Thinking and Writing: Do You Have Gangnam Style?

Cameron Babcock
TMA 112
01/12/15
Do You Have Gangnam Style?

            “Will you go to church this Sunday?” asks my mission companion to Sister Sandoval. She sits quietly in her living room chair pondering the answer. Right as she is about to reply, her youngest son, who is 5 years old, storms into the room dancing and screaming, “Hey, sexy lady! Oppan Gangnam Style!” This was my first encounter to the song “Gangnam Style” by PSY. I had no idea what this little boy was doing with his hands as he was screaming the lyrics to this song. After returning from my LDS mission in Southern California, I then found out more about this emphatic song and its influence on world culture. The world’s response to the “Gangnam Style” music video is a perfect example to show the power that film has to quick consumerism by reaching a worldwide audience, topping world music charts, and sharing a part of the Korean culture with the world.  

            How quick can a music video reach over one billion views on YouTube? Well, PSY accomplished over one billion views for “Gangnam Style” in six months. The video was posted on YouTube on July 12, 2012 and reached a billion views by December of 2012. The artist, PSY, I believe had no idea that people all over the world would be singing his lyrics and doing his dance moves, but that is how powerful of an impact film can have on societies and cultures. Film can help artists reach an enormous amount of viewers through the popularity of social media and the Internet. At the time that the music video was released, in general, there weren’t many Korean artists well known through out the world. Not many people knew what K-pop was and what Korean music was like. “Gangnam Style” broke that barrier like man walking on the moon.

So many people worldwide knew the song that they would perform flash mobs in certain locations and surprise the people nearby. For example, in Jardins du Trocadéro, Paris, France, on November 5, 2012, there were 20,000 participants performing a flash mob for the song. Also, fived days later, November 10, 2012, in Piazza del Popolo, Rome, Italy, there were 15,000 participants performing a flash mob of “Gangnam Style”. That is not your typical flash mob in the local mall that has thirty teenagers singing or dancing away. The audience views on YouTube increased at such a quick pace that YouTube even broke down for a time because of the bit rate design for holding views. YouTube was under a 32-bit rate and was functioning fine until they had a video reach so many views that plugged the system. Therefore, YouTube now runs with a 64-bit rate integer so it can handle the “Gangnam Style”.

The Korean music charts were not the only charts to have “Gangnam Style” rise to the top. Countries such as Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Australia, France, and the United Kingdom had the song topping the charts at the end of 2012. By topping the music charts, PSY’s income heavily increased because of the audience’s quick response to his video. The advertisements that are involved with the video have earned PSY and his record label at least one million dollars. Also, when have you heard of a Korean artist receiving a record deal from a very popular U.S. record label? Island Records who has artists like Mariah Carey and Justin Bieber offered PSY a record deal on September 4, 2012. PSY obtained success in the music business by performing a high tempo, catchy song, by holding fake reigns of a horse, and dancing his heart out in an interesting Korean way.

As a consumer in the world, I suggest that your average consumer loves it when the product is very popular. The Korean song from PSY that was included in the music video was just that. By the beginning of 2012, I believe the world had been exposed to some Korean music, film, or art but not heavily exposed at all. There might have been a general idea what Korean music was like but not highly listened to by a vast audience. “Gangnam Style” introduced the world to what Korean pop music was like in the time frame of weeks. Korea loved this because now people were inquiring people or the Internet, what is Korea like. My cousin, Michael Babcock, served his LDS mission in Seoul, Korea and returned home in 2012. He mentioned that now because of the song “Gangnam Style” Koreans have felt obligated to like it and know the dance because of the frequency of foreigners asking them about the music video. Good press or bad press for a country is still press, which gives the world an awareness of culture and maybe a glimpse of the society. Because of the popularity of the music video, the world now has a sense of relevancy of pop culture coming from Korea.

            Have you added your view on YouTube to the other 2.2 billion views for “Gangnam Style” by PSY? Have you joined with the quick consumption along with the world? The response is up to you but the world knows how it responded. The worldwide audience, the top world music charts, and the sharing of Korean culture have all been reached by the power of using the medium of film and using a tool such as YouTube. What will be the next music video with over two billion views that the world will consume? We shall see.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangnam_Style#Increased_interest_in_the_Korean_Wave

http://www.soompi.com/2012/09/04/psy-signs-with-u-s-record-label-island-records/

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