DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Most Watched Video in History
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© PSY, Gangnam Style


“Most Watched Video in History”, read the CNN headline a couple of weeks ago.

It’s CNN, so I’m thinking it has something to do with the president, our country or some sort of political major event.

No, Fam.
It’s entertainment. The most watched video in history is South Korean musician PSY’s K-Pop, horse-gallop-dance-craze video, “Gangnam Style“.

Say hello to the first YouTube video ever to surpass the 1 BILLION mark. That means that as of a few minutes ago, 1,146,732,756 viewers around the world have Gangnam-Styled.

And it’s just like it sounds:

4 Minutes of Silly

But that was PSY’s intentions. The 35-year old South Korean singer-songwriter-rapper-dancer-record producer (gotta love those hyphens), whose real name is Park Jae-sang, (stage name PSY is short for PSYCHO), said that he worked hard for 30 days with his choreographer to create a dance that was pure fun and a video that would make people laugh.

“I just wanted to make something that was purely comedic – something that could make people laugh like crazy even in the midst of all this global economic slowdown. I wanted to make them forget — just for a moment even — about their immediate troubles, and to entertain them the way entertainment should be all about.”

He definitely succeeded.

One Question, Though

How can we make people forget economics when the song’s refrain is all about economics?

The affluent Gangnam District of Seoul, South Korea, where PSY grew up as a corporate executive chairman’s son, is referred to as the Beverly Hills of Korea. “Gangnam-style” is to be wealthy. So, do we make people forget economic hardships by singing about the wealthy?

Making Fun

PSY says (try to say that fast five times back-to-back!) that he’s actually making fun of those who “pose” as wealthy, but are not.

In the same CNN interview quoted above, PSY explains, “People who are actually from Gangnam never proclaim that they are — it’s only the posers and wannabes that put on these airs and say that they are “Gangnam Style” — so this song is actually poking fun at those kinds of people who are trying so hard to be something that they’re not.”

While I can admire the intent to move folks towards living in truth and authenticity a.k.a. Ephesians 4:25, “…put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor…”, the song’s lyrics also tell a different story.

What Does It Really Mean?

It’s K-Pop (Korean Pop), Fam, which means just like American pop music, it’s not supposed to be deep. It’s supposed to be popular: catchy beat, repetitive lyrics, something you hear once and have a hard time forgetting. Light, fun, get up and dance. That’s why the video hit 1 billion views. I’d say that’s “popular”.

Most people have no clue what PSY is saying, but they like the horsey dance. It’s fun! And world leaders can’t wait to do it.

I looked up the English translation of the lyrics for you (hilariously parodied in video by Misty Kingma). The song is about the kind of sexy lady who knows how to be classy during the day and wild at night. PSY then says he is “Oppa Gangnam style”, oppa being an older male friend. Is that like the equivalent of Sugar Daddy? Anybody know?

Absurd, Making $$

Either way, the video leans heavily on absurdity. A little boy imitates Michael Jackson’s dance moves on a playground. Women in silver booty shorts gallop around. There’s a Ferris wheel, yoga classes, lots of pelvis gyrations.

And PSY is having a ball making $2 per every 1000 views, which at this point has generated over $2 million from YouTube alone. Billboard says the video has generated more than $8.1 million in advertising deals and PSY is making and additional $4 million from digital downloads.

Justin Bieber’s manager signed PSY prompto! I wonder if that was before or after Gangnam Style dethroned Justin’s own video for “Baby” as the top watched video ever.

Before You Write

Before you blow up my Facebook page with questions as to why I’m sharing such a video, please remember that I blog about Hollywood, current events/trends and faith. We need to know what our world has voted (though internet hits) as the #1 Video ever.

The real question is, “Why?”
That’s the question I’m researching for my dissertation: “What does Hollywood (our entertainment community) value and why?” But this isn’t just Hollywood. It’s what does our world value and why. It could be as simple as everyone likes to watch/do a silly dance? Or we look at what we perceive everyone else is viewing? Or PSY created a video that was as funny as he wanted it to be?

I look forward to our continued conversations,
Naima

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