Draft:Jay Jong-seong Park


Jay Jong-seong Park (Korean: 박종성, born April 20, 2002), known by his stage name JAY (Korean: 제이, Japanese: ジェイ), is a member of the South Korean boy group ENHYPEN, formed by Hybe Corporation and CJ ENM. Jay is an American-Korean singer, rapper, songwriter and composer.

Early life and education

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He was born on April 20, 2002 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He was born to a Korean immigrant family in Federal Way, where his parents settled after attending college in the Pacific Northwest.[1] He moved to South Korea at the age of 9 where he eventually became a trainee under Big Hit Entertainment. He graduated from Hanlim Multi Art High School in 2022.[2]

Career

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Pre-debut

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Jay attended the LP Dance Academy[3] before joining Big Hit Entertainment. He trained alongside ENHYPEN members Heeseung, Sunghoon, and Jungwon at Big Hit Entertainment before transferring to BELIFT LAB. After training for 2 years and 11 months, Jay joined "I-LAND," a survival show co-produced by Hybe Corporation and CJ ENM.[4]

I-LAND Survival Show

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I-Land (Korean: 아이랜드) was a South Korean boy group competition series produced by MNET and organized by BELIFT LAB, a collaboration between entertainment giants CJ ENM and HYBE at the time of its broadcast.

23 trainees participated in the show. In the finale on September 18, 2020, seven contestants were selected to debut as ENHYPEN.

The winning members were Jungwon, Jay, Jake, Ni-ki, Heeseung, Sunghoon and Sunoo. The first six members were selected by global vote, while the seventh member was chosen by the producers.

In the final episode, Jay ranked 2nd with 1,192,889 global votes.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "This worldwide K-pop star with WA roots will soon return to the Seattle area". The Seattle Times. April 26, 2024.
  2. ^ "ENHYPEN's Jay Shows His Kind Heart In Celebrating His Graduation With Sunoo". March 28, 2022.
  3. ^ "LP Dance Multiplex". www.lpdance.com.
  4. ^ "About Jay". ENHYPEN GUIDE.
  5. ^ "I-LAND contestants & results". kpopping.com. July 16, 2021.