Psy's 'Gangnam Style' galloping to YouTube record

SAN FRANCISCO - South Korean pop phenomenon Psy is on pace to gallop into the record books this weekend with his "Gangnam Style" mega hit set to smash through the two-billion mark on YouTube.

It would be a first at YouTube, where "Baby" by Justin Bieber in February became the only other video in the billion-view club.

"Two billion views; they are very honorable and very burdensome numbers," Psy said in a statement YouTube shared with AFP on Friday.

"With the appreciation, I will come back soon with more joyful contents!"

"Gangnam Style" at the OfficialPsy channel has racked up nearly 100 million views this year, bringing it to less than 500,000 shy of the two-billion mark on midday Friday in northern California, where YouTube is based.

The video became a global sensation and fueled a South Korean "K-Pop" trend after it was uploaded to YouTube in July 2012.

Psy's follow-up song "Gentleman" set the record for the most YouTube views in a single day -- 38 million on April 14, 2013.

Only three percent of "Gangnam Style" views at YouTube have been from inside South Korea.

As well as propeling Psy onto the global stage, his horse-riding-style dance moves have been parodied and mimicked in myriad videos uploaded to YouTube.

The "Gangnam" in the title of the hit song is Seoul's wealthiest residential and shopping district, lined with luxury boutiques, top-end bars, nightclubs and restaurants frequented by celebrities.

Translating the song's lyrics, which some see as satirizing the area's self-importance and ostentatious wealth, offers little in the way of concrete insights.

Psy sings about being the "guy who downs boiling coffee in one shot" and who "goes completely crazy when the right time comes."

The video has Psy breezing through a world of speed boats, yoga classes and exclusive clubs -- all the while performing an eccentric horse-riding dance accompanied by beautiful models..

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

PH ranks second in 'Gangnam Style' views

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos are among the biggest fans of the phenomenal Korean dance hit “Gangnam Style,” a new study showed Tuesday.

Data released by the website Viki showed that the Philippines ranked second in terms of views of the Psy hit on YouTube after the Americans.

Canadians ranked third, followed by India and Indonesia. Surprisingly, Psy’s home country Korea was only ninth on the list.



“Gangnam Style” recently became the most viewed video in the history of YouTube since it started taking off in August of this year.

 “YouTube shattered barriers to video sharing and discovery; as a result, consumer tastes are becoming increasingly global -- people want something different from what they can watch on their TV sets at home,” Tammy Nam, Viki’s CMO and general manager, Americas, said in a statement.

“‘Gangnam Style’ is just one example of many unexpected global hits we’ll see in 2013,” Nam predicted.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Psy teaches Rico Hizon 'Gangnam Style'

SINGAPORE – Singapore-based Filipino broadcaster Rico Hizon got a private lesson from Korean superstar Psy on how to dance his worldwide hit “Gangnam Style” during the singer’s visit to Singapore over the weekend.

The 34-year-old Psy performed at the Marina Bay Sands last Saturday, December 1, as part of his whirlwind tour.



An hour before he took the stage, Psy met with members of the Singapore media, including Hizon, who works for the BBC.

During his one-on-one meeting with the Korean, Hizon said their interview wouldn’t be complete without Psy teaching him how to dance “Gangnam Style” -- and the singer gamely taught the Filipino the basic steps.

In the interview, Psy said his name is actually short for “psycho.”




“What I thought was, I was crazy about music, dancing and performing so that kind of psycho,” he said.

Psy also revealed that he is working on currently working on an album for the international market, which is targeted for release next March.

But the singer admitted that he doesn’t expect his next single to be as big as “Gangnam Style,” which now has more than 850 million hits on the video-sharing site YouTube.

“I can say I’m gonna do my best. But I can not beat ‘Gangnam Style’ that’s for sure That’s one time only. It’s a phenomenon,” he told Hizon.

“Gangnam Style” is actually a track from Psy’s sixth album.

“I’ve done same kind of thing for 12 years, the same kind of song for 12 years, the same kind of dance for 12 years, but all of a sudden this happens. I didn’t do anything on purpose. Honestly, I did not put in any effort to be in the international (stage). It’s so strange, weird,” Psy said in the interview.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

'Gangnam Style' 2nd most-viewed video on YouTube

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean pop sensation Psy's "Gangnam Style" has become the second most-watched YouTube video of all time with more than 620 million hits as the quirky rapper continues to take the world by storm.

The 34-year-old singer, whose real name is Park Jae-Sang, rocketed to international fame after "Gangnam Style" -- a techno ode to a trendy Seoul neighborhood -- became a worldwide hit following its debut in July.


The video went viral online with its goofy signature horse-riding dance and on Friday ousted singer Jennifer Lopez's dance hit "On the Floor" from second place. But it still trails behind Canadian teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber's "Baby", which has had over 795 million hits.

John Hirai, head of music at YouTube's Korea-Japan branch, told a conference in Seoul that Psy would pass Bieber on YouTube's most-watched list in about a month.

He thinks the secret of Psy's success lies in the speed at which the singer uploaded a sequel video on his official website, as well as footage of the making of his video and interviews, for users wanting to know more about him and "Gangnam Style".

"It comes like a total package at the end, so it just generated views," Hirai said, according to Yonhap news agency.

"I've been in this music business for 25 plus years and I've never seen anything like this and I've never imagined anything like this would come out of Asia. It's just unbelievable but it's overwhelming," he said.

Psy has also remained at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart in the United States for a sixth straight week after topping charts in countries including Britain and Australia.

The popularity of the song and video, which spawned hundreds of parodies and tribute videos across the world, has helped the singer land a contract with Bieber's management agency.

Psy, currently on a promotional tour in the United States, last week performed on ABC's "The View" talk show, after his appearances at the MTV awards and other prime-time programs last month boosted his profile.

The star is already a music veteran at home with six albums under his belt and next week he will begin a promotional tour in Europe that includes a speech at the Oxford Union and an appearance at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Germany.

In another sign of his international reach, Psy was featured on the front cover of the latest issue of US weekly music magazine Billboard, which analyses factors that have helped the singer succeed and hails him as "a ready-made star".

The story also examines how Scooter Braun, the music executive known for discovering YouTube sensations-turned pop stars like Bieber, ended up signing Psy for the US market.

The rapper recently unveiled plans for his next song in an interview on the US cable network CNN, saying the lyrics will be a mix of English and Korean.

source: abs-cbnnews.com