What is Gangnam Style? ( highlighting Singapore Parody versions)

Thursday, October 04, 2012 Anonymous 3 Comments

Happy Thursday everyone.

For those of you who have heard the term " Gangnam Style" or perhaps been exposed to this term on the net but have no inkling what this means, this post's for you. It's such a craze taking over much of tweets and discussions on popular forums and social media platforms.

So what is " Gangnam Style"? It's actually a single recently released by a South Korean Rapper - Psy on 15 July 2012 which was from his 6th Studio album " Psy's Best 6th Part 1". It's been in the running of No.1 in the national record chart of South Korea and as of 3 Oct 2012, it has been viewed 357 million times on Youtube. Flash mobs have been staged around the world since it's discovery and numerous parodies including one of Mitt Romney has been done on this famous dance style.

Hollywood celebrities like Katy Perry, Britney Spears and Tom Cruise has shared it on Social Media sites and its been also covered by music artistes like Nelly Furtado and Maroon 5. Simon Cowell even comments it  as " amazing" on the Ellen Degeneres show. Gaining widespread popularity in such a short frame of time, international media such as CNN, Financial Times and Sky News has also covered it in their news updates. Even the Guinness Book of Records has recognised it as the most " Liked" Youtube Video in history.

Enough said of it's popularity, this is what " Gangnam Style" actually means. " Gangnam" is a wealthy South Korean neighbourhood where people often go to party. Therefore this song/ single describes the kind of guy that " Psy"( the artiste) is and the type of girl he is looking for. The different scenarios in his video highlights and caricatures the ostentatious culture of the people who hang out in Gangnam. From a social political point of view, it's a message about the " class" system in South Korea.

Your next question is probably " What does the signature lyric - Oppa Gangnam Style mean"? Oppa is used as a term to describe himself ( Psy) as having the Gangnam style and therefore be attractive to the type of women who hang out in that area. As you can also see from the videos attached the signature dance move is one of " horse riding". Again the implication here is that Horse Riding is often a sport associated with the wealthy and only for the rich and famous. Psy is therefore taking a jest out of this by turning this sport/ action into a hilarious dance move.

Finally how do pronounce the artiste's name " Psy". Well it's meant to be short for " Psycho" hence pronounced like " Sigh".

So enjoy the videos attached and go " Gangnam Style"!!


Love,
Simone