2008–2009: 2PM and MySpace controversy The First Wonder Live In Bangkok'' in February 2009 Park first appeared through
Mnet's
Hot Blood Men, a documentary-style reality program that showed the future members of One Day, split as idol groups
2AM and
2PM, in training. Park, finishing at the top spot with the most fan votes, became the leader of 2PM. On September 4, 2008, 2PM debuted with the song "
10 Out of 10" (Korean: ; Revised Romanization:
Ship Jeom Manjeome Ship Jeom) on the music program
M Countdown after the release of their first mini-album,
Hottest Time of the Day, a few days prior. Aside from 2PM's music activities, Park created the song "Jeong" () with
Yeeun of the
Wonder Girls for the original soundtrack of the television drama
Conspiracy in the Court, and featured on V.O.S's "To Luv...". He also participated in special stage performances, such as Navi's "Heart Damage" (; Revised Romanization:
Maeumi Dachyeoseo) on May 3, 2009, and
K.Will's "One Drop per Second" (Korean: ; Revised Romanization:
Il Choe Hanbangul) on June 20, 2009. In addition to
Idol Show and
Wild Bunny with fellow 2PM members, he also became a regular cast member in several variety programs, including
Star King and ''Introducing a Star's Friend
. In August 2009, he and Kara band member, Nicole Jung, became the new hosts for a cultural variety show called Nodaji''. On September 4, 2009, unfavorable comments about Korea were found on Park's personal Myspace account from 2005. The comments, written in English to a friend, were translated by Korean media and quickly spread across hundreds of news articles. Park expressed deep remorse and shame over his forgotten words and issued an official apology, explaining the unhappiness that he experienced during his early days as a trainee in an unfamiliar country where he lacked family, the ability to easily communicate, and an understanding of the culture. Outraged protesters demanded that Park should be removed from 2PM, but JYP CEO Park Jin-young on September 7, 2009, said Jay Park would continue as a part of the group. The following day, Jay Park announced on his official fancafe that he would be leaving the group to calm the situation and return to his hometown of Seattle. He also apologized to the other 2PM members and promised to "come back a better person". Park Jin-young then confirmed that 2PM would continue as a six-member group. Due to the sensitive topic of Jay Park's departure, all 2PM members were withdrawn from their regular appearances on variety shows, and the final episode of their reality show,
Wild Bunny, was postponed indefinitely. Park's vocals would not be removed from the older songs he promoted with 2PM, but he would be absent from the newer tracks. The remaining six members of 2PM re-filmed their music video for "
Heartbeat" without Park on October 31, 2009. The title of 2PM's first official album
1:59PM symbolized Park's absence, according to the six remaining members. Through their acceptance speeches at year-end awards shows for "
Again & Again", the members thanked Jay Park and reiterated their wish for his return. At the
Mnet Asian Music Awards, the group paid homage to him during their performance of "Again & Again" with a spotlight shown over his usual position in the dance formation and his lines left unsung.
