K-pop star Sandara Park announces partnership with David Yong’s Power Entertainment in Singapore
The veteran K-pop idol will be working with the Singapore-based agency on opportunities and projects throughout Southeast Asia.
From left: Power Entertainment representative David Yong and South Korean singer Sandara Park at a press conference announcing their partnership. (Photo: CNA/Hazeeq Sukri)
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She was first the darling of the Philippines. Then, she ruled over the K-pop world as a member of the iconic 2NE1. Now, South Korean singer Sandara Park, 41, has set her sights on Southeast Asia.
Park announced on Thursday (Jul 16) that she is partnering with Singapore-based entertainment company Power Entertainment on projects throughout Southeast Asia.
During a press conference attended by CNA Lifestyle, Park said that she’s “changed a lot” since her last visit to Singapore.
Opting to speak in Korean – despite being fluent in English – so that she could “express more”, the Kiss singer recalled: “In the past, I was more focused on how to express what the producer made for me on stage.
“But now, I’m doing more like composing songs and producing my album. The biggest homework I’m focusing on is ‘How can I deliver the message that I want to tell to my fans through my music?’”
To that effect, Park chose to partner with Power Entertainment, an agency represented by Singaporean businessman David Yong, who gained prominence after appearing in the Netflix show Super Rich In Korea.
Yong is also the chief executive officer of Evergreen Group Holdings and currently contesting legal charges related to the multinational business and holding company.
The two first connected through the inaugural Waterbomb Singapore music festival in 2024, which featured Park as one of the performing acts. At the time, Yong was the co-organiser of the festival.
“Ever since then, I’ve been looking forward to great performances [like that]” she said.
In addition to Power Entertainment, Park also plans to work with three unnamed partners in the future for other regions.
“With these partners, I’m hoping to achieve localisation and go closer to local fans and give a better experience…I’m really excited,” she elaborated.
For Park, her vision for this “better experience” is one where she provides “an experience that highlights the culture and characteristics” of each region and country, instead of “everyone experiencing the same concert or content”.
Switching to English, she added: “For example, I was born in Korea, but I grew up in the Philippines. There’s a difference [when I’m in each country].
“In Korea, I’m [formal], but in the Philippines, I’m a comedian. The culture is different.”
She explained further: “Because of my experience, because I have different ways of expressing myself in different cultures, I feel like I can adapt to diverse languages, cultures and people. It became who I am.
“From now on, as a soloist, I want to create more close experiences with local fans that we both can feel empathetic to.”
As such, Park stressed that the roles of Power Entertainment and her future undisclosed partners are “really crucial” as her dreams and goals can only be achieved if she works together with people who “know local fans the most”.
One of the upcoming works she has with Power Entertainment is a meet-and-greet session at Orchard Central on Friday (Jul 17), which will feature a hi-bye session and group photo opportunity for selected shoppers.
Beyond that, Yong said that Power Entertainment will focus on working with Park’s agency, Aradnas, to “expand in Southeast Asia and let Sandara have more activities”.
On the music front, Park recently released her new single Reprism, featuring the tracks Festival (Reprism Ver) and Nail, both of which she composed and penned the lyrics for.
Speaking with CNA Lifestyle after the press conference, Park said that self-producing her own album was something that excited her the most creatively, despite it being a “big challenge”.
“The [past] songs [I sang] felt like the stories of other people…But this time, while I was preparing my own Korean fan concert [in early July], I was actively participating,” she mused.
“So even though I’m quite slow compared to my other friends but because of that, I feel there are so many stories that are piled up for the past 20 years.”
The runaway success of 2NE1’s recent reunion tour proved that Park is still a force to be reckoned with. Nonetheless, Park admitted that her definition of success “has changed drastically” over the years.
“Maybe it’s because of my age or years of experience. But when I first debuted, the ranking [of my songs] was a really important point of success.
“Not only in Korea, but also in the Philippines, and ever since I debuted as 2NE1, I received so much love and I’ve always been getting number one in the rankings. So that’s probably why I felt that way,” she elaborated.
“But as you live on, you will not always be number one. After working for such a long time, I realised that being active itself is very precious to me.
“The fact that I can constantly challenge [myself] and be diligent and do the things that I love, that’s something I realised is really valuable.”
Source: CNA/hq
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