Gangnam Style
From, the free encyclopedia
See also: Gangnam Style (music video)
| "Gangnam Style" | |||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Psy | |||||||||||||||||
| from the album Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Released | July 15, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||
| Format | |||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2011–2012 | ||||||||||||||||
| Genre | |||||||||||||||||
| Length | 3:39 | ||||||||||||||||
| Label | YG, Universal Republic, School Boy | ||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Park Jae-Sang, Yoo Gun-hyung[4] | ||||||||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Park Jae-Sang, Yoo Gun-hyung,Yang Hyun-suk[5] | ||||||||||||||||
| Psy chronology | |||||||||||||||||
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| "Gangnam Style" | |
| Hangul | 강남스타일 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 江南스타일 |
| Revised Romanization | Gangnam seutail |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kangnam sŭt'ail |
"Gangnam Style" (Korean: 강남스타일, IPA: [kaŋnam sʰɯtʰail]) is the 18th K-pop single by the South Korean musician Psy. The song was released on July 15, 2012, as the lead single of his sixth studio album Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1, and debuted at number one on South Korea's Gaon Chart. On December 21, 2012, "Gangnam Style" became the first YouTube video to reach one billion views.[6] The song's music video has been viewed over 2.2 billion times on YouTube,[7] and has been YouTube's most watched video since November 24, 2012, when it passed the music video for "Baby".[8] On December 1, 2014, YouTube announced that the song had broken the view counter at 2,147,483,647 views, prompting the company to update its software to handle larger numbers.[9]
The phrase "Gangnam Style" is a Korean made-up word 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 have influenced popular culture worldwide since then. "Gangnam Style" received mixed reviews, with praise going to its catchy beat and Psy's amusing dance moves (which themselves have become a phenomenon) in the music video and during live performances in various locations around the world. In September 2012, "Gangnam Style" was recognized by Guinness World Records as the most "liked" video on YouTube. It subsequently wonBest Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards held later that year. It became a source of parodies and reaction videos by many different individuals, groups and organizations.
By the end of 2012, the song had topped the music charts of more than 30 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. As the song continued to rapidly gain popularity and ubiquity, its signature dance moves were attempted by many notable political leaders such as the British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. President Barack Obama, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who hailed it as a "force for world peace".[10] On May 7, 2013, at a bilateral meeting with South Korea's President Park Geun-hye at the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama cited the success of "Gangnam Style" as an example of how people around the world are being "swept up" by the Korean Wave of culture.[11]
Background and release
"Gangnam Style" is a Korean neologism that refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam District[12] of Seoul,[13] 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.[14] Psy likened the Gangnam District to Beverly Hills, California, and said in an interview that he intended in 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 such a high class:[15]
The song talks about "the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild".[17] The song's refrain "오빤 강남 스타일 (Oppan Gangnam style)" has been translated as "Big brother is Gangnam style", with Psy referring to himself.[18][19] During an interview with The New York Times, Psy revealed that the Korean fans have huge 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.[20] Along the way, he had tested various "cheesy" animal-inspired dance moves with his choreographer, including panda and kangaroo moves,[21] 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.[22]
During an interview with Reuters, Psy claimed that "Gangnam Style" was originally produced only for local K-pop fans.[23] On July 11, Psy and his music label YG Entertainment started releasing several promotional teasers for "Gangnam Style" to their subscribers on YouTube.[24][25][26] On July 15, 2012, the full music video of "Gangnam Style" was uploaded onto YouTube and was immediately a sensation, receiving about 500,000 views on its first day.[27] However, 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"[28] being blocked in the country.[29]
K-pop and the Korean Wave
Main articles: K-pop and Korean Wave
According to the news agency Agence France-Presse, the success of "Gangnam Style" could be considered as part of the Korean Wave,[30] a term coined by Chinese journalists to refer to the significant increase in the popularity of South Korean entertainment and culture since the late 1990s.[31]
