By RJ Bardsley
If you’ve been keeping your ear to the ground you may have picked up on the catchy new tune sweeping the airwaves…er….internet waves… or whatever it is that music sweeps now. Anyway – Gangnam Style is the latest single from Korean rapper Psy. It’s a fluffy little pop number with a very catchy beat and a lot of words that most Americans don’t understand. While I like the music and I’m excited that a Korean song has hit the charts in the US (let’s hear it for musical diversity), I really wanted to know what the song was about. It has a feel to it that suggests it’s a tender, sensitive love song or perhaps a ballad about losing a loved one.
So, in my quest for pop culture knowledge, I turned to that old reliable source – Wikipedia. Here’s what Wikipedia had to say about the song:
“Gangnam Style” is a Korean neologism that refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam district[13] of Seoul,[14] where people are trendy, hip and exude a certain supposed “class.” The term was listed in Time‘s weekly vocabulary list as a manner associated with lavish lifestyles in Seoul’s Gangnam district.[15] Psy likened the Gangnam District to Beverly Hills, California, and said in an interview that he intended a twisted sense of humor by claiming himself to be “Gangnam Style” when everything about the song, dance, looks, and the music video is far from being such a high class.
The song talks about “the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild.”[18] The song’s refrain “오빤 강남 스타일 (Oppan Gangnam style)” has been translated as “Big brother is Gangnam style”, with Psy referring to himself;[19][20] “Oppa” is a Korean expression used by females to refer to an older male friend or older brother.[21]
So there you have it. Enjoy the song and remember Big Brother is watching…
