See on Scoop.it – Korean Wave
When the music video for Psy’s “Gangnam Style” was released, few people expected it to become such a global sensation — topping charts and smashing records around the world, emerging as the most-viewed video on YouTube, and spawning the most emulated…
Crystal “CeeFu” Anderson‘s insight:
This article gives some numbers to support Psy’s overseas success, but still overlooks the small but active K-pop fandom in other countries, who will in the long run be more responsible for the staying power of K-pop.
See on www.hancinema.net
High Yellow - Asian Popular Culture 
A lot has changed CeeFu, since Gangman Style (GS) first became a YouTube hit, and even since year’s end. Given that GS was a hit nearly everywhere (with the notable exception of Japan), No. 1 on 23 iTunes Music charts around the world, the naval gazing about Asian stereotypes in America, seems a bit er … provincial. It’s not just that GS was a YouTube hit … this MV dwarfs anything else by anyone from anywhere. The fact that the PSY channel has 3 billion views says something else. Nothing about this fits into a neat narrative of any genre, K-Pop or otherwise.
Thanks for your comment!
My point in responding to the story about Psy on Han Cinema is that Psy’s popularity has never represented the K-pop fanbases in various countries responsible for the spread of K-pop. His popularity is more complex than mere Youtube hits can reflect. One year later, many people who were into K-pop before GS are not fans of Psy, and it is interesting to note that his follow-up single did not garner the same level of attention as GS.
As I have written elsewhere, I would agree that there are no neat narratives about K-pop, including the idea that historic and persistent represenatations of Asian masculinity suddenly go out of the window when a male K-pop star has an international hit. It can be both/and, and not either/or. Psy made an unprecedented splash on the global stage, and that splash can also engage in stereotypical perceptions about Asian masculinity. As for Asian stereotypes, given a certain recent YouTube music video about Asian women, I would say that thinking about the discourse around representations of gender and Asian identity amount to a little more than navel gazing.