K-pop star Jay of ENHYPEN talks about WA roots, Fate Plus world tour

Jay Park doesn’t remember much about his childhood in Washington.

As a member of one of the world’s biggest Korean pop groups, ENHYPEN, he’s had much more on his mind — international tours, a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade performance, being a Prada global ambassador — than the nine years he spent growing up near Seattle.

Since debuting with ENHYPEN in 2020, the 22-year-old multihyphenate singer-rapper-musician-dancer has experienced a whirlwind of stardom, amassing fans across the globe. Despite the sold-out tours and chart-topping albums, Park has been holding onto one particular dream for years: to perform in his hometown. He is finally making that a reality, with ENHYPEN’s April 28 concert at the Tacoma Dome. 

Known by fans simply as Jay, the mononymous musician spent the early years of his life in Federal Way, where his parents settled after they attended college in the Pacific Northwest. When Park was 9, his family relocated to Korea for his dad’s work at a travel agency. Despite this, the entertainer still has fond memories of the street he grew up on, the rainy weather and Seattle’s culinary specialties.

“I really love the food in Seattle,” Park said in an interview over Zoom in early April. “Clam chowder is still one of my favorite foods. I try to eat it all over the world.”

Park has only been back to Seattle once, just a few years after the move. 

After adjusting to his new home in a new country, quickly learning Korean and attending school, Park developed a love for all things music, including playing guitar, singing and dancing, and gravitated toward a career in the ever-growing, multibillion-dollar K-pop music industry. 

“Being a K-pop idol was the best solution to do all the things I wanted in music,” he said. “I wanted to be a multi-entertainer.”

While searching for a way to break into the industry, Jay says that he got a bit of help from another Seattle-area born star: Jay Park, formerly of K-pop group 2PM. Not only did the two share the same name and hometown, but their fathers were also friends. The former 2PM performer’s decade of experience in the industry came in handy for 22-year-old Park.

“I was able to talk to [Park’s] manager about what I should do to become a singer and what it would be like when I debuted,” the ENHYPEN idol said. 

Park eventually found his start training under label Big Hit Entertainment, now HYBE, developing his singing and dancing skills for almost three years before landing a spot on Korean music competition show “I-LAND” in 2020. 

He and 22 other trainees participated in the show, spending almost four months refining their star power and talents in hopes of winning the grand prize: being placed in a new boy band. The new group’s album would be produced by Big Hit Music founder Bang Si-Hyuk, best known as the producer who helped create BTS, a legendary K-pop group.

While Park was confident he would debut as a K-pop idol, he knew that it would likely be his “last chance to achieve this dream.” If he didn’t make it through in “I-LAND,” he would continue to learn about and make music, and likely return back to the U.S. to attend university.

“I didn’t think about it that far,” Park said. “But I probably would’ve wanted to go home to Seattle.”

But over the course of the show, Park proved his talents and his dream did come true, landing him in second place on “I-LAND” and selected for brand-new music group ENHYPEN.

Despite debuting in November 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the seven-member boy band quickly shot to fame. The key to ENHYPEN’s success: its musical versatility across genres and lyrical themes, the growing fan base who followed the group from “I-LAND” and backing from one of Korea’s most successful music labels. 

Today, ENHYPEN has more than 9 million monthly listeners on Spotify, five Billboard 200-charting albums and a world tour under its belt. The group’s Fate Plus Tour includes its first Seattle-area performance, which marks Park’s first Washington visit in almost a decade. The tour date also marks another special homecoming: one for Park’s mom, who attended college in Tacoma and will join him at the concert. 

“I’m really excited to look around my hometown, and with my fellow [ENHYPEN] members, too,” Park says.

ENHYPEN’s fans, known as ENGENEs, are just as excited for the group’s upcoming visit to the Seattle area. Several attending the Tacoma Dome show said they are planning projects to make Park feel especially appreciated. 

Sam Romanik, a 25-year-old fan from Burien, is printing 4,000 banners emblazoned with “Welcome home Jay” and ENHYPEN song lyrics to pass out at the concert. When Park looks out into the crowd, Romanik hopes he’ll see the banners and “feel comfortable and welcome home.”

For many Seattle-based fans, knowing they grew up in the same place as Park makes them feel even more connected to the group, and wanting to show up for their hometown hero. 

“Seattle will always welcome him home, and [we] want him to know that he has a place here,” said Rachel Ramirez, an ENHYPEN fan from Kent. “We want to be that supportive and safe place for them.”

Even though it’s been years since Park has been back to his hometown, he still carries pieces of Seattle with him everywhere, particularly his strong affinity for the Mariners. 

For as long as Park can remember, his family were “really crazy fans” of the Seattle baseball team, and that love has “kind of become part of [his] identity.” Aside from the Mariners Moose plushie in his bedroom, Park shows his Mariners pride onstage with his in-ear monitors, which are emblazoned with the team’s blue-and-green compass logo. 

But his strongest tie to the Seattle MLB team is actually his name: Park’s dad says part of the inspiration for it was beloved Mariners right fielder Jay Buhner. His dad’s constant references to Buhner “gave me the thought that he was almost like my second father,” laughs Jay.

It’s only fitting that following their almost sold-out Tacoma Dome concert, ENHYPEN will throw out the first pitch at the April 29 Mariners-Atlanta Braves game. Park admitted he is “a bit nervous,” but excited to be attending the game with his bandmates. He and fellow ENHYPEN members Ni-ki and Heeseung are practicing their pitch.

“I went there a lot as a child, but I don’t remember a lot of specific Mariners memories,” says Park. “It’s really exciting for this to be my first time there as an ENHYPEN member so I can create a new ‘first’ memory.”