South Korean rapper PSY is rapidly becoming a worldwide viral sensation with his hit single “Gangnam Style”. The hit song has EXPLODED since it was uploaded on Youtube, garnering over 195 million views and taking the top spot on the Youtube 100 chart.
Park Jae-sang, aka. PSY, spent his childhood in South Korea and went on to study at both Boston University and Berklee College of Music in the United States.
Don’t think for one second PSY is your average K-Pop artist (Korean-Pop). This rapper is best known for his blunt lyrics, original dance moves and his unusual appearance. He has been dubbed the “Bizarre Singer” throughout Korea due to his unusual style. His name PSY comes from the word “psycho”.
“The thing is, I have special visuals. I’m not like (a) normal entertainer (when it comes to visuals),” PSY told the Associated Press. “That’s why when I dance . it looks different. I have a different body, different shape, different visuals.”
After releasing four albums with an unsuccessful agency, PSY’s wife encourage him to join South Korean record label YG Entertainment. With the backing of YG he released “Gangnum Style” in 2012.
Now with the release of “Gangnam Style” Hollywood celebrities are flocking to record their own parody of the song. Nelly Furtado and Maroon 5 where two of the first to cover the song.
“When I realized that some top stars like have imagined or tweeted about me, I thought, ‘That’s joking. That’s not gonna happen,” PSY told AP. ” I never expect things like this, not because they are top stars, but because this is the biggest market in the universe for pop music, right, so everybody’s dreaming about having appearance in the U.S. so I’m still saying, ‘What going on here? This is beautiful.'”
Thanks to the success of “Gangnum Style” PSY has signed to Scooter Braun’s Schoolboy Records in the United States. Scooter, best known as Justin Bieber’s personal manager, founded the label in 2007 underneath the Universal Republic umbrella. Artists now signed to the Schoolboy roster include Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jespen, Asher Roth and PSY.
The next step for PSY is breaking into the U.S. market which so far seems to not be a problem. The 34-year-old rapper made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend and has begun doing the rounds for the national syndicated morning shows. On the radio side, “Gangnum Style” has climbed its way up to #28 on the Billboard U.S. Top 40 chart and doesn’t look like its slowing down.
Could “Gangnum Style” be the next #1 song in America? You be the judge!
