The Jay Park Conundrum

Now I’ve known about Jay Park since he debuted with 2PM. Those weeks where all that stuff about him hating on South Korea and cussing and not fitting in, that was my current event news, not who was President (if that was around the same time period…look, I’m not going too much out of my way to get facts, this is purely an opinion article) or what was happening within the country, etc. Basically, if they had smart phones back then, it would have been glued my hand. When he left the group I was shocked, not seeing it as a possibility. I was sure his career was over and that he would return to his normal life, because that’s what he wanted. I know; a lot of assumptions over a person I’ve never met.

Sometime later he came back into the limelight with his YouTube channel where he did a cover of “Nothing on You” by B.O.B. That one I did look up, wanting to reminisce by watching it again. That led to him singing for the Korean version, which kicked off the rebuilding of his career. In between he was participating in B-boy dancing, which I thoroughly followed.

I think as of now he has come out with two albums and one mini-album (Take a Deeper Look, New Breed, and JOAH). There was also his mix tape “Fresh A!R: Breath !T”, which in a lot of ways led up to this post. I loved a majority of both albums, though I usually skipped over the heavy rapping tracks. It’s not that I don’t like rap, I do, but whatever type of rap he uses is not pleasant for my ears. With it being in Korean it’s harder to get into, so I have to rely on sound, like all the other Korean music I listen to. I guess a good example of rap that I like is “Epik High”, even some of their non-streamlined pieces. This is actually a great tangent into the topic at hand; The Jay Park Conundrum.

So during his time in 2PM, a time that a lot of people like to move past, he was Mr. Handsome. He sported a nice trim look and the ABS! That was his biggest gimmick. Returning back to the U.S.A. he went to a more casual look (oh goodness, I sound like some fashion writer) and that was nice as well. It was when he made his comeback that that the tattoos started showing up and he exposed more of his “bad boy” image, which was okay. The thing is he never really let go of Mr. Handsome, the guy that you wouldn’t be too wary of bringing home to meet your parents. That’s where I get confused, because in my mind you can’t have both. You can’t sing me a love song that melts my heart and then rap about “bitches” and “hitting that” (the gist of “Fresh A!R: Breath !T”); it’s too much of a change.

Eventually though, I accepted that Jay Park was never going to just be Mr. Handsome, he had moved on. It’s when he released “JOAH” that I did a double take and knew that I had to say something (even if I’m the only one to read it, which at this point is a high probability due to the length of this post).The first song “1HUNNIT” was definitely a letdown, Jay Park acting bad ass isn’t my cup of tea. I just don’t think he can pull it off without looking like a total douche with lyrics like “I’m getting mixed up with too many girls”. He then released “JOAH” and I fell back into his fandom. He was cute (handsome) and I would have felt lucky to be that girl. At the same time I was perplexed at this man being the same person to come out with “1HUNNIT” or any of the songs from “Fresh A!R: Breath !T”. It almost had me not liking the song. Lastly, the video for “Welcome” came out, a mix of the first two. He pretty much sings to this girl about how he is going to give her some great sex that night with lyrics like “I’ll fill you all up, all night, all night” and “Welcome to my bed baby”. It felt really intimate and awkward for me watching the video, because I felt like a creeper intruding on two people having sex. I can’t really see the song making it on my playlist either. Imagine walking down the street with some nice pop music or hip hop or whatever and then the “lovemaking song” comes up. How am I supposed to react to that? Grab a boy and “welcome” him to my bed?

In conclusion, a change of image is fine. It’s when we extend beyond things like cute to beastly and start transitioning from the man of your dreams to some cocky ass player (all within a month) that things go awry. Still, I give Jay Park props for maintaining a spot in my heart and for years to come.