Korean popular music (K-pop), considered by some to be the most important aspect of the Korean Wave,[32] is a music genre that relies on cultural technology to adapt to the tastes of foreign audiences and has now grown into a popular subculture among teenagers and young adults in many places around the world.[33] Although it has spread to the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and parts of South America,[34] its reception in the Western world has so far been lukewarm.[35] However, social media networks such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have made it easier for K-pop musicians to reach a wider audience in the West.[36] According to Mark James Russell from Foreign Policy, while the Korean Wave "may not (yet) turn heads in Los Angeles or London", this could soon change because of "Gangnam Style".[34]
Reception
Critical reception
The song has received mixed to positive ratings from music critics. Billboard K-Town columnist Jeff Benjamin became one of the first music critics to review the song when he published an article and reported that "Gangnam Style" has gone viral on the Internet. In his article, Benjamin introduced the reader to a couple of popular K-pop songs and wrote that "Gangnam Style" in particular, plays all the right moves sonically while "borrowing from LMFAO along the way".[13]
The next day, 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."[37] London's mayor Boris Johnson considered the song to be the greatest cultural masterpiece of 2012.[38]
Despite its popularity, a few music critics including Robert Copsey from Digital Spy criticized the song for being monotonous. Cospey wrote that "you could slap an LMFAO tag on the cover and few would know the difference"[39] and Paul Lester of The Guardian similarly labelled it as "generic ravey Euro dance with guitars". Lester described the song as "Pump Up the Jammeets the Macarena with a dash of Cotton Eye Joe"[40] while Robert Myers of The Village Voice dismissed "Gangnam Style" as an "inspired piece of silliness".[41]
South Korea and Japan
Cha Woo-jin, a South Korean music critic, told The Chosun Ilbo that "Gangnam Style"'s sophisticated rendering and arrangement has made it very appealing to the general public.[42] Choe Kwang-shik, the South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told reporters that "Gangnam Style" had played an important role in introducing the Korean culture, language, and lifestyle to the rest of the world.[43] However, some have criticized the song for failing to accurately represent South Korean culture. Oh Young-Jin, managing editor of The Korea Times, wrote that the dance has more to do with Americans than Koreans.[44]
In Japan, the song has met with considerable criticism. When "Gangnam Style" first appeared in Japanese TV shows in July, the reaction from viewers was negative. As a result, Psy's Japanese record label YGEX cancelled a previously planned Japanese language re-release of "Gangnam Style".[45] According to The Dong-a Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, the song's lukewarm reception in Japan could have been caused by a diplomatic conflict between the two countries[46] and the newspaper accused the Japanese media of keeping its people "in the dark".[46] However, Jun Takaku of the Japanese daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun explained that "Gangnam Style" had caused "barely a ripple in Japan" because Psy does not conform to the image of other "traditionally polished" K-pop acts popular in Japan such as Girls' Generation and TVXQ.[47] Erica Ho from Time magazine similarly noted that despite the K-pop musical genre being very popular in Japan, the country seemed to be "immune to PSY Mania" and she advised her readers who dislike the song to "pack your bags for Japan".[48]
Immediately after its release, "Gangnam Style" was mentioned by various English-language websites providing coverage of Korean pop culture for international fans, including Allkpop[49] and Soompi.[50] Simon and Martina Stawski, a Canadian couple living in Seoul who were among the first to parody "Gangnam Style" in late July, wrote that the song has the potential to become "one of the biggest songs of the year".[51] However, during an interview with Al Jazeera a few weeks later, Martina Stawski claimed that the worldwide popularity of "Gangnam Style" has been viewed negatively by some K-pop fans, because "they [the fans] didn't want K-pop being liked by other people who don't understand K-Pop".[52][53] This view is also supported by the British journalist and K-pop fan Promi Ferdousi, who wrote that the song has managed to "find its way into our clubs" while the best K-pop songs are limited to niche groups on social media websites.[54]
Live performances
Asia
