As we begin to close out the year, Psy‘s Gangnam Style appears on many top-ten lists and retrospectives. However, what has Psy’s popularity, or more specifically, media coverage of his viral hit, done for K-pop? While a global hit, Gangnam Style may not be good for K-pop.
This post does not ignore the measurable ways that Gangnam Style‘s popularity can be measured. It continues to garner views on YouTube. Psy horsey-danced his way all the way to the White House in the United States. SPIN lists Gangnam Style as one of the top songs of the year: “”K-pop gets its first ‘U Can’t Touch This’-caliber wedding song; a billion unimaginative bros get an easy Halloween costume; YouTube gets its blessedly Bieber-free new pinnacle, our nation’s various comedians (be they sketching, improvising, monologuing) get a cheap laugh; horses get, y’know, publicity.” Psy’s success provided the opportunity for mainstream American music critics to engage K-pop, and in doing so, they describe a form a K-pop that may not be recognizable to the average K-pop fan. At Billboard, Jeff Benjamin and Jessica Oak listed the best K-pop Songs of 2012. The story included Psy and tried to provide some context for Psy within K-pop. At least they acknowledged that there is more to K-pop than Psy.
However, such assessments continue to misrepresent Psy because it does not take into account the perspective of the established global K-pop fandom. He’s not new to everybody. David Bevan points to how Psy differs from other K-pop groups: “But the premium placed on pretty faces during the ‘idol’ recruiting process and chiseled bodies in the highly streamlined, military-like training systems of most major entertainment companies hasn’t yet translated to mainstream success in the United States as many hoped and forecasted.” He drives home his point by referring to the promotions of Girls’ Generation (also known as SNSD), a group from rival SM Entertainment: “Despite sold-out performances on both coasts, a Snoop Dogg cosign, and appearances on both Letterman and LIVE! with Kelly Ripa S.M. Entertainment’s marquee, high-gloss, nine-member girl group, Girls’ Generation, didn’t make any major commercial or cultural inroads.”
Not only is the distinction a misleading one (YG Entertainment, which represents Psy, also uses the training system to produce idols), defining success solely in terms of Psy’s impact on mainstream America overlooks what Psy means for community from which he rose: K-pop fandom. Many K-pop fans see Psy as a representative of YGE. The omission of other YG artists in Psy’s narrative always struck me as odd. In the K-pop world, many fans gravitate toward artists as well as the agencies that represent them. Seoulbeats notes: “Recently, major companies in Kpop have been following the footsteps of SM by launching their own family brand, nicknamed JYP Nation and United Cube. This is the chance for these big names to trot out their entire stable of artists for show, showing a united front for fans and the media.”
However, the coverage of Psy in the United States focused squarely on Psy, even as his younger siblings BigBang and 2NE1 were touring in the United States. In this way, artists also act as ambassadors for their labels.However, most people who were grooving to Gangnam Style did not know that Psy was “related” to Big Bang. Even Bevan acknowledges, “Both veteran boyband Bigbang (featuring G-Dragon, whose fabulous single “Crayon” never caught on here) and the will.i.am-assisted 2NE1 drew equally impressive crowds at arena shows in Southern California and the Tri-State area, but have yet to enter the mainstream vernacular in the same way as their doughier labelmate.”
In fact, many K-pop fans wearied quickly with Gangnam Style. Promi Ferdousi writes: “For those who have followed the rise of K-pop, from when it began in the early Nineties to its peak commercial success now, ‘Gangnam Style’ seems boring by comparison. . . .We all know succeeding in America for Koreans is a mark of achievement, but because Psy is not a characteristically K-pop star, fans humour his accomplishment while preferring other, more authentic K-pop artists. ‘Gangnam Style’ was supposed to be joke and that is how majority of real K-pop fans (including me) view it.”
Others worry that Psy misrepresents the K-pop they know and love. In an allkpop forum, one person stated: “I don’t bash him, but i am afraid all people will think that kpop is about talking about hot girls in (insert city here), and then doing ridiculous dances. People don’t like Gangnam style because they think it is a good song, they like it because it is funny/entertaining. I can also see people saying that kpop should start being like Gangnam style, and then kpop will get so much unnecessary hate.” In a different forum, another person said: “Personally, I’m indifferent toward him and his success. I’ve been a fan of K-pop nearly 5 years now and truthfully, I’ve never really recognized Psy or his music and even now, he doesn’t seem to make an impression on me.”
