NPR Music’s Tiny Desk is celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. These artists characterize only a sliver of the cultural variety that exists throughout the Asian American and Pacific Islander neighborhood.
As daylight filters into the nook of the room, the singer and rapper Jay Park is popping his All the things You Wished deep reduce “I Acquired This” inside out with a fab, lounge-ready interpretation on the trap-powered jam. “Born and raised in Seattle; we rep South Korea — Seoul metropolis,” he outlines, earlier than transitioning into the feel-good R&B of his 2022 single “Have to Know,” and that cross-cultural change has outlined his eager shapeshifting — and the delicate breadth of the music he brings to his Tiny Desk (residence) live performance.
Since his days as a short-lived member of the Okay-pop group 2PM, Park has stayed on the forefront of the South Korean hip-hop and R&B scenes. As a performer, he has steadily advanced right into a polymath, with a clean, singsong fashion that straddles his rap and neo soul identities. He has since crossed over, signing with Roc Nation stateside, recording an EP with Hit-Boy and collaborating with artists starting from Jay Electronica to Charli XCX.
His Tiny Desk (residence) set performs into his pure instincts to fiddle with many influences. Backed by a band and a small refrain that fill out his songs and allow them to breathe, Park brings a brand new heat to his current catalog right here. He performs “Yesterday” and “Gandara,” a few of his extra acoustic ballads, with even higher delicacy, the latter unwrapping gently into the extra upbeat “Sweet.” This rendition of “All I Wish to Do” turns the hit into one thing funkier, amped by bass and harmonized vocal runs. And an “only-for-NPR” efficiency of “Intercourse Journey” strips the music down with uncooked, falsetto vocals. However every thing Park’s completed, every thing he’s, is on show within the reimagined “Mommae,” through which a ratchet-era twerk anthem turns into soul balladry.
SET LIST
- “I Acquired This”
- “Want To Know”
- “Yesterday”
- “All I Wanna Do”
- “Ganadara”
- “Sweet”
- “Intercourse Journey”
- “Mommae”
MUSICIANS
- Jay Park: vocals
- Slom: music director
- Shyun: arranger, guitar
- Junhyun Yoon: keys
- Jongwoo Park: bass
- Wonyoung Jang: drums
- paulkyte: refrain
- Otis Lim: refrain
- Eunjin Kwon: refrain
CREDITS
AUDIO
- Recording: Presound Techniques
- Mixing: STUDIO 505
- Devices: SUN Music
VIDEO
- Director: Daniel Jon
- Producer: Youngpyo Hong
- D.O.P: Deokjung Kim
- Gaffer: Hyunsuk Music (Actual Lighting)
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Bobby Carter
- Video Producer: Sofia Seidel
- Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin
- Tiny Desk Group: Bob Boilen, Suraya Mohamed, Kara Body, Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
- Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann