J.Y. Park returned to the historic Los Angeles venue, The Wiltern, to perform the final show of his 30th anniversary tour, Still JYP. Although it has been two years since his last performance at the theater, he put together a show featuring a whole new setlist that walked attendees through his long journey as an artist, producer, and songwriter.
The show began at 8 p.m. on the dot, when the lights dimmed low and the gold curtains lifted to reveal Park himself at the top of a set of stairs. Given his love for flashy attire, the dotted black-and-white suit he wore was quite mellow, but it all made sense once he began performing with a passionate fervor; he was the shining star of the night, not his outfit or stage setup. Chronicling Park’s career in chronological order, the show featured a full live band that helped fill the venue with vibrant energy. This included a trumpeter, a saxophonist, trombonist, percussionist, drummer, keyboardist, pianist, guitarist, bassist, and three back-up singers.
Diving right into the music, Park surprised fans with his first song choice, “Don’t Leave Me.” While he typically uses this song as a closer, he had a reason for starting his show off with it. After “Don’t Leave Me,” the singer continued with “Proposal Song” and “She Was Pretty,” before taking his first break to greet the audience and explain his story. “The previous three songs were the first ones I ever released as a singer. All three went to number one on the charts, and here we all are, singing them together even 30 years later,” he began. “After the success of these three songs, I realized I had a future in this business, and I knew I wanted to do this for as long as I could. This led me to think about raising other artists and starting a company called JYP Entertainment. If I could successfully do that, I may have a chance.” With these three tracks signifying the start of his career, he then explained that the next set of songs represent his next chapter: “These were the first artists I created under JYP Entertainment, and the songs I first created for them.”
This next section featured the first hit songs he made for Jinju, Park Jiyoon, RAIN, 2PM, and g.o.d. Starting with Jinju’s “I Will Survive,” the singer performed Park Jiyoon’s “Coming of Age Ceremony,” which was met with thunderous cheers and screams as he executed the iconic choreography with ease. Next was “How to Avoid the Sun” by RAIN and “Again & Again” by 2PM, which elicited so much excitement from the crowd that people jumped up and began dancing in the aisles. Wrapping up this segment of JYP Entertainment’s first artists, Park sang g.o.d’s “Love and Memory,” to which the crowd sang along and waved their arms in the air. Despite how long it’s been since these songs were released, both Park and his fans enjoyed them all the same.
In response to the energy of the crowd, Park made a bold statement that the attendees at the LA show were the best out of his tour, before continuing his story. “So, I started making these songs for the artists, and I made a lot of money. I bought a house, and I even got married with my first love, the lady who loved me when I had nothing. But, I started wanting more, and I didn’t know what it was, but I tried to figure it out. I wrote these next songs in this strange five-year period, and they also all hit number one, but I realized later on that they were all about loving someone you shouldn’t,” he revealed. “These songs are about forbidden love. So, if you’re here with someone you shouldn’t be tonight, these are for you.” This led to the next segment of the show, which featured the songs “I Have a Lover,” “Your House,” “Say Hello,” and “Behind You.” Since “Say Hello” was originally sung by Byul and Na Yoon Kwon, Park decided to duet with the audience by displaying the lyrics on screen and prompting fans to sing during the yellow highlighted lyric segments (Byul’s parts). Keeping the crowd engaged, the singer also mentioned the drama, “Feelings (느낌),” which featured the song “Behind You.” “You guys know this drama? Wow, you guys are old,” he began, laughing. “The people that just cheered for this drama are definitely over 40 years old, guaranteed.”
While Park had been sharing his successes thus far, the singer also made sure to remind everyone that it wasn’t always smooth sailing. “In 2008, I chose the wrong time to try to bring K-pop to the U.S. I lost so much money, and our CEO said at one point that we only had two months left of salary, so I had to write a hit,” he began. “At the time, I was also the one choreographing for the other artists, so one night, I sent this song and choreography back to the CEO, and he said it was so funny that it needed to be posted.” Continuing on, he shared that he was advised to put down his pride for a moment for the company’s sake, and eventually, he did, allowing the video to be posted. With his descriptive storytelling, fans already knew this would lead into the next set of songs—a medley of Wonder Girls tracks. Park showed off his charm as the original choreographer, dancing the cute and feminine moves for “Tell Me,” “So Hot,” and “Nobody” with natural ease and enthusiasm.
Continuing down memory lane, Park performed several more of his popular tracks, such as “When We Disco,” “FEVER,” and “Honey.” Between these, he also performed his latest release, “Easy Lover,” with a surprise guest. “This song is like a story,” he began. “The family says this girl is a man eater, but he still loves her. She has a bad track record, but he doesn’t care.” Making this an unforgettable performance, Park invited a randomly chosen fan onstage to act with him for the performance, and as a happy coincidence, the chosen fan happened to be cosplaying Park in his iconic plastic pants. Interrogating her the crime of breaking so many men’s hearts, he handcuffed her to the interrogation table before beginning the song. Continuing the act through the end of the performance, he uncuffed her midway through the song, before pulling her close for a slow dance. Despite knowing she was bad for him, he still wanted her, just as the lyrics said. While many artists may bring someone on stage for a sweet serenade, the unique performance made this an extra special moment as the crowd cheered their toxic love on.
Park also dedicated a portion of the concert to performing songs that influenced his musical style like Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” and Stevie Wonder’s “Part-Time Lover.” He shared, “When I was seven years old in 1978, I lived in New York. I remember one day, I turned on the TV and saw this artist in shiny jeans and shiny socks. I asked my mom to give me some money, ran to the record store to buy it, and rushed home and put it on. I remember dancing for hours continuously to this music and that artist. [These two artists] really made me who I am.”
After spending two hours with the crowd, Park finished the show with an encore performance of “Even After 10 Years,” g.o.d’s “One Candle,” and “Don’t Leave Me,” as well some heartfelt words. “A lot of people ask me, you have hundreds of millions of dollars, so why do you keep doing this? I was never doing this for money in the first place. I didn’t dance to make money; I made money so I could keep dancing. I have absolutely no reason to stop, and I love seeing your faces. When we were singing those songs together, we were sharing our memories together. These songs ARE OUR memories,” he shared sentimentally. “I hope none of you ever give up, and we can continue surviving. I’ve been saying I’ll put on my best performance even when I’m 60 for the past three decades, and now we are only six years away. I hope we can meet here when I’m 60, so I can give you that best show. Thank you for showing up despite what has happened in the past couple months [the LA wildfires].”