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Following the release of "Gangnam Style", Psy made several performances on television and at concerts in Korea. Early performances included his appearance on the weekly South Korean music program, The Music Trend.[13] Psy also performed at several concerts prior to his departure to the United States, including during "The Heumbbeok Show"[55] and the Summer Stand Concert in Seoul.[56] After returning to South Korea, Psy performed "Gangnam Style" during a free concert that he held outside the Seoul City Hall. More than 80,000 fans attended the event, leading to the closure of part of the city center and an increase in subway operations.[57][58]While Psy was in the US, it was announced that he, as ambassador of the Formula One Korean Grand Prix, would perform "Gangnam Style" at the event during the 2012 edition.[59] At the event Psy taught Formula One drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel how to perform the dance.[60]
On November 28, Psy visited Thailand and held his concert "Gangnam Style Thailand Extra Live" at the SCG Stadium in Muang Thong Thani, Bangkok. At the show, a part of celebration for the 85th birthday of Thai's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, he performed the song along with his other hits.[61][62] During the 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards held in Hong Kong on November 30, he performed the song on stage, joined by the video's co-star Hyuna and Yoo Jae-Seok look-alikes in yellow suits.[63] The track was one of three-song setlist on Psy's free showcase, held at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on December 1, 2012.[64]
On February 11, 2013, Psy arrived at the Malaysian state of Penang and performed "Gangnam Style" at a concert in front of more than 100,000 guests, including the Prime Minister of Malaysia Mohd Najib Abdul Razak as well as other high-ranking politicians from the country's ruling Barisan Nasional party.[65]
Oceania
In early October 2012, Psy travelled to Sydney, Australia and performed "Gangnam Style" on The X Factor, a reality TV music competition; where he would be joined by Melanie Brown to perform the "horse dance" on stage.[66] The following day, he performed on breakfast TV show Sunrise in Martin Place, Sydney.[67]
Europe
Psy's first public performance in Europe was on November 5, 2012 in France, where he and 20,000 fans danced "Gangnam Style" in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris during a flashmob organized by NRJ Radio.[68] Then, he travelled to Oxford and performed a short rendition of "Gangnam Style" with students from the Oxford Union, before moving on to the Yalding Housein London where he danced "Gangnam Style" with the BBC's radio DJ Scott Mills.[69] Shortly afterwards, Psy left for Cologne and met up with the German comedian and television host Stefan Raab during the popular late-night show TV total, where Psy gave an interview and performed "Gangnam Style" for Raab.[70] During the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards held inFrankfurt on November 11, Psy delivered a performance of "Gangnam Style" which featured a David Hasselhoff appearance and backup dancing of Psy look-alikes.[71]
In early 2013, Psy returned to France for the 2013 NRJ Music Awards at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, where he began performing "Gangnam Style" on the red carpet before finishing the rest of the choreography on stage and leaving the ceremony with 3 awards.[72]
North America
Following the viral success of his music video, Psy left for the United States and performed "Gangnam Style" in various locations. On August 20, Psy posted on Twitter "Bringing #GangnamStyle to the Dodgers–Giants game this evening". Dodger Stadium presented a segment called "Psy Dance Cam" where they showed clips of the music video, followed by live shots of baseball fans dancing, and then Psy, who waves and does the dance.[73] Two days later, Psy appeared on VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live show, and taught television hosts Carrie Keagan and Jason Dundas how to dance "Gangnam Style".[74][75]
On September 6, Psy appeared at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards performing his "Gangnam Style" dance alongside comedian Kevin Hart.[76] After the event, he would make several more appearances on US TV programs. On September 10, he appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in Burbank, California, introducing himself as "Psy from Korea", before teaching Britney Spears the dance. He described the dance as "pretending to bounce like riding on an invisible horse"[77][78][79] and when Ellen told Britney she would have to remove her high-heeled shoes to perform the dance Psy protested that no, the point was, 'to dress classy, and dance cheesy.' On September 14, he appeared on NBC's morning program Today in New York City for its Toyota Concert Series, where he performed the song and also taught the anchors the dance.[80][81] The September 15 season premiere episode of Saturday Night Live featured a sketch based on the song and its video. Bobby Moynihan portrayed Psy, but was joined mid-sketch by Psy himself.[82] He also made his second appearance on The Ellen Show 's September 19 episode to perform the song along with his backup dancers.[83] On September 22, Psy made an appearance at the iHeartRadio Music Festival to perform "Gangnam Style".[84] Psy, dressed in a black jacket, blue pants, two-tone shoes and his signature shades, appeared on the US national TV show The View on October 25 and performed the song for Barbara Walters and the ladies of the show who donned sunglasses and got out of their seats.
