be like that… There is no such thing. People are all different. I’ve been active for a long time now, so maybe there’s an assumption that Jay Park is such a cliché. There are always prejudices like that. I have to face them head-on until I retire. Even when others saw me based on some sort of prejudice, I didn’t change myself just to get along with those other people. I have stayed the way I am, and I made people come to me.
Q. You have collaborated with over 100 Korean and international artists, right? What makes so many people turn to Jay Park?
JP – I think I’ve worked with over 200 people. I guess the reason is… I just do it for them? I don’t brag about myself. I don’t think someone is below me just because that person is younger than me or debuted later than I did. Everyone is equal, aren’t they? When I see a talented person, I contact them first, I tell them they are great.
Q. You also run AOMG and H1GHR Music records, too. Jay Park seems to be the person who finds who he is among the people who need Jay Park.
JP – At the end of the day, it’s the people who motivate me. I think we all should live well together. What good would it be if you just live well alone? I feel happy when people need me, I help them out, and see them succeed. Hip-hop is all about community. I gained a lot through hip-hop: I got the chance to appear in <GQ> too. Many people got to live well through me. I have to give back to this community as much as I’ve gained here, that’s my role.
Q. Wonder if you were born to be a boss.
JP – I am not a boss. Bosses want their companies to succeed, not the people. I am just a person, rather than a boss. I think the people are more important than the company.
Q. You are always busy even when you have a lot of people around you. Do you feel lonely too?
JP – Hm, I don’t have anyone who can relate to the pressure I’m feeling in my position, the feelings I have now. So sometimes I feel like I’m alone.
Q. Have you ever been in a slump?
JP – Right now. In fact, I’m a little tired. Every February, I have my schedule planned for the entire year. Today I have another appointment after finishing the shoot now. After I’ve done traveling overseas, it’ll be soon 2020.
Q. How do you manage yourself working like that?
JP – Thinking of the time when I retire. Haha. I am not saying I’m retiring right now, but I’m not kidding, either. I’ve done most of the things I wanted to do, and I’ve worked hard and done my best.
Q. What are you going to do when you retire?
JP – I want to have a different mindset. I will retire as a celeb, and I want to start working as a producer or making contributions behind the scenes. Even now, what I am doing is music, but I don’t think my profession is a celebrity. I hate when people don’t take me seriously. Like, they’re talking about me as if I’m not a human being, just because I am a celeb.
Q. Like, as if you aren’t a human being?
JP – Yup. People can’t always look cool. Because they are human beings. No one is perfect. No one needs to be perfect, either. There are times when you are ugly, sad, or angry. I just want people to look at me as a human being.
Q. Is there anything Jay Park still wants to have, although you’ve achieved a lot of things?
JP – Things I don’t have? There are a lot. First off, height. And I don’t have so-called mega hits. I’ve done my best and worked hard in music, but I still don’t have mega hits.
Q. How can you say that when you won all kinds of awards last year and the year before.
JP – Haha, but I am content. I’ve come this far, building things up little by little, over the past 10 years. There are a lot more things I have than those I don’t.
Q. Of the things you have, what are you most proud of?
JP – My soul. It’s not that my soul is perfectly pure and clean, but I still have at least a portion of it clean. Because I haven’t lowered myself to gain money or fame. Because I haven’t sold my soul.
Q. I read an interview Will Smith did a long time ago. He said, the reason he doesn’t use profanity in his rap lyrics because he was told “intelligent people do not use these words to express themselves.” What does Jay Park value in hip-hop?
JP – Taking responsibility for your own words. Respecting the culture of hip-hop. You shouldn’t use any kind of words just because you think you can use it to make money or you think it’s the genre where you can say whatever you want. You have to take responsibility for your own raps.
Q. You said, in an interview you did around when you were 20, you had a fear of flying.
JP – I still am afraid of flying.
Q. Still? Even though you travel to the States like constantly?
JP – It’s gotten a lot better than before, but I still feel anxious when I’m high up in the sky.
Q. I asked you this, thinking you’d be embarrassed, but you gave me an unexpected answer.
JP – I guess things like that don’t change.
Q. Like Jay Park’s soul has not changed?
JP – Yes, just like I still have a soul. Hm, even though it’s not 100% clean. Haha.