“Gangnam Style” by PSY

song info

    “Gangnam Style” by PSY (official video) is a Korean K-Pop song.

    
    U.S. Billboard Hot 100: #19, down from last week #18, down from previous week #11 (eleven), down from previous week #10 (ten), down from previous week #5 (five) with a bullet, Digital Gainer, up from #7 (seven), 16 weeks on chart, peak #2 (two)
    Pop: #38, missing week, #32, missing week, #24, down from #19, 15 weeks on chart, peak #10 (ten)
    Dance/Club Play: off chart, #35, missing week, #16, up from #17, 13 weeks on chart, peak #3 (three)
    Rap: #3 (three), last week #3 (three), down from previous week #2 (two), previous week #2 (two), 13 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    Radio Songs: off chart, #72, missing week, #49, down from #41, peak #12 (twelve)
    Digital Songs: #8 (eight), up from last week #9 (nine), down from previous week #6 (six), down from previous week #2 (two), down from previous week #1 (one), 18 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    On-Demand Songs: #8 (eight), last week #8 (eight), down from previous week #6 (six), down from previous week #2 (two), 15 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    Ringtones: #1 (one), last week #1 (one), previous week #1 (one) with a bullet, previous week #1 (one), 14 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    Latin Airplay: #25 with a bullet, up from last week #27, down from previous week #17, previous week #17, down from previous week #11 (eleven), previous #11 (eleven), 13 weeks on chart, peak #10 (ten)
    Latin Pop: #6 (six), down from last week #5 (five), previous week #5 (five), down from previous week #4 (four), 13 weeks on chart, peak #2 (two)
    Canadian Hot 100: #10 (ten), up from last week #12 (twelve), down from previous week #9 (nine), down from previous week #5 (five), 18 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    Korean K-Pop: #38, down from last week #36, up from previous week #43, down from previous week #36, 24 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    United Kingdom: #6 (six), up from last week #9 (nine), previous week #9 (nine), down from previous week #8 (eight), 14 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    Germany: #2 (two), up from last week #3 (three), down from previous week #2 (two), previous week #2 (two), 13 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    France: #2 (two), up from last week #3 (three), up from previous week #4 (four), down from previous week #3 (three), 13 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    YouTube: #1 (one), last week #1 (one), previous week #1 (one), previous week #1 (one), 20 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one) [currently holds the record for most views on YouTube]
     Billboard information for the week of Jan 5, 2013
     Billboard chart listings courtesy of Billboard Magazine

link to the static song information page for this song:
http://www.thissideofsanity.com/music/songs/ga/gangnamstyle.php

    Summary quotation from Wikipedia:

    “Gangnam Style” is a single by the South Korean pop artist PSY. The song was released on July 15, 2012, as the lead single of his sixth studio album PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part 1. “Gangnam Style” debuted at number one on the Gaon Chart, the national record chart of South Korea. As of October 31, 2012 (2012 -10-31), the music video has been viewed over 610 million times on YouTube, and is the site’s second most watched video and most watched K-pop video.

    The phrase “Gangnam Style” is a Korean neologism that refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam district of Seoul. The song and its accompanying music video went viral in August 2012 and has influenced popular culture since then. “Gangnam Style” is considered by some to be a worldwide phenomenon, while others have praised “Gangnam Style” for its catchy beat and PSY’s amusing dance moves in the music video and during live performances. On September 17, the song was nominated for Best Video at the upcoming 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards to be held in Frankfurt, Germany. On September 20, 2012, “Gangnam Style” was recognized by Guinness World Records as the most “liked” video in YouTube history.

    The music video has become a source of parodies and reaction videos by many different groups including The Oregon Duck, midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy, and the North Korean government. PSY has brought the “Gangnam Style” dance to various locations such as The Today Show, Saturday Night Live, Dodger Stadium, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Samsung commercials. By the end of October 2012, the song reached the number one position in 33 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, becoming the first K-pop song to achieve that feat. Although “Gangnam Style”s reception in Japan remained lukewarm, the song topped China’s Baidu 500 download list and was labelled by state-controlled media as a “divine melody”.