On November 13, he joined the American singer-songwriter Madonna on stage during her concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City and they performed a mashup of the song and her 2008 hit "Give It 2 Me". Psy later told reporters that his gig with Madonna had "topped his list of accomplishments".[85][86] On November 18, Psy, who rocked out in traditional Hammer pants, closed out the 40th American Music Awards show with a performance of "Gangnam Style", joined by surprise guest MC Hammer who brought in his own moves and Psy's horse-riding dance as the song mashed into his 1990s hit "2 Legit 2 Quit".[87] Jason Lipshutz of Billboardcommented that "Psy's feverish rendition of 'Gangnam Style' accomplished what so few award show performances can: a palpable sense of excitement. The combination of the K-pop star and MC Hammer...was a stroke of genius that very few could have seen coming", choosing it as the best performance of the night.[88] The Tonight Show with Jay Leno did a special Thanksgiving broadcast with an all-military audience on November 22, and Psy dropped by as the musical guest. The singer sang the song and danced alongside the soldiers, going into the crowd for part of his performance.[89]
Psy performed "Gangnam Style" during the second night of KIIS-FM Jingle Ball concert at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 3, 2012.[90] He―wearing an all-red outfit including a sparkling, sequined top―sang the song at TNT's Christmas in Washington special, attended by the US President Barack Obama and his family, and held at the National Building Museum On December 9.[91] On December 16, he performed the song at the halftime show of the NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks in Toronto.[92] During the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve event at Times Square in Manhattan on December 31, 2012, more than one million people witnessed a live "Gangnam Style" performance by Psy as he was joined on stage by characters (Yoo Jae-Seok, Noh Hong-chul) from the song's video for the first part of the performance, before MC Hammer appeared to perform a mash-up of the song and "2 Legit 2 Quit".[93][94][95]
South America
During the five-day Carnival in Rio attended by more than 5 million people, Psy performed "Gangnam Style" with singers Claudia Leitte and Gilberto Gil to mark the 50th anniversary of Korean immigration to Brazil.[96]
Cultural impact
Main article: Gangnam Style in popular culture
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)".[97] Soon afterwards, it was reported that Psy had left for Los Angeles to meet with representatives of Justin Bieber, to explore collaboration opportunities.[12] 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. [To] 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 School Boy Records.[98]
The music video for the song has gone viral and is an Internet meme.[99] Although Psy attributed the song's popularity to YouTube and his fans while at the same time insisted that he is not responsible for the song's success,[100] the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recognized the singer for "increasing the world's interest in Korea" and announced its decision to award Psy with a 4th Class Order of Cultural Merit.[101]
The phrase "Oppan Gangnam Style" was entered into The Yale Book of Quotations as one of the most famous quotes of 2012.[102]
Social
As the song's popularity continued to rise, it caused the share price of the song's music label YG Entertainment to gain as much as 50% on the Korea Exchange. DI Corporation, whose executive Chairman Park Won-Ho is Psy's father, saw its share price increase by 568.8% within a few months of the song's release despite making a year-over-year loss.[103][104] Soon, "Gangnam Style" began to attract the attention of several business and political leaders, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who recognized the song as a "force for world peace".[10] During his meeting with Psy at the United Nations Headquarters, he commented, "We have tough negotiations in the United Nations. In such a case I was also thinking of playing Gangnam Style-dance so that everybody would stop and dance. Maybe you can bring UN style."[105][106]
