Hard it is to believe then, that Gangnam, Seoul’s most glamorous and affluent burb, was 50 years ago just a poor, desolate area of rice paddy fields, bordered by the empty concrete shells of apartment blocks that dotted the banks of the river. Remarks one commenter: “This guy technically ruled the world for a time.” Installation of PSY’s Gangnam Style at Hallyu! The Korean Wave at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Even former Google CEO Eric Schmidt had done the pony dance.) Today, “Gangnam Style” boasts an explosive 4.5-billion-plus YouTube views and the number is still rising.

By May 2014, two billion views later, Google had to recalibrate its play counter, never imagining a video being watched in numbers greater than a 32-bit integer. From Kim and Kanye, Madonna, Britney, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and film director Steven Spielberg, to West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle, sprinter Usain Bolt, footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, tennis royalty Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, to real royalty Zara Phillips (granddaughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II), artists Ai Wei Wei and Anish Kapoor, to fashion model Heidi Klum, socialite Paris Hilton, British prime ministers Boris Johnson and David Cameron, and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the world couldn’t scroll and scream “Gangnam” fast enough, and crack out its terpsichorean equine prowess in a digital wave of electronic excitation and adulation if you hadn’t Gangnam Styled, you hadn’t lived. Lift-off! The adrenaline-fuelled vibe, pink suits and quirky horse-riding dance moves went viral overnight, busting multiple sales and viewing analytics, inspiring endless parodies and gathering prestigious awards and global followers in its wake.

South Korean singer, songwriter and producer Park Jae-Sang, better known as PSY, posted the music video “Gangnam Style” on YouTube. Jmarked a watershed moment in contemporary global culture. Korean cultural seduction cascades in waves around London’s V&A.īirds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, let’s do it, let’s Gangnam Style.

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