2010: YouTube career and solo debut Soon after Park returned to the United States, the South Korean public changed their perspective on the matter when they realized that his Myspace messages had been severely mistranslated and taken out of context , in addition to strong fan support for Park's return. Park was seen at
b-boy battles with fellow
Art of Movement members during his time in Seattle. However, on February 25, with Park's comeback looking more and more likely, JYP suddenly announced that Jay Park's contract with them had been terminated, citing a separate "personal mistake" that Park had made in 2009. JYP would make reference to this unknown event several times in 2010, but would never elaborate on any details. This termination had been agreed by all six members of 2PM and led to fan boycotts of 2PM-endorsed products. Protests for Park's return to the group began to take place, not only in South Korea, but internationally as well. Various Jay Park-dedicated forums and fansites all over the world organized silent protests and flash dance mobs. On several occasions, Park was the number one trending topic on
Twitter, even topping the
Oscars on March 8. Park's fans revealed plans to release a self-produced album in his honor on March 27 to commemorate the 200th day anniversary of his departure from Korea. However, because the album had been in preparation since January and public opinion on 2PM had since changed, the fans decided it would be in the best interest to not release the CD, and instead, mailed 10–20 copies to Seattle, Park's hometown. Park created his own YouTube channel on March 15, "jayparkaom", with the first upload being his own version of "
Nothin' on You", which went viral and reached over 2,000,000 views in less than 24 hours. In Korea, the original song by
B.o.B and
Bruno Mars topped the
Cyworld music chart in a matter of hours upon the video's release. "Nothin' on You" earned $300,000 in sales through the effect of Park's video. On June 15, 2010, B.o.B released "Nothin' on You" featuring Park, in South Korea, where he replaces Bruno Mars' vocals. His YouTube cover helped contribute to much of the song's success in Korea, with more than 5 million copies sold. Park subsequently thanked his fans for their support and continued to urge them not to hate remaining 2PM members. crew,
Art of Movement He appeared with fellow
Art of Movement members at an annual Korean-American festival event called
Project Korea III: KSA Cinderella Story at
Rutgers University,
New Jersey, on April 3, along with
Ailee and
Clara C. Videos of the event were uploaded onto internet portal sites, where footage of Park acting as an MC and dancing to
Beyoncé's "
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" on stage drew much positive interest. On April 24,
Dumbfoundead released a free collaboration track featuring Park and
Clara Chung on his website, titled "Clouds". Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney Ned Sherman, CEO of Digital Media Wire, announced on May 28 that he was representing Park as his legal representative. Sherman and his wife Tinzar reached out to Park, after seeing Park's story and feeling bad about what happened to him during the MySpace controversy. The Shermans and Park worked on a lot of projects together, including his movie deal for
Hype Nation, an endorsement deal with dENiZEN,
Levi Strauss & Co.'s new brand, and others. Park returned to Korea on June 18 at
Incheon International Airport, to the biggest crowd ever seen at the airport, for the filming of
Hype Nation. Pictures of Park in
Hype Nation were released on July 2, and Park was able to meet with the Korean media for interviews for the first time, talking about his current activities. It was also revealed that his single "
Demon" would be included in
Hype Nation's original soundtrack. It was reported on July 8 that Park would sign a contract with
SidusHQ for his domestic Korean activities in terms of acting and singing; his management stated that he planned to redebut as a rookie artist, Park released an EP titled
Count on Me (; Revised Romanization:
Mideojullae) containing three tracks, including a rearranged Korean version of "Nothin' on You", on July 13. The English and Korean lyrics were written by Park himself. The EP sold 21,989 physical copies on the first day of release, coming in at number one in sales and number seven in the overall ranking of albums released from January to July 13. Without any promotion on music shows, more than 41,316 copies sold, and the EP placed at number 32 on Gaon's year end chart, earning Park approximately 700 million. Park began working with singer, producer, and fellow
AOM member,
Cha Cha Malone, releasing "
Bestie" in both Korean and English, and a duet titled "
Speechless". Also in 2010, Park began collaborations and forming close ties with rappers
Dok2 and
The Quiett of
Illionaire Records, titling the partnership "AOM & 1llionaire". On September 5, Park participated in the 3rd
International Secret Agents Los Angeles concert held in Cerritos, California, together with well-known YouTube celebrities such as
Ryan Higa,
KevJumba,
AJ Rafael, Alyssa Bernal,
Far East Movement, and
America's Best Dance Crew Season 5 champions,
Poreotix. Park's performance drew many positive responses. Park was cast for the 2011 Korean movie
Mr. Idol, starring alongside friend and fellow
SidusHQ actor,
Kim Soo-ro. Park was also one of the performers, alongside
SE7EN,
Taeyang and
Musiq Soulchild, at the Seoul Soul Festival held at the War Memorial of Korea on October 10. Park and Musiq Soulchild also performed the latter's song "
Love" at the festival. Park held a charity concert in December called the "White Love Party Concert", with
Supreme Team and
Dok2 making appearances. Park and
Art of Movement performed at "Fever Seoul Live" alongside
Dumbfoundead,
David Choi, and several international b-boys. In December, Park was named as
Naver's most searched solo singer of the year.