    As the song continued to gain popularity, a few prominent figures outside of the sports and entertainment industry appeared in various notable “Gangnam Style” parodies, such as the civil rights activist John Lewis, the Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, the mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat, the American political philosopher Noam Chomsky, and Inri Cristo, a self-proclaimed reincarnation of Jesus Christ. It was also referenced by Song Sang-Hyun, the President of the International Criminal Court, during his speech in front of the UN Security Council. In addition, “Gangnam Style”s dance moves have been performed by business and political leaders including Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt, the British Prime Minister David Cameron, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who hailed “Gangnam Style” as a “force for world peace”.

Background

    “Gangnam Style” is a Korean neologism that refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam district of Seoul, where people are trendy, hip and exude a certain supposed “class”. The term was listed in Time’s weekly vocabulary list as a manner associated with lavish lifestyles in Seoul’s Gangnam district. PSY likened the Gangnam District to Beverly Hills, California, and said in an interview that he intended a twisted sense of humor by claiming himself to be “Gangnam Style” when everything about the song, dance, looks, and the music video is far from being high class.

    People who are actually from Gangnam never proclaim that they are—it’s only the posers and wannabes that put on these airs and say that they are “Gangnam Style”—so this song is actually poking fun at those kinds of people who are trying so hard to be something that they’re not. —PSY

    The song talks about “the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild.” The song’s refrain “(Oppan Gangnam style)” has been translated as “Big brother is Gangnam style”, with PSY referring to himself; “Oppa”, a Korean expression used by females to refer to an older male friend or older brother, is also used by K-Pop fans to address their K-Pop idols.

    During an interview with The New York Times, PSY revealed that his Korean fans have very large expectations about his dancing, so he felt a lot of pressure. In order to keep up with expectations, he studied hard to find something new and stayed up late for about 30 nights to come up with the “Gangnam Style” dance. Along the way, he had tested various “cheesy” animal-inspired dance moves with his choreographer, including panda and kangaroo moves, before settling for the horse trot, which involves pretending to ride a horse, alternately holding the reins and spinning a lasso, and moving into a legs-shuffling side gallop.

Music video

Synopsis

    PSY is lounging at what looks like a sandy beach, but the camera zooms out to reveal he is actually at a playground. The video alternates between the playground, where a boy (Hwang Min-Woo) dances next to him, and a row of horses in stalls, where PSY performs his signature “invisible horse dance”. As PSY (and two girls) walk through a parking garage, they are pelted by pieces of newspaper, trash, and snow. At a sauna, he rests his head on a man’s shoulder, while another man covered in tattoos is stretching. He sings in front of two men playing chess, dances with a woman at a tennis court, and bounces around on a tour bus of seniors. The scenes alternate quickly until there is an explosion at the chess players. PSY walks towards the camera, exclaiming “Oppan Gangnam style”. He and some dancers perform at a horse stable. He dances as two women walk backwards. He dances at the tennis court, a carousel, and the tour bus. He shuffles into an outdoor yoga session. He dances on a boat. The camera zooms on a woman’s buttock, then shows PSY “yelling” at it.

    At a parking lot, PSY is approached by a man (Yoo Jae-Suk) with a red Mercedes-Benz SLK and a yellow suit; they have a dance duel. He then appears in an elevator underneath a man (Noh Hongchul) who is straddling him and thrusting his pelvis. The man in the yellow suit gets in his car and leaves. In a subway cabin, he notices an attractive young woman (Hyuna) dancing. At one of the train stops, he approaches the girl in slow motion, and she does the same. Both scenes alternate quickly till they start to embrace. He then tells the girl “Oppan Gangnam style”, and they horse dance along with some others at the train stop. He also surfaces from a spa and horse dance across a pedestrian crossing.

    PSY sings to the girl at a night club as people in all sorts of costumes walk behind them. He raps “seriously” in an enclosed space, but when the camera zooms out, he is actually sitting on a toilet with his pants down. PSY and a large group of dancers do the horse dance and strike a final pose. After some additional footage of the dance duel, PSY says, “Oppan Gangnam style”, and the video finishes with a cartoon graphic.

