Jay Park & Hoody Perform New Songs "Golden" and "365" at Identity LA 2018

Jay Park is one of the most exciting performers in the entire Korean music industry, so it’s only fitting that he headlined the second Identity Festival LA at City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, California on May 12.

The event was hosted by Wong Fu Productions and Far East Movement and produced by the City of Los Angeles Asian Pacific Heritage Month by Councilman David Ryu, Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation, and International Secret Agents.

A mere days before the festival, fellow AOMG songstress Hoody joined the line-up, accompanying other Asian and Asian-American artists like Ruby Ibarra, G Yamazawa, Hotel Garuda, and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

All Photos: Annika Brandes

Hoody’s set was short yet sweet, as the sole female AOMG artist’s discography is still fairly young. She opened with “Like You,” her first single released after signing with Park’s label in 2015. Not known as well for her dancing abilities, she still snuck in snippets of choreography that pleased the crowd.

“I’m so happy to be here for the second time, and I hope to be here many more (times),” she said, quickly reverting to Korean, although fans were more than satisfied with her attempts to address the audience.

She quickly jumped into her next track, “By Your Side,” fitting for the mid-May festival’s chill pre-summer vibes. She owned the stage sans backup dancers, then quickly transitioned to another summertime hit, “Hangang.” It was possible she was nervous because of her lack of familiarity with an overseas stage or her relatively new start as a solo performer, but her vocals still hooked the crowd, a lot of whom probably did not know who she was.

She concluded her set with arguably her most romantic track, “Your Eyes.” It was a sweet conclusion to an overall lovely set. Although Jay didn’t come out to sing his feature, it was a fitting segue to prep for his performance.

Jay has been performing on stages for 10 years, but he continues to perform as if he’s a novice with a point to prove. Towards the start of the show, he even expressed that he’d cancelled shows and was fighting jet lag, but he had to be at Identity LA. Even if the concert itself was free, he gave the audience a show well worth their time. He utilized this stage to showcase his multi-talented proficiency in singing, dancing, and rapping.

Being the tease that he is, Jay’s backup dancers entered first with “Replay,” dancing for a bit before Jay sensually walked in and joined. Instead of singing, he chooses this track to showcase his dance skills. Later on in the show, he again squeezed in a dance break to “Lemon” by N.E.R.D featuring Rihanna, a fun little switch-up for the audience.

The fans got a taste of most of the artist’s biggest hits. Immediately following “Replay” was the English version of “Me Like Yuh,” which has been a major hit for Western audiences. Throughout the performance, he also treated fans to tracks like “Forget About Tomorrow,” “Yacht,” “You Know,” and “Mommae.” Despite the songs being in Korean, Jay’s fans pulled through, belting the words out.

He also brought Hoody back out to perform a multitude of their collaborations. These included “Solo,” the Korean version of “All I Wanna Do,” and Hoody’s April 29 release, “Golden,” which accompanied her other title track, “Why.” Prior to performing, Jay revealed it was their first time performing “Golden” live, making the performance even sweeter.

The night was full of treats for the fans. In the middle, Jay brought out earlier performers The Flavr Blue. They explained they are also Seattle, Washington natives, and that it was their first time performing their collaboration track “365” which also features AOMG producer Cha Cha Malone. Towards the end of the show, Jay even performed his unreleased track “Soju” featuring American rapper 2 Chainz—his first track he’ll release under American rapper Jay-Z’s label, Roc Nation. After that taste, fans can only expect another hit once the full track drops.

As mentioned previously, Jay didn’t forget to dedicate a portion of his set to his rap tracks.

“How many people know that I can rap as well? Can I rap for y’all for a little bit?” he rhetorically asked the crowd.

He shouted out DJ Pumkin and then opened his set with the chiller “On It,” delivering in English before transitioning to the hype tracks “Put ‘Em Up” and then the infamous “Ain’t No Party Like an AOMG Party.” With these tracks, he proved his ability to deliver potent lyrics and cadences.

His 45-minute set wrapped up with the hard-hitting “Who You?” which felt like a party starter rather than a conclusion. Even Hoody and his backup dancers came back out, jumping across the stage and adding to the lit atmosphere. It was hard to believe it had ended, even after Jay thanked the audience and declared the party was over as he walked off of the stage.

Jay Park and Hoody put on a massive show for the crowd of thousands, and it’s going to be a hard one to top at next year’s Identity LA, but we look forward to what’s in store.