Jay Park

Jay Park is a rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Korea. He was born Park Jae-beom in Edmonds, Washington, United States, on April 25, 1987. Jay Park became involved in breakdancing and hip-hop music at a very young age, participating in several dance contests. In 2005, after winning a breakdance competition, he moved to South Korea to train in dancing, rapping, and singing. He then joined the Korean boy band 2PM, with whom he recorded songs such as “10 Out of 10.” After leaving 2PM, Jay Park began uploading covers to his video-streaming channel, which went viral and increased his profile in the West. He started recording solo tracks, such as “Bestie” and “Speechless.” He released his first mini-album in South Korea titled Take a Deeper Look in 2011. He also began a successful career writing songs by other artists, such as “Can’t Stop” for South Korean-American singer Brian Joo, and the song “Polaris” for girl group Tiny-G. In 2012, he released his first full-length album New Breed, followed by Evolution (2014) and Worldwide (2015). In 2015, he participated as a judge on the rap competition program Show Me the Money 4. He joined Jay-Z’s Roc Nation imprint in 2017, becoming the first Asian American artist on the label. He also joined Asia’s Got Talent as one of the judges. Over the next few years, Jay Park released albums such as Everything You Wanted (2016) and The Road Less Traveled (2019). On March 11, 2022, Jay Park released "Ganadara", a single featuring IU, it reached Number 1 on both the Billboard K-pop Hot 100 and the Gaon charts. In the same year, he collaborated with with BIG Naughty and CHANGMO on the single “Romance Symphony,” which peaked at number 29 on the South Korean Top 200. On October 8, 2024, Jay Park returned with his highly anticipated album The One You Wanted.