K-POP: With the advent of PSY’s latest music video “Gangnam Style,” Korean Pop, or Hallyu, has entered the mainstream music scene of the U.S.
By Isabel De La Garza, Senior Writer
PSY (Jae-Sang Park) published the music video for his song “Gangnam Style” on July 15, 2012. The video—which has gained popularity in not only Korea but also in Gangnam’s sister city, Riverside—is renowned for its numerous comedic elements, Korean celebrity cameos, catchy beat and, of course, its signature horse-riding dance. “Gangnam Style” has soared to over 278 million views in 11 weeks and is collectively worth over 10 million U.S dollars (according to YouTube and the Busan Ilbo, a Korean newspaper, respectively).
Although on the surface the lyrics may seem superficial, they serve a deeper purpose of satirizing many elements of South Korean culture. The video has spawned a mass of memes, artwork, parodies and reaction videos. The video has also gathered an equal amount of interest in PSY from other nations as well as those on the Asian continent, according to YouTube. As a result, PSY has received numerous reviews and interviews by entities ranging from U.S. celebrities such as T-Pain, Nelly Furtado, Josh Groban and Katy Perry to prominent news sources such as The Huffington Post, ABC News, CNN and The Wallstreet Journal, and his song is even featured on U.S. radio stations.
PSY recently signed with Schoolboy Records, which also manages Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen, thereby becoming the first Korean artist to sign with the agency. In addition to coming to the U.S. to sign with Schoolboy Records, PSY has also made a few guest appearances in America, including those at Dodger Stadium and the MTV Music Awards.
All this popularity begs the question: will K-pop become more mainstream in America? All the signs point to yes. K-pop has fared surprisingly well in America, though it is not quite part of the mainstream yet. In 2011, SM Town Live Tour ’10: New York, at Madison Square Garden (which featured groups such as SHINee, Super Junior, Girl’s Generation (a.k.a. SNSD), f(x) and TVXQ!), sold out almost immediately. Additionally, in 2012 FT Island and CN Blue’s Collaboration show at Nokia Theatre sold out within almost an hour of the ticket sales. One of the most recent U.S. K-pop concerts, SM Town Live Tour III: Los Angeles, which occurred this past May, featured seven musical artists including new boy group EXO. The concert was just as popular as the previous two concerts, further implying that K-pop is rising to fame in the U.S.
Even though all the above-mentioned concerts were dominated by U.S.’s K-pop fandom, many concerts such as 2NE1’s most recent concert in L.A. on August 29, were attended mostly by K-pop fans. 2NE1 is a great example of a K-pop group that managed to pique the interest of some Americans who did not listen to K-pop. It, like PSY, has received recognition from American celebrities such as will.i.am and Perez Hilton, and is even being featured on Dance Central 3.
Although media coverage and blurbs about K-pop have been in America since before 2009, with the debuts of Se7en, the Wonder Girls and of course 2NE1, no other artist or song has promoted K-pop in the U.S. quite as effectively as PSY’s “Gangnam Style.” His video has led a lot of Americans to actually look into K-pop in general, increasing its chances for U.S. success exponentially, especially since many groups are looking to debut in the U.S. as soon as 2013.
K-pop was bound to enter the mainstream U.S. musical scene eventually as each K-pop video has at least one million views on YouTube. But it needed a little push, which PSY seems to have happily provided.
Courtesy of cuteinkorea.com