Production

    The music video shows PSY performing a comical horse-riding dance and appearing in unexpected locations around the Gangnam District, such as an outdoor yoga session and a hot tub. He wears several distinctive suits and black sunglasses with a mindset of “dress classy and dance cheesy”. It features a “skewering [of] the Gangnam image” by the “non-Gangnam PSY”; this parody would be recognizable to viewers familiar with Korean culture. Although there are more than ten different locations featured, only two of the scenes are actually filmed in the Gangnam district. The sauna scene, elevator scene and bathroom scene were filmed elsewhere in the greater Seoul region. The video was shot over 48 hours in July.

    In K-pop, it is routine to have cameos by celebrities in a music video, such as in the dance scenes in the elevator and the parking garage. Making appearances in the music video are:

• 4minute member Hyuna playing PSY’s love interest and appearing in the two final dance sequences.
• Big Bang members Daesung and Seungri appear in the video as two old men playing a board game in the park; they are the two men flying in the background after the explosion.
• Hwang Min-woo, a 5-year-old boy who is seen dancing at the beginning of the video. During an interview with CNN, PSY stated that “the night before the music video shoot, I was watching Korea’s Got Talent and saw him dance to Michael Jackson. His moves were ridiculous. So we called him up and asked him to be in the music video, which was shooting the very next day, and he came and it all worked out.” He has been praised for his eye-catching dance moves that have received a lot of attention from viewers.
• Comedian/television personality, Korea’s Nation emcee Yoo Jae-Suk, in a dance duel with PSY.
• Comedian/television personality, No Hongchul, dancing in an elevator with his trademark pelvis-thrusting, with PSY rapping underneath him.

    The music was composed by PSY and Yoo Gun-hyung, a producer in South Korea who has also collaborated with PSY in the past. Yoo also arranged the song while PSY was responsible for the lyrics. According to The Guardian, PSY has waived his copyright to the music video. Although this has not been officially confirmed, Arwa Mahdawi of The Guardian reported it was likely that PSY had simply refrained from taking legal action against parodies of his video. “Gangnam Style” is therefore a video that is “born to spawn”.

Release and reception

    On July 15, 2012, the music video for “Gangnam Style” was uploaded onto YouTube and received about 500,000 views on its first day. In mid-August 2012, “Gangnam Style” began to catch the attention of broadcasting networks and newspapers around the world. Maura Judkis from The Washington Post wrote, “’Gangnam Style’ has made an extraordinarily stupid-looking dance move suddenly cool”.

    Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, claims that the seemingly bad elements of “Gangnam Style” all come together to create an awesome whole. In Germany, an ongoing dispute between YouTube and the GEMA (the country’s performance rights organization) regarding copyright issues has led to thousands of music videos, including “Gangnam Style”, being blocked in the country.

Impact

    After the release of “Gangnam Style”, the American talent manager Scooter Braun, who discovered Justin Bieber on YouTube, asked on Twitter “How did I not sign this guy (Psy)”. Soon afterwards, it was reported that PSY had left for Los Angeles to meet with representatives of Justin Bieber, to explore collaboration opportunities. On September 3, Braun made a public announcement that was later uploaded onto YouTube, saying that he and PSY have decided to “make some history together. be the first Korean artist to break a big record in the United States.” On September 4, it was confirmed that PSY was signed to Braun’s Schoolboy Records.

    The music video for the song has gone viral and is an Internet meme. Hallie Sekoff of The Huffington Post quoted from the video’s official YouTube video description that the song is characterized by its “strongly addictive beats”, and wrote that this is not too far-fetched, considering “how obsessed we’ve found ourselves.” Melissa Locker of Time noted that “it’s hard not to watch again …and again …and again”, while CNN reporter Shanon Cook told the audience that she had watched “Gangnam Style” about 15 times. As of September 28, 2012, the song’s YouTube music video had been accessed by people from 222 countries.

—from Wikipedia (the Wikipedia:Text of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License applies to Wikipedia’s block of text and possible accompanying picture, along with any alterations, transformations, and/or building upon Wikipedia’s original text that ThisSideofSanity.com applied to this block of text)

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