“Gangnam Style” by Psy (2024)

Thus it is partially centered on a female enjoying coffee.This is reportedly an allusion to the fact that some young ladies in Korea feel compelled to buy expensive coffee (via Starbucks) just because doing so is considered to be cool (i.e. costly and classy) in their ‘hood.And in the night said lady transforms from her refined demeanor into something like a party animal. Moreover and perhaps most importantly,she has piqued the romantic interestof the singer.

So in kicking it to her, Psy presents himself as someone with similar qualities, i.e. classy yet wild.Therefore he also enjoys coffee like she does, and as with her his“heart bursts when the night comes”.But being that he is indeed trying to pick her up, there is an element of machismo.So in touting his coffee-drinking skills, he actually exclaims he can down a hot cup in ‘one shot’.

A Pickup Song

But all things considered, this is fundamentally a pickup song.Psy is someone who was known as acomedic entertainereven before this song dropped.So basically he uses the backdrop of liking a lady to also delve into the topic of wannabe-rich people. Indeed the lady herself is apparently one of such individuals.And being interested in her, the vocalist also adopts aGangnam stylewhere he is boasting about things which cannot actually be true.Or put differently, he is representing Gangnam even though he cannot actually afford the swanky lifestyle which the area is famous for.

So in the case of the wanna-be rich, Psy is in fact making fun of them by adopting the personality, from his comic perspective, of a member of that group himself.

But that does not negate the fact that both he and his romantic interest like to get down at night.So even though they may be falsely presenting themselves as rich by drinking pricey coffee, their tendency to enjoy the evenings is very much real.

Music Video

We often talk about how certain songs’ music videos have contributed to them blowing up.There is perhaps no song in history where this is more true than “Gangnam Style”. For instance, it made history itself by actually being thefirst video ever to garner at least one-billion viewson YouTube.This occurred on 21 December 2012.It subsequently went on to also become thefirst to reach two-billion views.

In fact YouTube had tomodify its counterin order to accommodate for all of the views “Gangnam Style” was receiving.But it’s unlikely they will have to do so again. And why? They have now set the maximum number of their counter toover nine quintillion.

Guinness World Records

Earlier in September of that same year, Guinness World Records also declared the video for “Gangnam Style” to be the one with the most likes on YouTube.And it won an MTV Europe Music Award in the category of Best Video, even though Psy is a South Korean artist.

American Celebrities publicly express Love for Video

Amongst the American celebrities who publicly took a liking to the video are Kay Perry, Tom Cruise and Britney Spears.But it is hip-hop artist T-Pain who is recognized asperhaps the firstto have really caught on to the phenomenon, in addition to actuallypromoting it.

Role in making YouTube an important Tool in the Music Industry

This song also helped established YouTube as animportant and powerful toolin the music industry.Under traditional circ*mstances, the artists featured on music videos that blow up on YouTube are already popular in their own right.But this was a case of a singer who was by and large unknown becoming one of the biggest celebrities of 2012 as a direct result of his entertaining clip being featured on the medium.

In fact via “Gangnam Style”, Psy earned more money from YouTube (i.e. associated advertisem*nts) than he did via royalties from the song.

Prominent Celebrities in “Gangnam Style” Music Video

The music video was filmed in Seoul, which is the capitol of South Korea.In fact its director, Cho Soo-hyun, set it within the Gangnam District itself, which is a part of Seoul.

The video features a number of South Korean celebrities.The guy in the yellow suit is a comedian by the name of Yoo Jae-suk.The guy humping the air in the elevator is yet another celebrity and friend of Psy’s, Noh Hongchul. And the young lady dancing in the subway is actually a professional musician, Hyuna, who is a member of a K-pop group called 4Minute. Meanwhile the small boy busting the Michael Jackson-like moves, who was five-years old at the time, is someone named Hwang Min-woo whom Psydiscovered right before shooting the video. Psy discovered him via a short-lived television show entitled “Korea’s Got Talent”.

Horse Dance

The “horse” dance associated with this song became so popular that prominent world leaders took a stab at it.