The reason that Take a Deeper Look (aka TADL) gathered so much attention was not because of the name value of “Jay Park the idol”. TADL was an album that contained a trendy R&B hip-hop color that was hard to meet in the Korean mainstream music market, and an album that most clearly showed the “winning streak” of the current global mainstream music market than any other. Of course, various opinions existed on this subject. There were cynical remarks about the album’s tendency to copy the American sound, and downgrading comments that claimed it was obvious because of his American influence. However, instead of laying down long and boring excuses, Jay Park broke through these negative views with his music. “Girlfriend” and “Demon”, the two singles released after TADL are the exact evidences: both songs exhibited outstanding perfectionism and succeeded in burying the negative criticism about him.

In reality, there are three paths in which a former member of an idol group takes after becoming a solo. First is to become an entertainer: they choose to shine their faces in various genres and succeed as an entertainer, rather than pursuing their career as a singer. They may gain support from various places in a short time, but it may not have the brightest future in the long run. Second is to continue on the path of a singer using the hit code that worked during the idol group days. This, again, may be easy to gain popularity in that they would have a friendly image to appeal to the public, but will have difficulties in the continuity of the career. The third is to place weight on the musical side, do the music that they couldn’t do when they were an idol and construct a confident career path.

This was done by Justin Timberlake from N’Sync, George Michaels from Wham! and Robbie Williams from Take That. The similarities of the three? They left a big impression in the market as male musicians with strong originalities and getting rid of their “idol star” suffix. It wasn’t an easy challenge, but the fruit of it was sweet. Looking back at the facts listed above, the critical turning point that Jay Park chose may be in the same direction as these exceptional artists.

The new album, New Breed Part 1, follows the direction that Jay Park has shown so far. With the trendy R&B and hip-hop as the background, he made possible the realization of the potential of mainstream K-Pop in this work. “Star”, created by Korea’s most talented R&B composer, JunGoon, became an issue due to its motive, which came from Se7en and Park Han-Byul’s love story – but what caught my eyes more was the skill of Jay Park to perfectly digest the slow jam feel of the song. It is definitely not easy to lead a fluent R&B track. It is also not easy to come out with a genre that is rare in Korea and make it into one’s own style. But Jay Park accomplishes it with a strong will. A deeply sensational voice that strictly removes excess emotions; listeners can do nothing but trust his musical skills. “Up and Down”, an upbeat R&B/hip-hop number, and the macho, energetic hip-hop “Enjoy the Show”, are both excellent hip-hop tracks but the writer focused mostly on “I Got You Back”, because it appropriately harmonises a K-Pop-like melody and an American trend. The melody of the song evidently portrays a typical, comfortable groove of K-Pop. But its beats and the organization reminds us of major artists like Ne-Yo and Chris Brown. This is an area that the K-Pop artists who debut in global music markets, as throwing away our style completely will only lead to assimilation. In contrast, if we keep our style too much, it will be hard to gain support. “I Got You Back” seems to suggest the most ideal ratio to the K-Pop songs.

Jay Park is an artist that one naturally learns to trust, without him having to say “Count on Me.” He is impressing the listeners with endless improvements, and his perfect understanding of the insight on musical trends is increasing his potential. New Breed Part 1 is the one shot that increases the concentration of one’s trust (for him). He is ready to become the “Bestie” of the general public.
Noh Jun-Young (Music Critic)

SOURCE: Naver Blog; TRANSLATOR: Lydia@JAYPARK.NET

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<Ahn Byung-jin> Albums that are too precious to let go in the first half of 2011: Jay Park’s Take A Deeper Look (EP)

Overestimate and underestimate are words that particularly get on one’s nerves. It seems that Jay Park, like other idol singers have both the over-decoration of fans and the underestimated critiques of critics. However, this album definitely shows that he isn’t just an idol singer but a promising child for “black” music. ‘Take A Deeper Look’ into the delicious features of Dok2 and The Quiett!

*other non-Jay related parts are omitted

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Hi there.
I am quite cautious to leave a review in a gall of such a strong fandom. I leave a honest review after seeing Jay Park’s performance on TV and downloading his songs online.

 
Recently, K-pop is importing the international trend of electronics at the front line. It is quite inspiring of Jay Park to return with his favorite style of music, R&B, in this situation. Although the leading songs of the girl groups and their ‘hallyu’ wave are based on Electro house, originating from Europe, the main reason these songs capture the hearts of international fans is due to their appeal to the general public and the artistry. The European electro music style is highly various and deep; however, most were made for clubs thus they are long (the shortest song is seven minutes long) and some are quite hard to listen to lightly since they emphasize the artistic qualities of the DJ. However, Korean songs are edited very well, with refined melodies that grasp the trendy tunes.
 
So why am I suddenly talking about girl groups? It is because Jay Park’s ‘Abandoned’ is an Usher wannabe song. Some compare him with Taeyang but both Taeyang and Jay Park are Usher wannabes. Therefore, it is in fact meaningless to compare the two. To compare with Usher, this track (Abandoned) has the feel of Usher’s album back in 1997 – this is welcoming, seeing that Usher seems to be lost in the two-way road of R&B and club tunes these days. Anyhow, the fact that (Jay) created a track that is loyal to the basics of his style of music, instead of battling with poor club tunes, is to be highly respected. This shows his determination to do music that he likes, rather than going with the mainstream music.
 
