Jay Park and his love affair with the Philippines
Popular Korean R&B sensation Jay Park recently visited the Philippines for MTV EXIT (Link: http://www.mtvexit.org) (End Exploitation and Trafficking). Yahoo! Philippines OMG! interviewed the star who truly has a soft spot in his heart for the Philippines.
Jay Park, known for his fantastic cover of the song "Nothin' on You" as well as his original solo hits "Abandoned", "Demon", and "Tonight" showed enthusiasm as he talked about his love affair with the Philippines the morning after his electrifying performance for MTV EXIT at the SM Mall of Asia concert grounds.
Jay Park and the Chicken Adobo
During his MTV EXIT performance, Jay Park shared that he enjoyed chicken adobo for dinner. Many of his fans already know that Jay loves this signature Filipino dish as he also discussed it during his first visit to the country last year.
However, it seems like he really loves this dish because he mentioned it again during our conversation.
Jay Park expressed how much he appreciates it when ChaCha's (an Art of Movement crew member) mom, a Filipina, would prepare it for him when he visits their place. Jay shared that: "When I go to ChaCha's house, his mom is Filipina, and she is like 'You wanna eat something? I'll cook you something.' I mean, she's very hospitable."
Looks like Filipino Jaywalkers now know what to prepare for Jay Park during his next visit. He shared another favorite though, the ever popular lumpia (Filipino egg roll).
Jay Park and the Internet
Filipinos love the Internet. In fact, the Philippines is one of the highest Internet users in the world. We just looovveee our Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Jay Park is no stranger to the Internet. In fact, he is a highly respected Twitter celebrity. His Twitter account, JAYBUMAOM (Link: http://twitter.com/#!/JAYBUMAOM), has more than 270,000 followers and garnered the most votes for the "Nokia Connecting People" (Link: http://ph.omg.yahoo.com/blogs/okpop/korean-stars-dominate-twitter-3rd-annual-shorty-awards-20110329-020929-705.html) award during the last Shorty Awards which is considered the Oscars of Twitter. Jay Park also won accolades during the Mashable Awards for his video "Nothin' on You"
Asked about his favorite Internet activities, Jay Park shared similar tastes with Filipinos. He said that: "I love YouTube. When I had a lot of free time when I was in the States, I made a lot of YouTube videos like…every two weeks. They're very bad quality but you know, I just make it because I enjoy it and the fans enjoy it. I like Twitter. I love to do Twitter just to see what people are saying, see what my friends are saying on tweet, what my fans are saying…"
Jay Park is surrounded by Filipinos!
"I have a lot of Filipino friends." Jay Park proudly expressed as he discussed Art of Movement (AOM), the Seattle-based dance crew he is part of. As he discussed AOM (which he considers family), Jay expressed that "ChaCha is part Filipino. Daniel Jerome is Filipino, my choreographer Andrew Baterina is Filipino, his girlfriend is Filipino…I have a lot of Filipino friends."
The best answer of the interview, however, was when Jay Park shared what he thought of Filipinos, specifically Filipinas. Blushing a little, the usually cool star expressed his gratitude to his Filipino fans by saying that "every time I come here, they treat me very well. They show me a lot of love, a lot of support. I find Filipinas…(cute smile and shy pause)…I think they're very beautiful." Take note of his use of the word "very".
With the Philippines being this close to Jay Park's heart, it is clear that he will most definitely return to the Philippines in the future for work and hopefully for play as well.
Jay Park was in Manila for MTV EXIT to raise awareness about human trafficking, a very serious issue considered as modern-day slavery. Human trafficking typically involves the victimization of people specially women and children for sexual exploitation and hard labor. For more information about this issue, visit the official MTV EXIT website (Link: http://www.mtvexit.org)
Catherine Deen blogs for Yahoo! Philippines OMG!. She lives, eats and breathes Korean music, cuisine, telenovelas, and pop culture. Follow her on Twitter @cathsdeen.
