Today, many international K-pop fans know J.Y. Park as the founder of JYP Entertainment, the company behind artists such as TWICE and Stray Kids.
But his story began long before the company.
Before becoming a producer and entertainment executive, Park Jin-young was one of the most unconventional solo dance artists in 1990s Korean pop. Drawing from R&B, funk, soul and disco, he built his identity around groove-heavy music, bold styling and lyrics that were unusually direct for Korean television at the time.
To understand where JYP came from, it helps to first meet the performer who was onstage before the company existed.
The Singer Who Was Hard to Sell
Park Jin-young first entered the music industry in 1992 as part of a group called Park Jin-young and the New Generation, but the project failed to gain traction.
His attempts to become a solo singer were not much easier. He faced multiple rejections, including a now-famous encounter with Lee Soo-man, who would later become closely associated with the rise of SM Entertainment.
According to Park's own account, Lee did not take him on as a singer but showed interest in the music he had written and offered to buy his songs. Park refused.
Years later, the two men would find themselves at the center of SM and JYP, two companies that became major names in the development of the K-pop industry.
Park also studied composition and arranging under composer Kim Hyung-suk, building the musical foundation that would allow him to write his own material. In 1994, he returned as a solo artist with Blue City.
"Don't Leave Me" and an Unconventional New Star
"Don't Leave Me" (날 떠나지마), the breakthrough song from Blue City, changed his career.
Park looked and moved differently from the conventional male singers seen on Korean television at the time. His performances emphasized full-body movement and R&B rhythm, while his styling included mesh clothing and outfits that exposed more of the body than audiences were accustomed to seeing on television.
South Korean broadcasters in the mid-1990s maintained much stricter standards on clothing and sexual expression than K-pop audiences are familiar with today. Park repeatedly pushed against those boundaries.
The clearest example became one of the most recognizable images of his career: his transparent vinyl pants.
Park wore the clear pants over his underwear in defiance of strict television dress standards, and the appearance led to broadcasting sanctions. Decades later, the outfit is still regularly associated with his early career.
"Don't Leave Me" made him a star, but his clashes with the conventions of Korean television were only beginning.
Media & Copyright Note: This article features an official YouTube video embedded through the YouTube player. K-POP CHRONICLES does not host or re-upload the video or audio. Full lyrics are not reproduced; the song’s meaning and emotions are explained through original editorial commentary and summary.
J.Y. Park — “Don't Leave Me” (Nal Tteo-na-ji-ma / 날 떠나지마)
"Ttanttara": Turning an Insult Into an Identity
In 1995, Park released his second album, Ttanttara.
The Korean word "ttanttara" (딴따라) had long been used as a dismissive term for singers and entertainers. Park chose it as his album title, reclaiming a word intended as an insult and using it to express pride in being an entertainer.
The same period produced one of his most provocative songs, "Elevator" (엘리베이터), which dealt openly with physical attraction and sexual tension.
That willingness to address desire was closely connected to the rest of his stage identity. Fashion, dance, lyrics and rhythm were not separate pieces of the performance. Park used all of them together, often in ways that felt unusual on Korean television in the mid-1990s.
The Music Behind the Controversy
Park's longevity depended on a musical identity that audiences could recognize beyond the headlines.
In 1996, "She Was Pretty" (그녀는 예뻤다) paired a retro groove with influences from funk and Motown. Music and choreography worked together, something that became a recurring feature of his performances.
Another major hit followed with "Honey" in 1998.
By 2001, Game showed different sides of the same musical personality. "I Have a Girlfriend" (난 여자가 있는데) openly described being attracted to someone else while already in a relationship. "Swing Baby" moved toward swing and jazz with staging reminiscent of a musical.
By then, the basic elements of J.Y. Park's sound were firmly established: R&B and funk-driven grooves, performance built around rhythm, and lyrics willing to deal directly with attraction, desire and complicated relationships.
From Solo Artist to JYP Entertainment
By the late 1990s, Park was expanding from writing and performing his own music into producing other artists.
That work eventually became the foundation of JYP Entertainment.
Across different generations, the company worked with artists including god, Rain, Wonder Girls, 2PM and miss A, followed later by TWICE, Stray Kids, ITZY and NMIXX.
Wonder Girls marked an important step in JYP's push into the United States when "Nobody" entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009. Years later, TWICE and Stray Kids expanded the company's international reach much further.
JYP also began applying its training and production approach to projects designed for individual overseas markets, including NiziU in Japan.
As the company grew, its production and management evolved into a much larger organization involving numerous teams, executives and producers. But Park's own years as a songwriter and performer remain an important part of its origin story. Before producing other artists, he had spent years learning firsthand how songs, choreography and stage presence could work together.
The Producer Who Kept Performing
Building JYP Entertainment did not end Park's own recording career.
After Game in 2001 and several years focused primarily on production, he returned with Back To Stage in 2007. He continued releasing music even as new generations of K-pop idols debuted through his company.
In 2015, "Who's Your Mama?" (어머님이 누구니), featuring Jessi, became another hit. In 2020, he revisited retro dance music with "When We Disco," a disco-inspired duet with Sunmi.
More than 25 years had passed since Blue City, and K-pop itself had changed dramatically. Park, however, was still working with many of the elements that had defined his early career: groove-driven songs, dance and live entertainment.
Before JYP Entertainment, There Was J.Y. Park
For many international fans, Park Jin-young first appeared on their screens as a producer, an audition-show judge or the founder of JYP Entertainment.
His career as a solo artist tells the earlier part of that story.
In the 1990s, he pushed against conservative Korean television standards with R&B and funk, direct lyrics, dance and deliberately provocative styling. He later carried decades of experience as a performer into his work producing other artists.
His career connects two very different periods of K-pop: an era when a solo singer was challenging the boundaries of Korean television, and the global industry in which JYP Entertainment eventually became one of its most recognizable companies.
Throughout both periods, Park Jin-young has continued to identify himself as a singer and performer.
Essential Discography
Blue City — 1994/09 — Don't Leave Me (날 떠나지마)
Ttanttara — 1995/08 — Elevator (엘리베이터)
Summer Jingle Bell — 1996/09 — She Was Pretty (그녀는 예뻤다)
Even After Ten Years... — 1998/01 — Honey (허니)
Park Jin Young 5th — 1998/12 — Kiss Me (키스 미)
Game — 2001/06 — I Have a Girlfriend (난 여자가 있는데)
Back To Stage — 2007/11 — The House You Live In (니가 사는 그집)
Sad Freedom — 2009/12 — No Love No More (노 러브 노 모어)
Spring: 5 Songs for a New Love — 2012/04 — You're the One (너뿐이야)
24/34 — 2015/04 — Who's Your Mama? (어머님이 누구니)
When We Disco — 2020/08 — When We Disco (웬 위 디스코)
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