2011: Take a Deeper Look and rise as a solo artist On January 6, Park was announced as the winner in the "Best Web Video" Category around the globe for his song "Nothin' on You" at the
Mashable Awards, and was also nominated in the "Must Follow Personality" category, finishing second. At the beginning of February, Park was featured in two music videos of girl group,
5dolls, called "Lips Stains" and "It's You". Park was chosen to be the sole opener for
Ne-Yo in his first concert in Seoul for the "2011 Hyundai Mall 40th Anniversary Concert" held on March 29. He also cooperated with Ne-Yo for a charity event for children dreaming to become musicians on March 28 at the Dream Academy in Seoul. On March 28, Park was a finalist and received the most votes in the special category "Connecting People Award", a joint venture between
Shorty Awards and
Nokia. Park was also a finalist in the "Celebrity" category at the same event. Park released his first Korean mini-album,
Take a Deeper Look, in April, with the lead single "
Abandoned".
Take a Deeper Look debuted at number three in the
Billboard World Album Charts and ranked number 26 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart. Park also made his debut as a solo artist on Korean music shows such as
KBS'
Music Bank,
Mnet's
M Countdown,
MBC's
Music Core and
SBS'
Inkigayo, returning for the first time in two years. Park made history as the first artist crowned winner at a debut stage, as he won
Music Bank on May 6 and won again a week later on May 13. On August 6, Park participated in his first KBS
Immortal Songs 2 episode, performing "Candy" by Korean boy band
H.O.T. with its leader
Moon Hee-joon. Park followed up with his own R&B rendition of "Aemo" by Kim Soo-hee on the next episode, which was well received. On his third episode of
Immortal Songs 2, Park performed "Tell me the Truth" by
Jinusean with
Solbi,
Jang Hyuk and
Kim Soo-ro, and was the victor for that episode, allowing him to choose the order for the next episode. For his fourth episode, Park again made his own R&B version of "Feel Good Day" by
Kim Wan-sun. On his fifth episode, Park performed a remixed version of "Look Back at Me" by
Deux with a b-boy dance break. On his sixth episode and final appearance on the show, he performed "Dear, Do Not Change" by Nam Jin and won the trophy for his last performance, before leaving the show to focus on his next album's preparations. It was revealed that Park would return to
Immortal Songs 2 for a special episode "King of Kings" with other singers that have claimed the number one spot. This special episode was recorded on November 7 at the KBS Open Hall and aired on November 19. The single "
Demon" was released on September 5 through various Korean digital music websites. The music video was also released on the same day, and Park apologized for its low quality, saying he had no control over the release of both the music video and the song. "Demon" peaked at number 14 on the Gaon Chart and at number 8 on the iTunes R&B/Soul Chart. for January 2012 Park returned to the US on October 1 to perform at the International Secret Agents Los Angeles concert. On October 29, Park delivered a performance to over 25,000 fans as he headlined the
MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) Live in Manila Concert held at the SM Mall of Asia. The concert also featured Californian alternative rock band, Evaline, and international singer-songwriter,
Jason Mraz. Park released his single "
Girlfriend", along with the music video via his YouTube channel on November 3. Park performed his single on the same day at the 2011 Style Icon Awards, following a recording of tvN's Taxi. The movie
Mr. Idol in which Park starred in was also released on November 3. The single peaked at number 28 on the Gaon chart. Park released Part 1 of his first full-length Korean album,
New Breed, with the lead single "Star" (; Revised Romanization:
Byeol) on December 28. "Star" peaked at number one on various sites like Bugs, Olleh Music, and Soribada while being on the top of other charts of music sites. The first part of
New Breed also reached the top of charts of various music sites including Olleh Music, Bugs, Soribada and Daum.
