Gangnam Style!

Teacher, you know Psy? 

Yes, student, I sure do... In fact, I think just about everyone in the world now knows Psy. And if you don't, then let me tell you a little bit about this guy and how the Korean's have reacted to him...

Psy

The guy isn't young, he is mid 30's which for Korean rappers and stars that is basically a dinosaur. He also doesn't have the standard look, as in he looks like a middle aged guy (albeit with a nicely puffed out face and very smooth skin) rather than the super skinny girly looking guys that usually grace the K-Pop charts.

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At somepoint I will do a blog about K-Pop here, it needs its own blog because it is such a huge thing here. More like a strange cult or religion to be honest...

Anyway, Psy is considrered a rapper, which surprised many of my Australia friends when I told them. He has a heap of songs and is a judge on one of those singing talent shows, like X-Factor. The guy is super famous, but it used to be that older Korean people didn't like him much. He is a little bit vulgar for them, and some of his songs are considered offensive. But since he released Gangnam Style they have come round, and pretty much the whole country has gone nuts for him. 

He has an interesting back story, in terms of his personal life which effected his professional life. Now, don't quote me on this because it was a story told to me by one of my co-workers and things may have been lost in translation, but Psy has done 2 separate stints in the military. He served first as a technical of some sort, but did not fill certain requirement. He would have gotten away with it if he wasn't famous, but when people realised that he has skipped out a little bit, his fans were really mad. So he deliberately re-inrolled himself and went back and did another 2 years or something with the Army. So now his fans love him because he is super patriotic. This is a big deal here by the way, if you don't love RoK then you suck and no one likes you.

He is a rich guy and always has been, he grew up in Gangnam and his father was a big shot company man, I think maybe for Hyundai or something...

Anyway, he is signed with YG Entertainment which is one of the 2 biggest music studios in Korea. Others who are with this company are 2NE1 and BIGBANG. There are a heap of other really big names signed with YG.

Gangnam

Gangnam is a very affluent district to the south of the Han River in Seoul. It is the 'Beverly Hills' of Seoul with a lot of 'new money' in the district. All the kids are spoilt and rich, and go to private schools.  It has upmarket clubs and bars and heaps of plastic surgery clinics. I haven't been to Gangnam yet but when I do i will post photos :)

Gangnam is also where many celebrities live and work - the big music studios/produces are here as well as film and t.v. studios. 

The Song

So here is the deal with the song...

Psy is basically poking fun at all the beautiful people who live in this super trendy area. He is saying yes they are rich and beautiful, but they are just like everyone else. Read the song lyrics here

The clip went viral. I was totally shocked when Georgia told me it was something like no. 30 on the I Tunes countdown about a week after I came to Korea. So i was blown away when i heard it was number 1 in Australia, and also in America. WTF! This is K-Pop! And people absolutely love it!!! Psy has been everywhere, all over t.v. in different countries. The video has had millions of views. He is now signed with Justin Beiber's manager in the U.S or something... And I hear he might be performing at Future Music Festival in Australia!

The guy is amazing! And he is super funny too, and is very humble in interviews.

Something that I read on the internet made me laugh... I have been trying to keep up with news from home, and read on some tabloid sight about American's only liking this song because they were mocking it and the poor Korean's don't realise they are being made fun of. For starters, the song is meant to be tongue in cheek anyway, so it is already mocking itself. And Psy meant for it to be funny! The Koreans also know it is a stupid song! Thats why they love it. And as far as whether or not the Korean people know they are being mocked, well, I don't think they would care anyway. If you see knew how badly they tease other countries including America then you would also find this comment funny. 

The upshot?

The upshot is Gangnam Style is a funny song. It still hasn't gotten old here, it is played in every shop, on every radio station, out of every car that drives past and on every commercial. Psy pony dances to mobile phone ads, refrigerator ads and many others. Everyone knows the dance (myself included) and its not weird to dance to it in the street if you hear it come on. Apparently in Melbourne, clubs are playing the song. My sister was out on the weekend and she said it was played twice at Baroq House in the CBD. I asked her if everyone did the 'pony dance' she said no! This would not be tolerated here. You MUST dance to Psy!

My kids danced to it at their sports day (which I still haven't uploaded the video of I am sorry!!!) and it was one of the first things they asked me when I started teaching. 

And I have now seem him live! Well, I was too far away to actually see him but I have been to a Psy concert! Here are some pics from my awesome night last night:

Looking very Korean 

They were taking photos of me so I took photos of them :)

It was funny too, I dunno if it was because of the pink flashing bow I was wearing, or my crazy dancing or my blonde hair but heaps of people came up after and wanted their photo with me. So I might be all over the internet today lol. I got filmed while I was dancing away too.

Gotta love a free concert with one of the biggest starts n Korea performing! 

We all went out after and got messy on soju and beer. It was a super fun night over all... I have had such a good week hanging out with my new friends, learning Korean and just enjoying life. Now all I need is to be paid so I can do the whole thing again for another month! 

I have officially passed my 1 month point (actually I am way over it now but I forgot to blog about it) and I am just hoping that the rest of my time here goes as well as this. Still loving Korea.

xoxoxo