| Date | Location | Country | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 6, 2012 | Seoul | South Korea | 15,000[110] |
| October 14, 2012 | Makassar, South Sulawesi | Indonesia | 12,000[111] |
| October 21, 2012 | Piazza del Duomo, Milan | Italy | 20,000[113] |
| November 5, 2012 | Jardins du Trocadéro, Paris | France | 20,000[114] |
| November 10, 2012 | Piazza del Popolo, Rome | Italy | 15,000[115] |
Through social networks like Facebook, many small, unofficial fan-organized flash mobs have been held in universities and colleges throughout the world. The earliest flash mobs were held in Pasadena, California,[107] and Sydney, Australia.[108] On September 12, Times Square in Manhattan was filled with a dance mob dancing to the music of "Gangnam Style" during ABC's Good Morning America.[109] Major flash mobs (those with more than 1,000 participants) were also held in Seoul (South Korea),[110] South Sulawesi (Indonesia),[111] Palermo (Italy), Milan (Italy),[112][113] and Paris (France).[114]
The song has been tweeted by the United Nations,[116] the United Nations Children's Fund,[117] the American space agency NASA,[118] mentioned by a reporter during a U.S. State Department briefing[119] and referenced by the President of the International Criminal Court Song Sang-Hyun during his speech in front of the UN Security Council.[120][121][122] On October 9, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson held a speech at the 2012 Conservative Party Conference where he told the audience that he and the British Prime Minister David Cameron have danced "Gangnam Style".[123] A few days before the conference, they had performed the dance atChequers Court in Buckinghamshire.[124] During a Google Earnings call, Larry Page, the CEO and co-founder of Google, hailed the song as a glimpse of the future of worldwide distribution through YouTube.[125]
The American Council on Exercise estimated that dancing "Gangnam Style" will burn 150–200 calories per half-hour[126] and the song was used by Northampton General Hospital to promote hand washing as part of the 2012 Global Handwashing Day on October 15.[127] Swype, an input method for Android operating systems, included "Gangnam Style" in its list of recognized words and phrases.[128]
U.S. President Barack Obama revealed possible plans to privately perform "Gangnam Style" for his spouse Michelle Obama.[129][130][131][132]
In November 2012, a Maori cultural group from Rotorua performed a version of the Gangnam Style dance mixed with a traditional Maori haka in Seoul, celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations between South Korea and New Zealand.[133]
In Thailand, officials from the Dan Sai municipality in Loei Province shot a video of people wearing masks and performing "Gangnam Style" during the Phi Ta Khon "ghost" festival. According to the Thai newspaper The Nation, villagers and spiritual leaders from Loei province have felt "uneasy" and also "greatly offended" about this "Gangnam Style" performance which tarnishes the image of a 400 year-old tradition.[134] Another controversial incident was sparked by a "Gangnam Style" parody by officers from the Royal Thai Navy, which was not well received by some high-ranking commanders. Although Vice Admiral Tharathorn Kajitsuwan from the Third Naval Area Command insisted that "we had no intention to insult or make fun of navy officers in uniform", some senior officers have called it "improper". Kajitsuwan claimed that his subordinates had the right to upload the video to YouTube, although he did not expect them to do so. On October 1, 2012, he issued an apology to his colleagues. Commander Surasak Rounroengrom believes an investigation is unnecessary because the video caused no damage to the Navy, but he admits that there was some impropriety about military officers doing their "fancy stepping in uniform".[135]
Popular culture
...it has taken over the world,
it has taken over the intrawebs,
and now it's time for it
to take over Times Square.
it has taken over the intrawebs,
and now it's time for it
to take over Times Square.