2012: New Breed and Fresh Air: Breathe It Park received the Disk Bonsang for his mini album
Take a Deeper Look on January 11, on the first day of the 26th
Golden Disk Awards, which was held in Osaka. He was the only solo artist to receive the Disk Bonsang among the other Bonsang winners. On January 18, he received the Popular Artist Award of the Asia Model Awards, which was held in Seoul. Several songs composed and written by Park for other artists were released in 2012. Jay Park produced and composed a song with
Cha Cha Malone for Korean-American singer
Brian Joo, titled "Can't Stop". Park wrote the Korean version of the song, while Joo wrote the English Version. Park also produced and composed a song for the girl group
Tiny-G, entitled "Polaris"; the lyrics were written by actress
Lee Si-young. They worked together through MBC's
Music and Lyrics. On July 3, Korean pop singer
Younha released her fourth Korean album,
Supersonic, including the track "Driver" written by Park. He also featured in the song, providing rap verses. He released his first full-length Korean album,
New Breed, in February, with the lead single "Know Your Name". The album reached number 1 twice on the Gaon Weekly album chart in South Korea, and also reached number 1 on the Hanteo Weekly chart by selling more than 80,000 copies offline in 10 days.
New Breed debuted at number 4 on the
Billboard World Album Charts and ranked number 16 on the
Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart. Park made his comeback stage on Korean music shows on February 16. He won
Music Bank on February 24, one week after his comeback. On April 27, Park began Asian promotions for the Asian version release of his album
New Breed, and visited 5 countries:
Singapore,
the Philippines,
Indonesia,
Malaysia and Japan. On April 28, Jay performed at the 2012
Star Awards in Singapore. Jay Park held his first solo concert,
New Breed Live in Seoul, on March 3 at the Olympic Hall of
Seoul Olympic Park. Park successfully held a second concert
New Breed Asia Tour in Seoul in Seoul on August 18 at the Olympic Hall of Seoul Olympic Park. Park was selected as the 2012
R-16 Korea ambassador by the
Korea Tourism Organization on April 23. He headlined the
APAHM tour organized by
Verizon in the US in May, including concerts in
Washington, D.C.,
New York City,
San Francisco and
Los Angeles. On May 16, Park released his first
mixtape,
Fresh Air: Breathe It, containing songs he performed for the tour. The mixtape was certified Gold by Datpiff within a month since its release, meaning it was downloaded over 100,000 times. Jay Park became the first artist of Asian origin to achieve this result on Datpiff. Park was the closing act at the
MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia, along with Canadian pop singer
Justin Bieber, Korean girl band
Kara, and Malaysian singer
Mizz Nina, on July 14. Park also performed his song "Carefree", which was included on the
New Breed Red Edition repackaged album, and also showed his self-choreographed dance break to "
Dirty Bass" by
Far East Movement featuring
Tyga, which he later shared on YouTube. Park also held his own concerts in Sydney and Melbourne at the end of September 2012. Also in July, Park started a
web series,
Jay Park TV, through his YouTube channel, filmed and edited by Hep, Park's friend and fellow
Art of Movement member. The web series shows Park's daily life with his friends, behind-the-scenes of concerts and filming, and the fun and games that he gets up to. In August, Jay Park released a music video for "New Breed", from the album of the same name, which was recorded during the album's photo shoot with Park featuring
Rick Genest-inspired make-up. Park also uploaded a practice video to "I Love You", showing the complex choreography that he and Prepix members were practising for his upcoming concert. On August 22, Park was announced to be a fixed panel member on MBC's
Come to Play, along with Kim Eung-soo and
Kwon Oh-joong. He joined as a part of a new corner on the show, titled the "Trueman Show". MBC suddenly axed the show after several months, with no prior warning to the cast nor producers. Later in September, Park performed for the first time in Australia, successfully holding concerts in
Sydney and
Melbourne. Park returned to
Immortal Songs 2 for a "King of Kings" special in October, where he performed "The Woman in Rain" by
Shin Jung-hyeon. In a flying visit to
Los Angeles, Jay Park made a last-minute appearance in a YouTube sketch by
David So, which parodies
Wong Fu Productions'
The Last. In November, he featured on "If You Love Me", a digital single by
NS Yoon-G. Although Park does not make an appearance in the official music video, he performed on stage with Yoon-G on music shows, with the first being
Mnet's
M Countdown, and also makes an appearance in the behind-the-scenes music video, showing NS Yoon-G and Park in the studio recording the song. A practice video of the choreography was released soon after. Park was the host of the December 1 episode of
Saturday Night Live Korea, garnering attention for his R-rated skits, acting, and a parody music video of
Eminem's "
Love the Way You Lie", bringing in the highest ratings of the season for the show.
