Jay Park reflects on his departure from 2PM, 'I felt sorry and apologetic'

06 Mar 2026, 03:15 by Solim-Yoon · allkpop

Jay Park candidly reflected on his departure from 2PM and restarting his music career.

Appearing as a guest on the March 5 installment of 'Lyrics Psychology', a music talk segment hosted by Eyes Magazine, the singer chose "U Got It Bad" by Usher as "the song that changed his life".

When the host observed, "You started out as an idol, and then went back to the United States. It must have been an anxious time for you," Jay Park remarked, "I wasn't all that anxious at the time. I was just sorry and apologetic to everyone. All things considered, I hurt and inconvenienced many people. But I wasn't anxious about going back. I tend to accept things as they are and go with the flow."

He then look back on the cover videos that brought him back to music. "YouTube was starting to become really popular around that time. It was kind of a trend for Asian-Americans to post covers on there. So I thought I'd share my musical tastes too with the MacBook that a fan had gifted me. I filmed 'Beautiful Girls' in the bathroom with that MacBook. And then in a day, that video surpassed like 3 million views. It was through those cover videos that I started receiving offers here and there again. In short, they got me back into this business," Jay Park recalled.

After debuting as a member of 2PM in 2008, Jay Park became embroiled in various accusations over his pre-debut Facebook posts, including allegations of "hateful speech" directed at Korea. He formally departed from 2PM in 2009 and from JYP Entertainment in 2010.

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