Young Tak
Park Young-tak, credited mononymously as Young Tak, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, actor and television personality. He made his debut in 2007 as a ballad singer with his 1st album Young Tak Disia. In 2016, he started his trot career with the release of his first trot single album, Nuna You Are Perfect. In 2020, he became well known by placing second in the TV Chosun audition show Mr. Trot out of 17,000 participants with his biggest hit "Jjiniya".
Early life and education
Park was born in Mungyeong, South Korea. His father was a soldier and his mother was a civil servant who worked for telephone service. His grandfather was a music teacher and composer, who served as principal and taught music at a senior college. Park's grandfather composed many school songs for local schools in Gyeongsang-do. Park was a member of Children's Choir. Park has rhinitis, which causes nasal congestion and often interferes with his breathing. When he was in high school, Park suffered from an accident where he fell from the 3rd floor of his school building. This resulted in his ankles being broken into 30 pieces and must be fixed with screws permanently, therefore he was exempted from military service. However, Park himself wanted to finish the service, so later on he enlisted at the training center, but was still exempted from military service during the re-examination.Park attended Yeongga Elementary School, Andong Middle School and All-boys boarding Andong High School. Park majored in Advertising and Public relations at Cheongju University, and completed a Master's degree in Practical Music Composition at Kookmin University Graduate School of Arts. He was also an Adjunct professor at the Department of Applied Music at Sehan University.
Career
2004–2015: Years as a ballad singer
In 2004, Park Young-tak entered The 1st Yeongnam Song Festival contest and won the first prize. He used the prize money to move to Seoul and work on becoming a singer. Park started out by singing OST for the movie Marrying the Mafia II. In January 2007, Park won the rookie singer contest hosted by Snow Rain Cast and released his digital album 'Youngtak's DISIA' as the prize. He was recognized for his singing ability with his 1st ballad single "I Love You".In 2008, Park and Seo Dong-hoon formed a duo called Let It Be and sang OST for OCN drama My Lady Boss, My Hero. They were in the middle of preparation for their album when their agency faced difficulties. Park and Seo then joined Star King with Min Geum-yong and Lee Woo-ram as Country Kids' Soul—supposedly a parody group of Brown Eyed Soul. They won first place and a contract with a music company to debut as a four-member ballad group named L-Class He wrote their debut song "Please Don't Go". They worked together for two years, released two singles and disbanded in 2011.
Park later became part of a ballad duo called J-Symphony with ex L-Class member Min Geum-yong. They released 3 singles, sang original soundtracks for dramas such as City Hunter, 49 Days, et cetera, and even had activities in Japan before part away in 2012. In the meantime, Park continued his music works by singing OSTs for cartoons, dramas and movies; singing guides for famous singers and groups such as Super Junior-H, Davichi, Park Hyoshin, SG Wannabe, and Hwanhee; writing and producing songs, and more.
In 2014, Park Young-tak and his friend Ji Kwang-min ) formed a multi-genre duo called Park G. They release songs and work together as producers, even after Park has switched to trot.
To make a living, Park became an adjunct professor at Sehan University and voice teacher at music academies. He almost gave up his singing career as it was not a stable job. But when Park joined Hidden Singer 2 as a contestant in Wheesung's episode, his love for singing was resurrected. He decided to work on his voice and sing professionally again.
The 5 contestants in Wheesung's episode: "Love Wheesung" Kim Jin-ho, "SNU Wheesung" Park Joon-young, "Adjunct Professor Wheesung" Park Young-tak, "Trot Wheesung" Je-cheong and "Composer Wheesung" Dason, along with singer Greg Priester formed a group called Wheesung Team or Wheeteam for short.
On 28 January 2014, they released an R&B/soul single called "Cliché" with Park G, which was composed by Park. The song was a homage to Wheesung, produced by Park and MinZi. Wheesung Team guested on shows and sang together at benefit concerts. They did charities together as well and received a testimonial from UNICEF. On 8 December 2015, Wheesung Team released their second single "We Will Get There" to cheer up anyone who is pursuing their dreams. The song was written and produced by Park and Dason's group Joy O'Clock. This is also their message to each other before going on their separate ways: a promise to keep their strong friendships and be supportive of each person's lives and dreams.
2016–2020: Trot career and appearance on ''Mr. Trot''
In 2016, Park Young-tak signed a contract with Milagro Entertainment and became a trot singer with the stage name "Young Tak". His CEO co-wrote his trot debut song "Nuna You're Perfect". He promoted his songs by working as a morning show presenter and a guest singer in singing classes for middle-aged people. His second trot single is called "We Are So Bad", which received good response from the public. In the same year, he released his first trot duet and MV "Cherry Blossom Love" with Sook Haeng. "Cherry Blossom Love" was given to them by a composer named Kwak Joon-young, who has written songs for Big Mama, Heesung and Naul of Brown Eyed Soul.Young Tak wrote and produced "Why Are You Coming Out From There" in 2018. It is based on the true story of how Young Tak found out his girlfriend was cheating on him. He planned to give the song to his friend Young-ki, who is also a trot singer, but Young-ki said the song was too difficult for him. Jang Min-ho suggested that Young Tak sing this song himself and it became Young Tak's fourth trot single. He also choreographed and came up with the idea for the album's cover as well as the music video on his own. "Why Are You Coming Out From There" went viral in South Korea thanks to kids liking the song and using it for their TikTok videos. The "Grabbing the neck" choreography of the song also became more known by trot lovers.