2013: SNL Korea, Expansion in Asia, and founding of hip hop label AOMG , 2013 On February 6, 2013, it was announced that Jay Park would be joining the cast of
Saturday Night Live Korea, having previously hosted an episode in late 2012. On
Valentine's Day, February 14, Park released the song "Appetizer" alongside a music video. The track was produced by friend and fellow
Art of Movement member,
Cha Cha Malone. On the first episode of
Saturday Night Live Korea, Park garnered attention for his skit parodying the film '''' with Korean actor and host of the episode,
Choi Min-soo, and for his
ad lib during a skit with
Shin Dong-yup and
Kim Seul-gi. on February 25,
Mizz Nina's single "Around the World" featuring Jay Park was officially released. The song had been in the works since Park and Mizz Nina had performed at
MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2012. On February 28, Park received the "Musician of the Year" award at the 2013
Korean Music Awards, and his album
New Breed was nominated in the "Best R&B and Soul album" category. Park featured on the cover of the March edition of ''
Men's Health Korea'' magazine, and the cover was subsequently chosen by staff as the best in the magazine's 7-year history. On March 28, it was revealed that Park would be rejoining the cast of KBS's
Immortal Songs 2 for a third time. Following on from the success of Park's March edition of ''Men's Health Korea
, the same cover was used for the April edition of Men's Health China'', which was also the magazine's 10th anniversary edition, and included large promotional posters across the country. In collaboration with
Ustream Korea, Park held an official livestreamed event titled "Fan & Music Live" on April 2, and revealed the titles of the 3 songs from his upcoming single release; "
Joah" (;
Revised Romanization:
Joha), "1 Hunnit" (; Revised Romanization:
Sasiriya), and "Welcome". The title track, "Joah", was revealed to be a mellow, feel-good song, produced by Cha Cha Malone and featuring instrumentals from the in-session band Common Ground on
Saturday Night Live Korea. "1 Hunnit" was a rap track featuring
Dok2, and "Welcome" was provocative
R&B track. On April 10, Park released the single album "Joah", along with the music video for the title track. The music video was filmed in Park's hometown of
Seattle and starred Korean actress
Clara Lee. On April 16, Park appeared on
SBS's
Hwasin – Controller of the Heart, the sequel of
Strong Heart. On Park's 26th birthday, April 25, he released a music video for the song "Welcome". On the April 27 episode of
Immortal Songs 2, Park performed
Lee Moon-sae's "Sunset Glow" with R&B singer and friend
Crush. Park's skit on the April 27 episode of
Saturday Night Live with
Gayoon of
4Minute gained attention for Park's character mistakenly saying inappropriate and sexual words in Korean, and featured a return of Park's in-character ad lib as the camera's failed to cut away at the end of the skit. On May 3, it was revealed that Park would be participating in the soundtrack of
M. Night Shyamalan's 2013 American
science-fiction thriller film,
After Earth, having been personally contacted by
Will Smith and
Jaden Smith. Produced by Cha Cha Malone, the song "I Like 2 Party" was the ending theme for the Korean version of the film and was written and composed by Park himself. On May 7, Park attended the
After Earth red carpet premiere in Korea alongside Will and Jaden Smith. On May 11,
Immortal Songs 2s 100th episode, Park performed "Everyday Day With You" by Deulgukhwa, remixed with Park's latest single at the time, "Joah". Later that month on May 30, a song titled "Rude Girl" by Kim Seul-gi and Jay Park for was released for
Korean drama She is Wow. In early July, Park renewed his contract with
SidusHQ after much public speculation of him signing with other record labels. He was to perform at the
Hennessy Artistry event early in July in
Guangzhou, China, alongside
B.o.B, but the event was cancelled at the last moment due to technical difficulties. On July 10, Park released a four-track
EP,
I Like 2 Party, alongside the music video for the title track, which was filmed in
Los Angeles. On November 30, Park served as the emcee for the
Red Bull BC One.
