Gangnam Style

September 17, 2012

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Gangnam Style (강남 스타일) is a 2012 dance pop single written and performed by Korean pop singer Park Jae Sung, better known by his stage name PSY. Since the release of the song and its highly entertaining music video in mid-July 2012, the video has gained more than 8 million views in the span of two weeks and spawned numerous parodies and copycat dance videos on YouTube.

Origin

The song “Gangnam Style” was written and recorded as the title single of the sixth studio album PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part 1 by Korean singer PSY, who is best known for his quick-witted sense of humor and comical dance moves. The song was released on July 15th, 2012, along with the music video which made its online debut via PSY’s official YouTube channel on the same day.

Upon its release, the song took off on virtually all Korean billboard charts, portal search sites and online music stores, but it began garnering international attention after the video went viral on YouTube during the third week of July 2012.

The Horse Dance

The mass appeal of the music video has been attributed to its signature dance move known as “the horse-riding dance,” which combines the stylistic elements of shuffle dancing and hand movements resembling the posture of a horseback rider. During its onset, speculations arose in the Korean internet communities that the dance may have been pioneered a year earlier by a Korean pop group Girls’ Day in their 2011 debut single Tilting Head. However, PSY later revealed in interviews that he came up with the dance during a talent contest at a post-concert event in August 2011.

PSY Doing the “Horse Riding Dance” in “Gangnam Style” M/V

Lyrics

Romanized: Oppan gang-namseutayil Kang-namseutayil Naje-neun ttasaroun inkanjeo-gin yeoja Keopi hanjanye yeoyureuraneun pumkyeok i-nneun yeoja Bami omyeon shimjangi tteugeowojineun yeoja Keureon banjeon i-nneun yeoja Naneun sana-i Naje-neun neomankeum ttasaroun geureon sana-i Keopi shikgido jeone wonsyas ttaerineun sana-i Bami omyeon shimjangi teojyeobeorineun sana-i Keureon sana-i Areumdawo sarangseureowo Keurae neo hey keurae baro neo hey Areumdawo sarangseureowo Keurae neo hey keurae baro neo hey Chigeumbu-teo kal dekkaji kabol-kka

English Translation: Oppa’s Gangnam style Gangnam style A girl who is warm and graceful during the day A classy girl who knows how to enjoy a cup of coffee A girl whose heart gets hotter when night comes A girl with that kind of twist I’m a guy A guy who is as warm as you during the day A guy who downs his coffee before it cools down A guy whose heart bursts when night comes That kind of guy Beautiful, loveable Yes you, hey, yes you, hey Beautiful, loveable Yes you, hey, yes you, hey Now let’s go until the end

Terminology

“Gangnam Style” is a Korean neologism referring to the upscale fashion and lavish lifestyle associated with trendsetters in Seoul’s Gangnam district (강남), which is considered the most affluent part of the metropolitan area. In colloquial usage, it is comparable to the English slang terms “swag” or “yolo”.

Spread

The video earned the title of “viral video” within days after its release and received intensive coverage from various English-language music blogs and K-POP news sites like AllKPop, KPopStars and KoreaBoo, as well as other regional Asian news sites including Yahoo! Philippines News and New Zealand music sites Mai FM and George FM. In the following weeks, the music video picked up notable mentions from internet humor and pop music sites, from Gawker, BuzzFeed and FunnyJunk to Metafilter and PopDust among others.

By the first week of August, PSY’s Gangnam Style had been praised as a viral YouTube sensation by major U.S. news outlets like CNN, ABC News and The Wall Street Journal, further boosting the viral momentum of his music video. In addition, the song’s chorus hook “Oppan Gangnam Style” quickly became an in-joke among the English-speaking audiences for its misheard lyrics erroneously referred to as “Open Condom Style” or “Open Gundam Style,” which also went onto inspire several image macros and top-voted comments on the YouTube video page.

Celebrity Endorsements

Between late July and early August, the song picked up numerous endorsements from high-profile celebrities and musicians on Twitter, including British pop singer Robbie Williams, American rapper T-Pain and American singer Josh Groban. Weeks later in mid-August, Korean and U.S. news outlets reported on a rumor that Justin Bieber has also shown interest in PSY’s work and a potential between the two singers was in progress.

Reaction Videos

Meanwhile on YouTube, viewers began uploading their reaction videos to the bizarre music video, praising it as a prime example of “Asian WTF humor” that has proven to fare well in the Western blogosphere. The YouTube community’s reaction to the music video in turn led to extensive coverage and analysis of its international popularity in the Korean news media, bringing hundreds of thousands of views to some of the most notable response videos. All three videos shown below received over 40,000 views within the first week of upload.

^{source : http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gangnam-style}

Tag : Music, People