Between a fiery video game anthem and his first truly happy song, this might be the singer's most transformative record yet.

eaJ is the alias Jae Park (formerly of Day6) uses for his solo ventures, and with his latest EP 1, he&rsquo;s set to elevate the scope of his <a href="https://www.hommessingapore.com/living/devialet-largest-flagship-store-grand-hyatt-singapore-opening" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sound</a>. We caught up with the Korean-American artiste when he popped by Singapore for a quick stop on his <a href="https://www.hommessingapore.com/culture/grentperez-sg-block-a-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tour</a> of the region back in July:

Tell us about your solo identity &ldquo;eaJ&rdquo;. How much your personal self is in there? At first, not much. I always had this narrative that when you songwrite about your own experiences, it oftentimes becomes bland or you get stuck because it has to be specific. Since the last EP (When the rain stopped following me) and moreso recently, I&rsquo;ve learned to be more honest. Which was hard at first, because I&rsquo;m used to getting prompts and topics to write on; I even called myself a &ldquo;song dispenser&rdquo;. Now, writing about myself makes me feel way more connected to the music, especially when I perform.
How do you balance between being authentic versus maintaining a public image? Honestly, I don&rsquo;t really concern myself with a public image too much. When I was younger, I wanted to be loved. But the older I get, the more I realise that being seen in a certain way means literally nothing. I&rsquo;m religious, and I believe that when I die, I will look at my creator in the eyes. And when he asks me &ldquo;Did you try?&rdquo;, I want to be able to say yes. That&rsquo;s all that matters to me now.
There&rsquo;s a lot of things that are happening in the world that I&rsquo;m vocal about, especially politically. Some fans don&rsquo;t like that. They say artistes are supposed to be entertainment, and when you take that away it becomes too real. I respect that, but I also think there are certain things that need to be talked about, to speak up for those who do not have a voice. Long way around it, but I&rsquo;m not really concerned about my public image anymore.

You&rsquo;ve been a workhorse, consistently putting out EPs and new music. What keeps you motivated? Every time I get into a studio and finish a song, when we listen to it after and you get that feeling of excitement that this is good &mdash; chasing that high is what keeps me going. Also, seeing everybody on stage; we make all the music and do all the promos just so that we can be there. Those moments are what I live for.
Tell us about your new EP, 1. What headspace were you in while creating it? Right now, I&rsquo;m in an era where I&rsquo;m trying to make the best song possible. I&rsquo;m trying to level up my music production as well. EP 1 is the first of a three-part series, with a bridge and a second part to complete the project, soon to come.

eaJ - RED (from Arena Breakout: Infinite) (Official Music Video)

The lead single RED is different from most of what you&rsquo;ve done before. Yeah. I actually wrote that song for the video game Arena Breakout: Infinite, which I&rsquo;ve been playing for a year now. Originally, I thought it would be a one-off for the game, but the track turned out so good that I felt it should be part of the EP rollout. But my favourite is probably the B-side, pause. It&rsquo;s the first happy song I&rsquo;ve ever written in my life. Even though I&rsquo;ve had songs that sound happy, there&rsquo;s always a twist like &ldquo;I hate myself&rdquo; or &ldquo;I&rsquo;m scared I can&rsquo;t fulfil your needs&rdquo;. But pause? It&rsquo;s my first ever song that&rsquo;s just happy, no buts about it.
Do you think you&rsquo;ve found your sonic identity? Nope. The thing about me is that I get stuck intensely on one specific sound for a short period of time, before moving on. If you look at my discography, you&rsquo;ll see I jump around genres a lot. I just like music and writing music, so it&rsquo;s hard for me to stay in one sound.

How are you feeling about your career today? I always want more, and it&rsquo;s the same whether I&rsquo;m streaming or performing live. I just never feel like I&rsquo;ve done my best, in the sense that I&rsquo;ve never played a perfect show. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve reached my potential with songwriting either. So I&rsquo;m still waiting. I&rsquo;m not chasing hits, but I&rsquo;ll know when I&rsquo;ve made the best thing I possibly could. When that happens, I&rsquo;ll feel a little more accomplished.
Is that important to you? It is. I have a hard time trusting people &mdash; a lot of them tell me I&rsquo;m doing great, I have so many more listeners, I&rsquo;m selling venues. But all that stuff doesn&rsquo;t really matter to me. The only thing that really matters is how I perceive my own work, and nothing I&rsquo;ve done for myself is good enough yet. Maybe I&rsquo;m just a little cynical.

We saw you had a collab with BINI earlier this year. That was really cool. They&rsquo;re hardworking, diligent, talented individuals, and so motivated. They remind me of when I used to be in a different industry, constantly working. It was an honour to collab with them, and even more of a blessing to share the stage with them.
Any plans to work with more music artistes in the region? Yes, actually. I don&rsquo;t want to spell it out yet, but I would say they&rsquo;re the male counterparts of BINI. I&rsquo;ve gotten a few calls from the Philippines &mdash; hopefully those come to fruition. But I&rsquo;m excited, it&rsquo;s going to be a cool 2026.

Any other upcoming projects you&rsquo;d like to share with us? 1 just came out, and then there&rsquo;s going to be&hellip; I&rsquo;ll call it a single interlude, that&rsquo;ll lead into the next project. The first track of the next project is my favourite song I&rsquo;ve ever made. And now I&rsquo;m having a hard time writing music because I can&rsquo;t find anything to top it.&nbsp;
You think you&rsquo;ve reached your peak? I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s the peak, but it&rsquo;s as close as I&rsquo;ve ever gotten.
Wow. We can&rsquo;t wait to listen to it. Me too, honestly. The song is not even finished &mdash; we&rsquo;re still mixing and mastering. I&rsquo;m really excited. I hope the world likes it, because if they don&rsquo;t, that&rsquo;ll break my heart.

&ldquo;Right now, I&rsquo;m in an era where I&rsquo;m trying to make the best song possible.&rdquo;

Korean-American artiste eaJ on his latest EP '1'

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