Hallyu’s Leader in Entertainment: Park Jin Young “JYP”

The tidal wave known as Park Jin-Young surfaced on the Korean pop scene in 1994 with super hit songs; since that time, K-pop has never been the same. He—without a doubt—can be considered Korea’s musical royalty. As a performer, Mr. Park or JYP, as he likes to be called, affected the Korean music industry with a diverse range of genres, such as jazz, soul, R&B and dance.  JYP, along with a select few of groundbreaking Korean artists, added modern fusion into their repertoire and made the Korean music industry a power house that rivals that of the western music industry. All of his personal solo albums are number one chart toppers.

Additionally, he has cultivated hits for other singers by composing, writing, and producing and working not only in Korea, but also throughout Asia and America. In total, JYP’s accomplishments in the background and in production have spearheaded over 31 No.1 hit singles and 25 No.1 chart topping albums. The younger Korean generation has credited him for discovering artists like Son-Ho Young, Noel, G.O.D., Byul, Ivy, Park Ji-Yoon, Rain, The Wonder Girls and most recently, 2am/2pm.

This engineer of the Seoul Train has taken a international seat as a media mogul. This ambition—to push for the top and hone in fierce talent—has made waves worldwide as his name is now alongside great names like Pharrel Williams, Darkchild, Timbaland, Stargate and Rick Rubin.  As CEO of “JYP Entertainment,” the media company he founded, he is constantly helping music evolve, grow and truly become a global language. Universally taking part in music throughout the world, he produced for artists like SMAP & Ai in Japan, Jackie Chung in China, and boy band F4 in Taiwan. He also organized the “I Love Asia” project with Jackie Chan, which aided the Earthquake victims of Szechuan China. In the U.S., his work has reached the billboard charts as he has penned and generated songs for 3LW (CheetahGirls), Aaron Carter, Nick Carter, Cassie, JoJo, Lil’ Jon, Lil’ Kim, Mase, Omarion, Outkast and Will Smith.

Working with these big names have not deterred Mr. Park from his goal in making a celebrated and successful mainstream Asian artist. Most notably, he is taking the helm of the Asian invasion by cultivating some of his top protege trainees and getting them ready to debut. We’re waiting for his new, soulful choices like those of Lim Jeong Hee, who has been compared to Alicia Keys, G-soul who is a polished version Tevin Campbell, and cutie pie Min, who is a mix of Ciara and BoA.  These comparisons are still taken lightly because each of these newbies are in a league of their own.  JYP has recently announced that he will still aid his superstar discovery Rain as he too embarks on a U.S. musical career.