Why Gangnam style became more popular than other typical Kpop idol songs
Can you believe that a Kpop song reached no.1 on iTunes in 31 countries?, even though this Kpop song is not an English song, but a Korean song that is called “Gangnam style” by PSY. Actually, nobody expected that this song could become a great hit wordwide, but this song has been spread all over the world very quickly due to Youtube. In this article, I am going to talk about why “Gangnam style” became more popular than other typical Kpop idol songs.
Recently, Kpop has been popular in Asia and has had some fan groups in the western countries, but Kpop itself refers to songs for the younger generation, which have been performed by girl and boy groups so far. However, Psy’s “Gangnam style” showed a different side of Kpop songs because he didn’t imitate the pop idols and created his own style that nobody had performed before.
Psy is so unique, even in Korea. He has kept his own character since he debuted in 2001, which is a cheap and comic image. This means that he enjoys performing in his own style.
During the time from his debut until now, he has released 5 albums and has 6 number 1 hit songs in Korea. His music is always cheerful and makes us excited because he has produced his songs by himself in order to pursue his own style. The interesting thing is that his style has gained in popularity because his songs give comfort to people who are suffering from a long recession.
Why did “Gangnam style” became popular? The contract with Justin Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun played an important role, but without Youtube, all things might have never happened. Currently, Psy’s Gangnam style has racked up over 400 million views on YouTube and becoming the most-liked video in the site’s history. Actually, he didn’t make any effort to make people know about his song except by making the comic music video. I think Youtube changed the way of promoting music, which means that there are no barriers to find music. A few years ago, one Indian song was popular in Korea because of its comic style. Psy’s song is the same case.
Psy’s success is not by chance, because he has been developing his own music style for 10 years. “Gangnam style” is just the first of his songs to show his character and music to the world. I’m sure again that creating one’s own style is always better than imitating others in many areas. Furthermore, anyone can be a star through Youtube if they have any special talents which other stars haven’t shown.
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