I see frequently in numerous blogs that the track is rather boring; I think otherwise. Every song has its own philosophy and concept and ‘Abandoned’ pursues the extreme side of urbane music. Thus it cannot be bright nor have too much emotions. Some may say that it’s all bluff but R&B itself puts up a bare front. To say it nicely, the genre is refined, city-like and emotional but bluntly, it’s all bluff. However, I want to call it a refined, city-like sensibility. This kind of music does not work well yet in Korea since most Korean songs are still ‘뽕짝’ (bbong-jak; old Korean music style, very emotional though songs are upbeat). Whether it be rock, hip-hop, house, R&B, all Korean songs have this bbong-jak melody. (omit) I want to express it not as singing, but rather crying out with emotion. I’m not necessarily saying that this kind of music is bad; the problem is, this kind of music dominates 80% of K-pop. There is no variety. In this state, Jay Park’s song, which shows controlled sensibility with controlled vocals, is very appealing to people that love this kind of music.
 
In regards to Jay Park’s vocals, I believe that he is doing above average. The sound is not completely full, like that of Africans, but I believe that it will improve much if he refines his vocals which resemble the shallow yet emotional vocal of Justin Timberlake. I also believe that his voice fits very well to this kind of dance-R&B. Seeing his performance, showing that level of vocals while dancing is definitely above average for an idol singer.
 
In any case, in the world of K-pop that is divided into Korean bbong-jak and North-European electro started by SM, it was good to hear a track like ‘Abandoned’, an American style R&B that is abundant in the world yet so rare in Korea – and Jay, in addition, pushing his style of music without compromising with the reality. (The track is good to listen to) in terms of the song itself, the style and his philosophy. I do not know how well the songs are doing but I hope that, similar to Seo Taeji who brought the vanilla ice style to Korea creating a revolution, Jay’s style will rise up to the surface a bit more and become the starting point of the creation of more songs for listeners like me.
 
Thanks for reading a poor review.
 
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To be completely honest, I wasn’t aware of Jay Park when he was part of the idol group. Back then, I only thought he was one of the members who was excellent at acrobatics and had an above-average live singing skills. He wasn’t an outstanding figure back then unlike Robin Williamson or Justin Timberlake, so if one asked me then about his abilities as a solo artist, my answer would have been “I don’t know…” But as soon as he became independent, he changed like a monster. His cover video of ‘Nothin On You’ on youtube, which had millions of hits, left a strong impression. Jay Park, who led the popularity of B.o.B.’s songs on Korean charts, was only wearing a white T-shirt in that video but it was a clip that showed his infinite possibilities. Stable vocalization and vibration, added with pleasant-to-hear high notes, the writer saw the ‘crazy existence’ of Jay Park then.(Note: ‘Crazy existence’ is a very literate translation of a new term in Korea that is designated to people who grasp the audience’s attention just by their presence.) My opinion changed even more after hearing his collab with dok2 in ‘My Love’. If someone asked me about the possibilities of his success as a solo artist, the answer now would have been, “YESS!”

Because of this, the EP, Take A Deeper Look -aka TADL – must have been very pressuring to Jay Park. This is because the album needed give a sense of assurance to those who believe in his possibilities, and a definite answer to those who do not like or know him. Turning point; thus it was a project he started, knowing he had nowhere to make a mistake in. However, this pressure must have been the source of his infinite creativity; listening to the album, it can be heard that Jay Park has found the answer.

First, one needs to focus on the fact that the leader who directed the making of this album was Jay Park. He claimed himself as one of the producers of the album, wrote lyrics for all the songs and participated in the composing of six out of the seven songs, showing off his skills as a singer-songwriter without regret. Knowing that singers who became solo artists, like Justin Timberlake, upgraded the level of completion one album after another, you will know that the steps that Jay Park is taking right now are bloody efforts to be known as an artist. The first criterion of an artist is the ability as a singer-songwriter and the efforts. Jay Park is already on the starting line with these talents. This is the reason your heart warms up even without inspecting every single corner of his album.

TADL, which starts with ‘Touch the Sky’, is a method of showing the American trend and the R&B sound. The progression of ‘Abandoned’ is surprisingly stylish. A sensational sound and arrangement skills, added with the absorption of pop-like trend; this is a track that is worth releasing in the world music market. Topped with the impact of dok2′s rap, there does not seem to be a single thing to criticize; the intelligent layout of the song brings up the mood of the listener. If the performance is pictured in the head, the track can provide the best entertainment. ‘Tonight’ as well; it shows an extended sound from ‘Abandoned’, added with the just right amount of R&B trend. The vocal skills of Jay Park have much improved in these two tracks than ‘Nothin On You’; his talent in changing the tone of his voice according to the mood of the song and leading the rhythm is exceptional. The two tracks to look out for in the album are ‘Level1000′ and ‘Bestie’. It is not an overestimation to say that these two tracks are perfect, as they contain all the artistic side of Jay Park.

‘Level1000′ is a track that shows ‘cleanliness’ in terms of music; the verse of dok2 and Jay Park, which move in one with the beat, is automatically admirable. It’s good to see ‘Bestie’ along the same line, as this is a track that can appeal the name ‘artist Jay Park’ to the public. In TADL, Jay Park tried to portray traditional R&B and hip-hop, instead of the trend that the king of autotune, T-Pain, created. His efforts to return to the fundamentals are shown by the completeness of the album. Overcoming the pressure, Jay Park created an outstanding album full of assurance and trust.

His body(!) is not even that of an idol’s. He is already no longer an idol. His body(!) nor his talent. The fact that he kept his dignity by challenging musically, instead of merely following the trend, is very much enough to earn him the title of ‘an artist’. I never imagine to be betrayed by him. The music that will show trust, just by the seven letters of his name, will continue.

Noh Jun-Young (Music Critic)

SOURCE: Naver Blog; TRANSLATOR: Lydia@jaypark.net
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