Young Tak then auditioned for TV Chosun's Mr. Trot in December 2019 and got his breakthrough thanks to his cover of "A Glass of Makgeolli" by Kang Jin in Mr. Trot's Mission 2 – Death Match: 1 VS 1. After the episode was aired, his cover got 1.2 million downloads in one week. Young Tak became a household name throughout South Korea and earned his nickname "Takgeolli". Then at the Semi Final - 1st Round: Individual Match, he once again pulled off a flawless performance of "You Who Are Going Back To Memories" by Joo Hyun-mi - a song well-known for its complex rhythm. Young Tak received high praises from the original singer herself and all the judges, which earned him another nickname "Rhythm Tak".
In the final round of the competition, where all the top 7 finalists got to choose one totally new and original song to perform, Young Tak chose "Jjin-iya" and the song, along with the thumb dance that he choreographed himself, became Mr. Trots best hit. Young Tak came 2nd in the end and signed a 1-year and 6 months contract with New Era Project with other singers called Top 6.
2020–2021: Post-''Mr. Trot''
Acting and variety shows
From April 2020 to October 2021, Young Tak was a fixed cast in TV Chosun's shows Romantic Call Centre and Mister Trot F4 Academy, both have huge ratings. Young Tak is the one who has the highest one-minute footage rating that audiences watch the most in the history of Romantic Call Centre with 22.08% when he sang "A Glass of Makgeolli" in the first episode. He also guested in a lot of variety shows with the rest of Top 6.Young Tak started gaining experience as an actor back when he starred in a musical called "The Three Generals of the Kingdom" in 2019. In May 2020, he sang Kkondae Intern's OST "Kkondae Latte" and had a special appearance in 3 episodes. He also played a cameo in TV Chosun's Kingmaker: The Change of Destiny.
On 22 October 2020, Young Tak and Top 6 Mr. Trot finalists appeared as main stars in the musical documentary film "Mr. Trot: The Movie", which was exclusively released by Lotte. The documentary film was a commercial success, selling more than 150,000 tickets after 3 weeks of release.
Awards as a trot singer
On 1 October 2020, Young Tak received "Rising Star Award" at 2020 Trot Awards, which was specifically selected by 108 PDs from all broadcast stations instead of fanvotes like other categories. He also performed his mega hit song "Why Are You Coming Out From There" as one of the celebration performances. Young Tak attracted viewers' attention with his vocal skills and bright energy.Moreover, when Young Tak sang his hit song "Jjiniya" at 2020 Melon Music Awards, his performance immediately went viral on many social media platforms due to the lyrics sounding like BTS member Jin's name. The lyrics "Jin Jin Jin" trended in real time across Twitter, YouTube and Weibo. "Jin Jin Jin" ranked not only on the Twitter Trends Worldwide but also Top Twitter Trends in numerous overseas countries, including the US. Jjiniya was nominated for Best Trot Song at the award as well.
On 30 December 2020, Young Tak sang "Kkondae Latte" and "Jjiniya" as celebration performance at 2020 MBC Drama Awards. Not only did Young Tak received good reactions from all the actors, actresses and viewers, but his celebration stage also recorded an audience rating of 6.5% - the highest one minute mark of the award.
Recognition as a trot composer and producer
Meanwhile, Young Tak continuously writes and produces songs for his colleagues and acquaintances, which he does mostly for free. In a span of eight months after the contest ended, he had written and produced many songs, 7 of which were officially released in 2020 and were well received. On 5 December 2020, Young Tak won the Best Songwriter Award at the Melon Music Awards. He received the Hot Trend Award that night as well.On 10 February 2021, Young Tak released his first single after Mr. Trot. The song is called "Comforter", which he wrote to "warm people's heart during a hard time". Young Tak also dedicated this song to his fandom "My People".
On 25 February 2021, Young Tak appeared on Miss Trot 2 not only as a guest performer, but also as one of the composers for Miss Trot 2 Final: Composer Mission. He wrote "Magnifying Glass" —a dance trot song inspired by the magnifying glass icon that appears when searching a portal site, which was chosen by contestant Byul Sa-rang. Her performance received the second highest score from the masters.
On 14 April 2021, Top 6 member and Mr. Trot finalist Kim Hee-jae's debut single "Follow Me" was released. Composed by Young Tak and Ji Kwang-min as a gift for Heejae, "Follow Me" is said to be the first ever "disco-style Trendy Trot" song, creating a whole new genre of trot and popularizing the term "Trot idol". The song charted immediately and the reviews were positive from both critics and the public.
On 4 July 2021, Young Tak was announced to participate in the lineup for Pepsi x Starship's 2021 Pepsi Taste of Korea Campaign.
On 11 July 2021, Part 7 of Revolutionary Sisters original soundtrack was released, including "Okay" performed by Young Tak. He also participated in composing and writing lyrics for this song. It ranked first on Melon's trot genre chart as soon as it was released, topped the Melon OST Hot Track and acquired high position on Korean music platforms. "Okay" won Outstanding K-Drama OST at the 16th Seoul International Drama Awards, further proving Young Tak's ability as a singer-songwriter.
On 14 October 2021, Korean press reported that Young Tak had produced a semi-trot song for the solo debut of MJ, which features singer Kim Tae-yeon from Miss Trot 2. The song is called "Get Set Yo" and was released on 3 November. With a novel combination of funk and trot, "Get Set Yo" won first place on the South Korean music program The Trot Show on 29 November and became the first trot song produced by Young Tak to do so.