Park Jin-young ― the `Perfect Bridge’
Dear editor,
Just the other day, I was watching MTV and saw a music video by American pop singer, Kanye West. The music video was for his song, ``Stronger."
As I was watching the video, it showed several scenes of Tokyo and displayed Japanese characters. I'm a big fan of contemporary American pop music and enjoy the entertainment it has to offer.
But I've noticed that pop artists today use foreign countries and cultures to entertain their audience. I also noticed Michael Jackson's music video for his song, ``Scream," which has him dressed in Japanese attire and features Japanese animation as well.
His younger sister Janet Jackson also has a video that emphasizes the Chinese culture in her song, ``If.'' I believe Western pop artists can also ``educate'' their audiences with how they present their music videos and stage production.
Even though I have been back in the United States from Korea for almost a year now, I still read about Korean contemporary pop culture.
What caught my eye the most was a fellow named Park Jin-young from JYP Entertainment. He has connections with such pop artists such as Lil Kim and the members of Outkast.
When R&B singer Usher paid a visit to Korea, he was welcomed by Park. I believe with the abilities and connections Park has, he can persuade Western pop acts to film their music videos in Korea and use hangeul, the Korean alphabet, in their videos.
Chinese and Japanese are known and used quite often these days, but after awhile, it can become ``boring.'' People always want to see and experience something new.
Just looking at hangeul is quite unique and I think it would be a great change for people to see something new. Park Jin-young would be the right person to do the job and help his country be in the spotlight.
John Smith
Minneapolis, Minnesota