By myself... Jay Park, who stands at the starting line again, prepares for solo activities. He rises once again, leaving behind the misunderstandings and controversies.
“I don’t want to talk about 2PM anymore.”
It has been one and a half years. Jay Park stands in front of his fans once again after leaving to the States as a consequence of the Myspace controversy.
He has now got rid of the label as a ’2PM’ member and is preparing to take his first step as a solo artist. A studio in Namyang is where I met him recently. He was moving busily to shoot the M/V of his new album, which is set to be released in mid-April. He sighed as he said, “I am so out of it since I have to set everything up myself” and checked the movements of the dancers and the costumes.
Before sitting down with Jay Park, a staff member from his agency requested that I avoid asking sensitive questions related to 2PM. Recently, Jay Park appeared on a entertainment news program and revealed, “I miss 2PM members the most” and “I am sorry,” among other statements, and became the center of attention. It had been stressful to go through all the speculation and malicious gossip. However, as it is not possible to avoid 2PM when talking about Jay Park, I asked questions about it despite their courteous request.
“I have been apologizing since last year; I don’t want to keep repeating myself”
When I brought up the topic of 2PM, Jay Park’s expression hardened slightly. Although he firmly said, “I do not wish to bring it up,” he explained why he couldn’t. “I talked a lot about it on an entertainment news show recently. However, it was broadcast with a lot of parts edited out. Some criticized that I was ‘doing media play using 2PM’. I want that to be the end of it and don’t want to talk about it anymore. I don’t have to repeat myself, right? If this situation continues, I don’t think it will be helpful for 2PM or me.”
He said, “That’s too bad,” when told that people will still misunderstand if he doesn’t talk. “It’s okay. It’s too bad if they don’t believe my sincerity. I just want to walk forward, do my thing, and care about the people around me without caring about what other people think.”
However, he said he is hurt by the fact that 2PM’s fans split up because of him and that they are criticizing each other. He said, “I don’t want fans to fight with each other,” and revealed his wish. If he gets a chance to meet 2PM once he starts his broadcast activities, he said, “I want to greet them warmly.” He added, “My heart is always open. I think I will be really happy when I meet them. I will go up to them and say hello first. I can’t do anything if they don’t accept it of course.”
“Please don’t try to sound me out regarding my title track, ‘Abandoned’”
Jay Park plans to release six songs on his first solo album, including “Tonight” and “Abandoned”.
“I really love music with beats. I choose a topic or title to the beats and add lyrics to them. The title for ‘Oh-neul-bam’ (Tonight in Korean) was actually ‘Tonight’, but I changed it because it sounded similar to BIGBANG’s song. ‘Abandoned’ means… (explains in Korean). It’s a sad song.”
“Abandoned”? When asked if it’s related to 2PM, he laughs and says, “Don’t try to feel out my intentions.” He said, “It’s probable that I will be misunderstood because of the title but it’s only a coincidence,” and drew the line. He wrote the lyrics to all the songs in Korean. “I get complimented often that I write good lyrics. It doesn’t have the same feel if I translate what I wrote in English. So I just write them in Korean.”
“Would rather dance and sing than act”
Before starting his official activities, he greeted his fans first with a movie. He starred in two movies: after finishing the shooting of the Korean-American collaboration movie, Hype Nation, he began filming Mr. Children (temporary title). He waved his hands saying, “It’s really hard,” even though he could be greedy about acting after taking the main role in both movies.
“It’s interesting that you get to experience another person’s life. However, it’s not a field that just anyone can try being in. It’s a good thing that there haven’t been any scenes that require good acting skills. On the whole, I don’t get that many lines. The director points out a lot of things, but I try to follow his feedback as much as I can. But I don’t think acting is as fun as dancing and singing. Hahah!”
Journalist Lee Jung-Yeon (annjoy@donga.com)
SOURCE: dongA; TRANSLATOR: Lydia@JAYPARK.NET
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