Park Jin Young Shares Story From Being Roommates With Bang Si Hyuk, JYP's Future Global Success, And More
On the August 12 episode of MBC’s “Radio Star,” Park Jin Young, Sunmi, and Kim Hyung Suk appeared as guests.
During the show, Park Jin Young and Sunmi talked about their new duet, “When We Disco,” and the time that Park Jin Young and the Wonder Girls went to promote in the United States. Sunmi shared what it had been like to share a tour bus with Park Jin Young at the time.
Park Jin Young also talked about being roommates with Bang Si Hyuk. Bang Si Hyuk and Park Jin Young met in the 1990s and often worked together on music. When Park Jin Young founded the label JYP Entertainment, Bang Si Hyuk joined as a producer. Bang Si Hyuk left JYP in 2005 to found Big Hit Entertainment.
On “Radio Star,” Park Jin Young said, “We were in the United States at the time, and we didn’t have any money, so we shared a room in the house of someone I knew. For a whole year, we weren’t able to sell a single song. Both of us were on edge living in someone else’s house, so we got into fights about the smallest things. He’s a year younger than me and he was in charge of doing the laundry. He told me not to leave the socks inside out. I kept forgetting and eventually we were both tired one day and exploded. This was around 2003-2004.”
Although their past U.S. promotions ran into difficulties, JYP Entertainment now has a new company building with its own organic restaurant. Park Jin Young said, “I didn’t think that JYP would become this big. To be honest, it is unbelievable that an entertainment agency could have a 10-story building. Of course, Big Hit is bigger, and Yang Hyun Suk’s [YG Entertainment] is bigger too.”
It was mentioned that JYP Entertainment recently overtook SM and YG Entertainment in aggregate market value. Park Jin Young said, “Artists and employees will fall apart the moment they think, ‘I’m No. 1.’ To be honest, No. 2 is the best spot. To try and keep your No. 1 spot, you have to prepare so much more and you get anxious.”
He also touched on JYP’s Nizi Project, which contributed to JYP Entertainment’s increased market value. Nizi Project was a survival show that JYP launched in Japan to form an all-Japanese girl group called NiziU. He said, “We planned this 10 years ago. To launch groups with all Korean members, to launch groups with a mix of Korean and non-Korean members, and to launch a group of all non-Korean members. They are foreign artists, but all nine members of NiziU are contracted with our label. It’s not that we’re giving them advice and making a profit. They are our artists.”
He continued, “Korean agencies focus on groups with all Korean members, or at least 50 percent Korean members. There is a limit to how much that can develop. The market value of the ‘Big Three’ agencies combined can’t measure up to a tenth of a major U.S. record label. To make a global label, you have to launch in Japan, Mexico, and the United States. You can have a singer who gets good results worldwide, but they are a tiny slice of the global market.”
Park Jin Young also addressed the controversy over his religion. In 2018, Dispatch published photos and recordings of Park Jin Young at a religious meeting and accused him of being a member of the Salvation Sect. Park Jin Young clarified that he is not part of this sect, that he does not belong to a particular denomination, and that the meetings were from a regular Bible study group that he started with his friend.
Park Jin Young said, “I first developed faith while studying the Bible. But then there were articles that said I was part of a pseudo-religion. It said that I was affiliated with a particular religion, but that is not true. It is a study group that meets without affiliation with any group. The media outlet published these articles, and it wasn’t true, but they didn’t publish anything about the fact that it was proved false.”
Watch “Radio Star” below!
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