“
”
Since September 2012, the dance has been performed by athletes in international competitions. These people include Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao,[137] Uruguayan footballer Edinson Cavani,[138] Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic,[139] and Jamaican cricketer Chris Gayle, who danced "Gangnam Style" twice during the West Indies' match against Ireland and then repeated the act during the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 match against England.[140][141] Bangladesh national cricket team also celebrated their ODI series win against West Indies with "Gangnam Style" dance on December 8, 2012.[142]
District3 and Rylan Clark, finalists of the British music competition The X Factor, lip-synced and danced to "Gangnam Style" in a promotion.[143] On September 27, Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google was reported to have danced "Gangnam Style" when he visited the company's office in Seoul. Nick Carbone from Time described it as cringe-worthy because "It's the same reason why you'd never want to see your dad planking on top of the family car".[144] The dance was also shown on the Argentine TV series Graduados, performed by the Argentine-Korean actor Chang Kim Sung.[145] In Fall 2012, a cover version of the song was performed on the Fox TV show Glee in the episode "Thanksgiving".[146]
In mid-September, the Brazilian singer Latino released the song "Despedida de solteiro" (The Bachelor's Party), which is supposed to be a cover of "Gangnam Style". Many felt offended by his disrespectful lyrics,[147] and some have called it a plagiarized copy of "Gangnam Style".[148] While Psy's original lyrics talk about the lifestyle of the Gangnam people, Latino's version is about a man that is enjoying his bachelor's party in a club, wanting (and having) sex with many women, so drunk that he says he does not know if he's really going to get married the next day.[149] Latino had stated that it was an authorized version.[150]
Political and environmental activism
On September 18, 2012, the North Korean government became the first to use "Gangnam Style" for political activism when it uploaded a parody with the title "I'm Yushin style!" onto the government website Uriminzokkiri.[151] The parody mocks the South Korean ruling conservative party presidential-elect Park Geun-hye. It shows a Photoshopped image of the presidential candidate performing the dance moves of "Gangnam Style" and labels her as a devoted admirer of the Yushin system of autocratic rule set up by her father, Park Chung-hee.[152][153] A few weeks later, "草泥马 style" (literally, "Grass Mud Horse Style"),[note 1][154] was uploaded onto YouTube and other Chinese websites by the political activist and dissident Ai Weiwei. In his parody, Ai Weiwei dances "Gangnam Style" with a pair of handcuffs as a symbol of his arrest by Chinese authorities in 2011. According to the Associated Press, government authorities had removed the video from almost all Chinese websites the next day.[154]
South Korean President Park Geun-hye took office on February 25, 2013. At her inauguration Psy performed "Gangnam Style" and "Champion", one of his first hits in his native country.[155]
In order to show his solidarity with Ai Weiwei and to advocate the freedom of expression, the British sculptor Anish Kapoor produced the video Gangnam for Freedom, which features other prominent British artists as well as human rights activists from various international organisations including Index on Censorship and Amnesty International.[156] A few days before, the global grassroots network Students for a Free Tibet had uploaded a parody of "Gangnam Style" to show its support for the Tibetan independence movement. According to Max Fisher from The Washington Post, this parody of "Gangnam Style" was likely to be filmed in Dharamshala, the home of Tibet's government-in-exile in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.[157]
Greenpeace announced that it was "Going Gangnam, Greenpeace Style" in order to raise public awareness about illegal and unsustainable fishing practices off the coast of Mozambique. Activists from Greenpeace had parodied "Gangnam Style" on board the organization's excursion yacht Rainbow Warrior.[158]
