Horse-dancing from the Korean song, “Gangnam Style” has gone wild internationally. From topping the United States music video charts to dancing with Google chairman (Eric Schmidt), the mastermind behind this trendy style of dancing is Psy.
Psy is a singer, rapper, and songwriter. He debuted in 2001 with the song “Bird”, and ever since he has been throwing fun, party songs out to Korea. Psy was known as a rookie hip – hopper and he soared like a bird at the #1 spot on multiple Korean music charts. In 2002, he made a comeback with the album “Ssa2”. It was given a rating of 19+ so many of the youth couldn’t listen to the album. With his third album, “3PSY”, Psy came back with a great party song called “Champion”. Unfortunately, due to the mandatory military service in Korea, Psy had to stop his artistic activities in 2003.
Even though he was serving his country, Psy continued to be a star. He wrote a romantic song for his friend, and junior, Lee Seung Gi. “Because You’re My Girl” became a hit and later in the year, Psy was awarded formally. In 2004, he was awarded with the 15th Seoul Music Award, Best Lyricist Virtual, SBS Gayo Songwriter of the Year, and yet another from Mnet KM Music Festival Best Male Solo Artist. Even with all of his amazing accomplishments, he still had difficulties. His self-managed company was financially struggling. Due to this, he was re-drafted into the Korean military service.
After serving his country for another term, Psy transferred to YG Entertainment. YG’s CEO was his friend, Yang Hyun Suk. In 2010, he made his comeback with the song “Right Now” which was a song that just made people want to dance right where they were. Now, Psy’s main success is the hit single “Gangnam Style”. This song hit the jackpot both in Korea and internationally. Psy’s successful hit gained the approval from Koreans that Psy was still the talented hip hop rookie they first met in 2001. The rest of the world learned about the spectacular abilities of Psy. Even international stars like Britney Spears, Nelly Furtado, and The Wanted danced along to this crazy party song.
With the hit single “Gangnam Style” Psy received a lot of love and attention. His music video became the most liked video in YouTube history. Psy also made history in Korea. He became the first Korean artist to rank at the #1 spot on the US iTunes MV charts. He also grabbed the #2 spot on the Billboard’s Hot 100 charts. He tweeted (@psy_oppa) his excitement at reaching over 200 million views on YouTube, as well as dancing with the Google chairman Eric Schmidt. Even with all of this happening, he signed with Justin Bieber’s label Island Records.
After three months, this song is fresh to the public. People still listen to it. It holds the #2 place on the billboards. You better “Gangnam Style” your way to the laptop and watch Psy’s awesome music video for “Gangnam Style”!