2 on the Billboard's Hot 100 main singles chart. The song made him the first K-pop act to rise to No.
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Unveiled in July 2012, the main track from Psy's sixth full-length album became a global sensation as its comical music video and the singer's trademark horse dance went viral. The feat was achieved three months after the video reached 4.3 billion views. The music video for the song exceeded 4.4 billion streams on YouTube on Thursday, the singer's management agency P Nation said the following day. Grace Ji-Sun Kim is associate professor of doctrinal theology at Moravian Theological Seminary."Gangnam Style," a 2012 global sensation by South Korean singer-rapper Psy, reached another milestone Friday as the song's popularity has continued for more than a decade. Perhaps theologians and pastors can learn from him and find different ways to reach out to the masses with the message to turn from our consumerist lifestyle to a lifestyle that seeks the Creator, not the created. Psy delivers a socioeconomic critique and does so in a catchy, playful way through “Gangnam Style.” He does it with an infectious aesthetic that draws people’s attention and makes them rethink their lives. Filling our lives with material goods does not fulfill us or enrich us. We tithe at the mall and perform the weekly liturgy of “retail therapy.” What seemed like an exciting thing to do has become a mechanical response. We have made consumerism our new religion. Theologians have been arguing that our consumerist and over-consuming lifestyle is empty and unfulfilling. What Psy is doing in this video is similar to what some theologians have been proclaiming for the past 20 years. Psy even says in an interview about the making of his music video that it is all “hollow.” Rather, it may be lonely, meaningless, worthless. It isn’t as wonderful and sumptuous as it is made out to be. When he walks with two beautiful women, they’re not walking the red carpet they’re bombarded by trash.Īlmost every scene is a critique of the lifestyle being celebrated in Gangnam. He doesn’t ride real horses he rides on a merry-go-round. Psy ends up lying on a beach chair, which is actually in a kid’s playground. However, Psy’s video plays on the artificiality of this image. The media has led them to believe that living that lifestyle will be fulfilling and enriching because it appears so for those who appear in advertising. People around the world have seen what it means to live richly, and they secretly desire a piece of that pie. Gangnam has become the most coveted address among Koreans as they strive for this affluence.Īnd Gangnam has become a microcosm for the rest of the world to examine, critique and evaluate. The women tend to look similar with their surgically enhanced faces and bodies. They dress in designer clothes, wear designer shoes and carry name-brand handbags. People in Gangnam live an opulent, over-the-top lifestyle. Gangnam, a neighborhood south of the river in Seoul, has skyrocketed in the number of rich people residing there. Now it is the most highly developed part of the city. Thirty years ago, it was the least developed part of Seoul. It’s smaller, relatively, than Manhattan, but larger than “midtown Manhattan.” Gangnam is a large, affluent district in Seoul, South Korea. I would say it is the subversive message of the song that keeps people watching, dancing, singing, reflecting and writing.
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What Psy does so cleverly in the fast-paced, entertaining song and music video is provide a socioeconomic representation of rich people’s lifestyle in Gangnam, Korea. However, there is something more that draws people to hear and watch “Gangnam Style” – and it may be the message within in the song. The video is entertaining and theatrical.
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Surely the music is upbeat it’s good to dance and exercise to. So many are asking the question, “Why all the crazy attraction now?” He performs live concerts all over Korea. He has appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Today” and “Saturday Night Live” among others. He has been well received in Korea since 2001, but in 2012 he has broken out in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. Psy (Park Jae-sang) has been singing and performing for the past 11 years without any attention outside of Korea. It now holds the Guinness World Record for “most liked” video. Psy’s video has drawn mass attention by Americans and those in the Western world. It is entertaining even if you do not speak or understand Korean. It has lots of color, action, comedy and scene changes. The music video “Gangnam Style” is mesmerizing and addictive.