Songdo, a ubiquitous city 40 miles (65 km) west of Gangnam, was among five cities vying for the right to host the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a project developed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to channel $100 billion a year from developed countries to help developing countries combat climate change.[159]During its campaign to win the right to host the GCF, the country's Presidential Committee on Green Growth produced a promotional video entitled "GCF Songdo Style by Psy" in which Psy recommends Songdo as the host city for the GCF. He announces that a "new paradigm" will begin at Songdo with the GCF and the video heralds "The beginning of Songdo Style" while "Gangnam Style" plays in the background.[160][161] On October 20, 2012, the Board of the GCF announced that Songdo had won the right to host the fund.[162]
In December 2012, the Department of Health in the Philippines launched a "Gangnam Style" dance campaign against the use of firecrackers to celebrate the New Year.[163] Janine Tugonon, 2012 Miss Universe 1st runner-up, joined and danced on one of their campaign at Pandacan, Manila.[164] According to the Department's Assistant Secretary, Dr. Eric Tayag, the popularity of the song will attract people especially children to use safer means of celebration such as dancing "Gangnam Style".[163] In contrast, the Philippine National Police was confirming intelligence reports about a firecracker named "Gangnam bomb", which supposedly produced by illegal firecracker makers in Bocaue, Bulacan and apparently riding on the popularity of the song.[165] According to Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta, director of the Firearms and Explosives Office of the Philippine National Police, he did not know what the possibly dangerous[166] "Gangnam bomb" looks like.[165]
Muhammad Rahim al Afghani, a close associate of Osama bin Laden currently held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, had also used the song to demonstrate his ability to gain access to popular cultural trends despite being confined within a top secret prison. In a letter to his lawyer, Muhammad wrote, "I like this new song Gangnam Style. I want to do the dance for you but cannot because of my shackles."[167]
Other parodies and covers
Reaction videos and parodies have been made for or with the music respectively. Some of these user generated videos have received international media recognition. "Gangnam Style"-related videos have also been uploaded by the CPDRC Dancing Inmates,[169][170] Cody Simpson,[171] Seungri,[172] Latino,[173] Fine Brothers,[174] Barely Political,[175] and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders.[176]
College campuses have spawned numerous parodies. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's version ("MIT Gangnam Style") featured Donald Sadoway, recognized in Time Magazine as one of 2012 "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World", Eric Lander, who is co-chairman of President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and linguistics pioneer Noam Chomsky.[177][178] In addition, there are parodies from The Ohio University Marching 110,[179] York University,[180] McMaster University,[181] Cornell University,[182] University of Oregon,[182] University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign,[182]Boston University,[183] Dartmouth College,[183] Stanford University[184] Colegio de la Preciosa Sangre de Pichilemu,[185] Eton College,[121] and the University of Michigan.[186]
The American space agency NASA uploaded an educational parody shot by its students at its Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas. The video features cameo appearances by astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Mike Massimino, Michael Coats, Ellen Ochoa, and the International Space Station's Expedition 15 flight engineer Clayton Anderson, who dances "Gangnam Style" halfway through the video.[187][188] Shortly after its upload, the parody was re-tweeted by the European Space Agency[189] and the SETI Institute.[190]
The song was also parodied by cadets from the United States Military Academy,[191][192] United States Merchant Marine Academy,[193] United States Naval Academy,[194][195] United States Air Force Academy,[196] and the Royal Military College of Canada;[197] soldiers from the 210th Fires Brigade, the 2nd Infantry Division, servicemembers from an undisclosed unit and location in Afghanistan,[198] servicemembers from the China Coast Guard's Jiangsu division,[199] 150 officers from the People's Liberation Army Air Force,[200] as well as high-ranking officers from the Royal Thai Navy.[201] CollegeHumor uploaded Mitt Romney Style; whileWhat's Trending uploaded Obama Style.[202] During the two weeks before August 7, nearly 1,000 videos with the word "Gangnam" in the title were uploaded onto YouTube.[27]
Psy parodied his own video of the song, in an advertisement for pistachio nuts during Super Bowl XLVII.[citation needed]
