When it comes to judging contestants on SBS‘s ‘K-Pop Star‘, J.Y. Park and Yang Hyun Suk have demonstrated that they’re complete opposites in terms of their musical tastes and thinking processes.
Episode five brought another obvious example of their contrasting musical style. The episode kicked off with contestant Baek Ah Yeon‘s cover of Kim Gun Mo‘s ‘Beautiful Goodbye‘. Despite having a sore throat and cold that day, Baek Ah Yeon performed the song with her usual soft and soothing voice.
Afterwards, she received opposite reviews from J.Y. Park and Yang Hyun Suk. Park was harsh as he said, “Out of the three performances you’ve done, this one was the worst. You were so nervous that you weren’t confident in playing the keyboard, which in turn had you rushing to be in sync with your singing. You weren’t thinking about the pitches when you were singing. You only came back to attention at the end, where you correctly sang one pitch.”
But Yang Hyun Suk disagreed. “J.Y. Park said that this was the worst out of your three performances, but I think you did well. This might have been a bad performance considering your real potential, but since you’re so good… Regardless of what song or where you sing, the fact that you’re good at singing doesn’t change.”
As he listened to Yang Hyun Suk’s comment, a perplexed look crossed J.Y. Park’s face, as if he couldn’t understanding Yang’s reasoning at all.
Baek Ah Yeon’s performance wasn’t the only platform of disagreement between the two producers. There were numerous auditions afterwards where Park would comment, “That was terrible” to which YG would respond, “I loved it!“, causing Park to glare at Yang a couple of times throughout the show.