2014–2017: Evolution, Worldwide and Everything You Wanted On September 1, 2014, Park released his second full-length album,
Evolution. With features and production from many of his
AOMG labelmates such as
Simon Dominic and
Gray, the album presented tributes to
Michael Jackson and R&B throwback ballads in its 17 tracks. In 2015, Park participated as a judge on Mnet's rap competition program
Show Me the Money 4. During the same year, Park released an extensive list of songs including "Lotto", "All I Got Time For", "On It", "Want It", "Mommae" and "Sex Trip". Park released "My Last" featuring
Loco and Gray on July 17, 2015, alongside a music video. On November 5, 2015, Park released his third official studio album,
Worldwide. The album was released alongside lead single "You Know" (), which featured
Okasian and a music video. Directed by the production company Tiger Cave, the music video starred
4Minute's
HyunA and featured cameos from other Korean talents such as rappers
Reddy and
Ugly Duck, among others. The hip hop project contained a total of 18 tracks and contained some of the songs Park had previously released in the year, such as "Mommae". The album also debuted at number five on
Billboards World Albums chart. Soon after the album's release, Park released music videos for the tracks "Bo$$", "Worldwide x Want It" and "In this B*tch x My". On October 20, 2016, Park released his fourth solo album
Everything You Wanted. The bilingual project contained 19 tracks and featured R&B songs in both English and Korean. Upon release the album debuted at number three on
Billboards World Albums chart. On October 21, 2016,
Far East Movement released their album
Identity including the track "SXWME", which features
MNEK and Jay Park. On July 20, 2017, it was announced that
Jay-Z's
Roc Nation had signed Park for his activities in the US, marking the first ever Asian American artist on the record label. Later that same month, it was announced that Park would be replacing
Melanie C and
Vanness Wu as one of the judges on the second season of ''
Asia's Got Talent'', alongside
Anggun and
David Foster. In 2017, Park founded record label
H1ghr Music with producer
Cha Cha Malone, with an aim to bring both Seattle and South Korean talent to the hip hop forefront. Currently, the label houses American and South Korean artists such as
GroovyRoom,
pH-1,
Sik-K, Woogie, Phe Reds,
Raz Simone, and Ted Park.
2018–present: Ask Bout Me, ''The Road Less Traveled, This Wasn't Supposed To Happen and The Rap of China'' In May 2018, Park released his first official single under Roc Nation, "SOJU" featuring
2 Chainz. On July 20, 2018, Park released his debut American project, an English-language EP named
Ask Bout Me. Along with "SOJU", the seven track EP featured several notable American rappers such as
Rich the Kid and
Vic Mensa, as well as in-house production from AOMG and H1ghr Music artists such as Cha Cha Malone and GroovyRoom. On June 7, 2019, Park released his fifth solo studio album,
The Road Less Traveled. The album contained features from
Jay Electronica and
Higher Brothers. In November 2019, Park released a collaborative EP with American producer
Hit-Boy, called ''This Wasn't Supposed to Happen''. Named after the surprise nature of the duo's collaboration, ''This Wasn't Supposed to Happen'' marked Park's second release under Roc Nation, and was preceded by their single "K-Town". In the month after, Park collabed with Latin artist and fellow Roc Nation signee
Mozart La Para for the single "Son Malas". Both singles contained music videos. Park featured as the first-ever non-Chinese guest judge in the fourth season of
The Rap of China, first airing on August 14, 2020. His appearance on the TV rap competition show was met with mixed reception, drawing backlash from some Chinese audiences who resented the appearance of a non-Chinese on the show, and from Korean audiences who resented the fact that Park chose to appear on the Chinese show and not the similar South Korean TV series
Show Me the Money. On December 31, 2021, Park stepped down as CEO of both AOMG and H1gher Music, but remained as an adviser of both companies. On March 3, 2022, Park established a new label called
More Vision. In July, Park will release
Need To Know on July 12, 2022. Later that month, it was announced that Park would be attending the Hip-Hop Playa Festival 2022 taking place September 17–18. On August 16, it was announced that Park has released a teaser image for their new song "Bite", which will be released on August 18. In November 2022, Park was named one of
GQ Koreas Men of the Year. On January 13, 2026, Park debuted his first boy group signed to
More Vision,
Lngshot. They released their first EP
Shot Callers, with the lead single, "Moonwalkin". ==Artistry==