The Portuguese public broadcaster RTP1 spoofed the song in its late-night show 5 Para A Meia-Noite as Gamar com Style, sung by the comedian Pedro "Pacheco" Fernandes, criticizing the Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, the European Union, the IMF and the 2010–13 Portuguese financial crisis.[203]
There are many "Gangnam Style" parodies used for education, similar to "The Elements", a humorous song in which a man recites the elements on the periodic table to a well-known tune. One such parody includes "Conjugation Style", a parody used to teach students about the conjugation of -er verbs in the French language.[204]
Legacy
The success of "Gangnam Style" is a result of the build-up of South Korea's music industry that has been in the works for over 20 years,[205] and it has led to other K-pop artists positioning themselves for a similar breakthrough in the U.S. music industry.[206] Frances Moore, chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, brought up Gangnam Style as an example of how South Korea became one of the "most successful exporters of repertoire".[207]
Increased interest in the Korean Wave
According to the news agency Agence France-Presse, the success of "Gangnam Style" has led to the further rise and spread of the Korean Wave to other countries.[208] As the song continued to attract worldwide media attention, it also led to various broadcasting networks and national newspapers focusing its attention on K-pop and other aspects of Korean culture. For example, The Daily Telegraph published an article recommending its readers to try out everything from K-Pop to "K-Cars", "K-Phones" and "K-Cuisine".[209] The British multinational grocery and retailer Tesco reported that its total sales of Korean food had more than doubled as a result of the popularity of "Gangnam Style".[210] Kim Byoung-gi, the Korean Ambassador toLebanon, wrote that "Gangnam Style" has helped bridge Lebanese and Korean cultures.[211] The French-born political commentator Tim Soutphommasane, a Research fellow at Monash University, agrees that the Gangnam phenomenon is "something worth studying". According to Soutphommasane, the world is only beginning to appreciate Gangnam Style as "part of a broader hallyu cultural wave coming out of the country [South Korea]".[212]
South Korea
In 2012, the South Korean government announced that "Gangnam Style" had brought in $13.4 million to the country’s audio sector, and it subsequently launched a campaign to further expand the K-Pop music industry overseas.[213] According to the Bank of Korea, the country's services account recorded a surplus of USD 2.3 billion in the first nine months of this year, compared to a deficit of USD 4.5 billion last year. This was mainly due to the growing influence and popularity of K-pop songs such as "Gangnam Style".[214] However, the American journalist John Seabrook noted that by "satirizing standard K-pop tropes in Gangnam Style", Psy may have subverted the music genre's chances of making it big in the West.[215]
Music industry
Record executives in the music industry believe that music charts will increasingly be filled with YouTube-driven globalised acts from foreign countries. Sean Carey, a research fellow in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Roehampton, wrote that the flow of popular music will no longer be a single traffic route from North America and Europe to other parts of the globe, but will also move the other way as well.[216] According to Adam Sherwin from The Independent, the global web demand for Gangnam Style had short-circuited the "traditional reluctance" of radio stations to play foreign-language songs.[217] The song is also underlining a shift in how money is being made in the music business.[218] Although Psy earned more than US$60,000 from music sales of "Gangnam Style" in South Korea alone, he and his music label YG Entertainment have raked in almost US$1 million from advertisements which appear on YouTube videos identified for using "Gangnam Style" in its content. The Harvard Business Review published an article written by Kevin Evers, who explained how "Gangnam Style" had changed Billboard's ranking methodology of its music charts. Instead of relying solely on radio plays and paid purchases, Billboard started to place a heavier emphasis on digital sales and YouTube views.[219] As a result of the change, Gangnam Style moved up to the top position of Billboard's Hot Rap Songs music chart.[220] According to the British Phonographic Industry's report based on Official Charts Company sales data, thanks to Psy's song and Carly Rae Jepsen’s "Call Me Maybe," pop became the UK’s favourite musical genre of the year, taking the lion’s share of the singles market (38.5%) in 2012
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