Another thing that may make K-pop fans cringe about Psy’s fame is the threat of English encroaching on contemporary K-pop. K-pop fans like Korean in their K-pop songs, but Psy’s success brings up American mainstream pop’s resistance to foreign language. Sam Lansky writes: “Americans who have grown tired of singing along to PSY‘s “Gangnam Style” in gibberish imitation Korean are in luck: The K-pop crossover sensation says he plans to release his next single in English as early as November.” If mainstreaming K-pop means groups singing in English all the time, K-pop fans may not be happy. When SNSD released The Boys in English, more than a few K-pop fans expressed disappointment, and some, like Mithun Divakaran , end up listening to the Korean version: “As for how it sounds in English — I’m indifferent. . . . I didn’t understand some of the words at first listen but you can still get the gist of what they are saying. But even as I write this, I’m still listening to the Korean version more.”
If other niche music markets are any indication, K-pop fans have reason to worry. Jennifer Lena, author of Banding Together: How Communities Create Genres in Popular Music, describes how niche fans react when their music goes mainstream:
After the initial thrill of attention, their original fan base tends to become disenchanted, and instead of engaging with the new music, they’re apt to spend their time celebrating and preserving older music — the stuff made before the corrupting influences of the music industry arrived. That disenchanted group — whom I call “traditionalists” in the book — invest a lot of significance in being and remaining a small group. They’re historians, and what prestige they have flows from the fact that they were “there,” back “then.” They position themselves as the true fans, the core fans, and the authentic fans. And to speak to one of your other questions, they join the chorus of voices criticizing the artistic qualities of popular music.
In the end, the brightness of Psy’s star in 2012 depends on where you are standing.
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“Anti-American Gangnam Style Star Also Rapped About Murdering US Soldiers and Their Families.” 7 Dec 2012. PJ Media. 22 Dec 2012.
Sources
Divakaran, Mithun. “SNSD – ‘The Boys’ album review… and about Girls Generation succeeding in America.” 20 Oct 2011. Mithun on the Net. 22 Dec 2012.
Lansky, Sam. “Psy Plans English-Language Single, Stresses About Topping ‘Gangnam Style.'” 8 Oct 2012. Idolator. 22 Dec 2012.
“SPIN’s 40 Best Songs of 2012 – #8 Psy – ‘Gangnam Style.’ 9 Dec 2012. SPIN. 22 Dec 2012.
Venkatesh, Sudhir. “Adventures in Ideas: How Music Gets Popular, Q&A with Jennifer Lena.” 17 Dec 2012. Freakonomics. 23 Dec 2012.
“Who Really Benefits from K-pop Family Concerts?” 1 Sept 2011. Seoulbeats. 22 Dec 2012.
“Why Does It Seem That Psy Is Getting Dissed More Than He Is Praised?” 12 Jul 2012. allkpop forums. 22 Dec 2012.
“Why Does Kpop Fans Are Bashing PSY?” 15 Dec 2011. allkpop forums. 22 Dec 2012.
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High Yellow - Asian Popular Culture 
What is bad (and telling) for K-Pop’s ambitions to make it in the US are these fans and analysts who refuse to accept or even understand why PSY blew up not only in the US but GLOBALLY.
The general narrative on Psy is that he created, rather than rode, a wave of interest in K-pop. For global fans, that interest existed in subcultures on the Internet long before “Gangnam Style” exploded. This is not to deny Psy’s popularity globally, but people who use “Gangnam Style” to read the global interest in K-pop miss a lot about the appeal of K-pop overall.
k-pop is unappealling. Corporate shilling to the max. Psy is not a coporate shill, his beats are decent and his subject matters are HILARIOUS. He’s got hot girls in the vids, but also a bunch of people who can dance regardless of how they look.
Thanks for your opinion. There are those who disagree, and a comprehensive review of K-pop shows not only variety of genres but also corporate models. There is a wealth of K-pop beyond Psy.