'Biggest turning point in my life': After 22 years, ex-2NE1 member Sandara Park is finally making her own music

Sandara Park poses during an exclusive interview with the Hankook Ilbo. Courtesy of Power Entertainment

It took Sandara Park 22 years to finally use her voice to sing a song of her own.

Those years saw her debut and build a career in the Philippines, move to Korea, perform as a member of a K-pop group and eventually go solo. Now, the seasoned veteran is ready to let go of the industry’s established formulas for success, which she knows all too well, and embark on a new journey as an artist making music of her own.

“This is the biggest turning point in my life,” Park said in an interview with the Hankook Ilbo. “Over the past 22 years, I’ve worn many hats, from singer and television host to variety-show personality and musical actor. But the one thing I never got to do was create my own music and sing my own songs.”

Park had accumulated plenty of stories over the years, many of which she had kept to herself. There was no shortage of material. Whenever something came to mind, she made sure to write it down in her smartphone notes or diaries. The problem was that she did not quite know how to convey those thoughts to her listeners. That uncertainty was what had held her back from writing songs of her own all these years.

“I realized I didn’t know how to turn the thoughts and emotions in my diaries into songs, or even where to begin,” Park said. “Then I met a team of songwriters who create music very instinctively, and I gradually began applying what I saw and learned to my own music.”

“As I did that, I looked back on all the times I had come up with ideas for concert stages. I realized that, in a way, those experiences had also been a form of producing. It had never occurred to me to think of them as creative work, but now I’m ready to dive headfirst into the creative process.”

What Park ultimately hopes to create is a full-length album filled with the stories she has long wanted to tell. For now, she has taken the first step with a two-track single album, which is scheduled for release this fall, with only the recording left to complete. Another will follow next year as part of a long-term project she expects to span more than two years.

“I’ve prepared a lot,” she said. “For now, I just hope I don’t burn out along the way, because this is a two-year project.”

The album is titled “REPRISM,” a name that evokes Park refracting light through herself to reveal colors her fans have never seen before.

“I think everyone has both the person others see them as and sides of themselves they have yet to show. The same is true of Sandara Park. There is the image that fans and the public know, but there are also parts of me that no one has seen yet. ‘REPRISM’ is about discovering those parts of myself and bringing them out for others to see.”

Sandara Park poses during an exclusive interview with the Hankook Ilbo. Courtesy of Power Entertainment

One of the album’s two tracks, “Festival,” reinterprets a well-known song through a rock sound. Asked why she chose rock, Park said she wanted to demonstrate that she could also pull off band-driven music.

“I wanted to show the world that Sandara Park has a voice suited to rock and a style that works with it.”

The other track, “Nail,” marks the first step toward what she hopes to show listeners over the next two years. It is the first original song she created with her songwriting team, giving it particular significance as the point at which she began putting her own stories into music.

“While ‘REPRISM’ stands on its own, it is also meant to serve as a teaser for where Sandara Park is headed from here,” she said.

The songs may fall outside the comfort zone of some listeners, particularly longtime fans of Park and 2NE1. A sudden turn toward Japanese-style rock and band-driven music in her 40s may strike some as unconventional, a possibility Park readily acknowledges. She is prepared for the raised eyebrows.

“It’s natural for artists to change and take on different genres, but doing it in your 40s? Some people might ask, ‘Why is she doing that now?’ Even people who know me may find the change jarring,” she said. “But whether I can turn that reaction into cheers is entirely up to me. That’s why I’m working harder than ever before and giving everything I have to every performance.”

Park is no stranger to dramatic changes in her life. She made an unexpected debut in the Philippines and was riding a wave of success when she decided to give it all up and move back to Korea to train as a K-pop idol. Later, as a member of 2NE1, she reached the pinnacle of success in the industry and enjoyed immense popularity.

Yet Park identifies this moment as the greatest turning point of them all. The reason is straightforward: If her earlier career was about seizing opportunities and proving her worth, this time, she must make every decision on her own, right down to the genre of music she wants to sing.

“Debuting in the Philippines and moving to Korea were both major moments, but this is the turning point,” Park said. “Now I’m creating something of my own.”

“In the past, I would feel physically exhausted after finishing all my scheduled activities. Now, the strain is more mental because I have to judge and decide everything for myself. Even so, it’s finally sinking in that I’m creating music of my own.”

Sandara Park speaks during an exclusive interview with the Hankook Ilbo. Courtesy of Power Entertainment

Making her own music had long been a dream. But what finally made it possible, according to the artist, was coming to terms with and letting go of the exceedingly high bar for success she had set long ago and held herself to ever since. The reason for such exacting standards was simple: She was a member of 2NE1, a group that topped the charts virtually every time it released a new song.

“After debuting with 2NE1 and consistently topping the charts, there were times when we cried because a song ranked 10th,” she said. “It seems absurd in hindsight. A ranking like that did warrant tears, but tears of joy.”

But time has passed and things have changed, she added. Performing on a grand stage before a massive crowd remains the greatest thrill, but things cannot stay the same forever.

The recent experience of holding her first solo fan concert at a relatively small venue also changed the way she saw things. Some viewed the size of the venue in comparison with the heights of her past popularity, but Park instead discovered the joy of meeting her fans’ eyes and breathing in rhythm with them at close range.

“Some people said, ‘Oh, you’re performing at a small venue,’” she said. “But happiness and success don’t have to mean just one thing. At a large venue, you can barely see the fans’ faces. At a smaller one, I can see their expressions as I sing and even talk with them. That time was so precious and made me so happy that I found myself thinking perhaps it had worked out for the best.”

The greatest force that continues to carry her onto new stages is also her fans. They include those who have remained by her side for years and others who discovered her only through her more recent work. Knowing that there are still people waiting for her gives her a reason not to stop.

“This isn’t something I could do if no one wanted to see me,” she said. “When I see the fans waiting for me and cheering me on, even when I’m taking a break, I find myself thinking, ‘What am I doing right now?’ I want to meet them again as soon as possible and let them hear new music. More than anything, I want to make my fans happy by doing what I do best.”

She often finds herself close to tears simply looking at her fans’ faces during a performance. Even when her live vocals waver slightly or she falls short of her own expectations, she finds their unwavering support both wondrous and overwhelming. It is what allows her to return to the stage even after passing through the dazzling heights of her career.

“There are fans who have stood by me through the good times and the hard times, and there are also fans who have only recently come to like me,” she said. “Just because I can’t do everything exactly as I once did doesn’t mean I should give it all up. I don’t think that would be right for them. If I walked away from this work, I knew I would regret it someday.”

As the interview drew to a close, Park promised that she would continue to work tirelessly and give it her all, as she always has.

“That’s how it has always been, and that’s how it always will be,” she said. “I want to be an artist my fans can be proud to support, so they never feel embarrassed to say they love Sandara Park.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.