South Korea puzzles over oddball success of ‘Gangnam Style’
“Koreans thought if someone made it in the U.S., it would be the pretty girls or boys,” the critic concluded. “Not a middle-aged man singing in Korean.”
Well, duh.
The pop charts are loaded to the gills with pretty girls and boys. The masses trying to get onto the pop charts are packed with even more pretty girls and boys. We’ve got enough pretty people who think they can sing to fill up an entire B Ark. So we’re not looking for pretty girls and boys from Korea… for every one such trying to break into the American market, I have no doubt there are half a dozen American pretty girls or boys of Korean descent who are trying to break into the American market.
So, a slightly goofy-lookin’ middle aged Korean feller calling himself “Psy” succeeds where the pretty people have failed. Why? Well, have you seen the video? As of this writing, it has been watched on YouTube 392 *MILLION* times. Why? Well, partly because even though it’s in Korean, it’s fairly catchy. But mostly because, even though it’s in Korean, it’s FREAKIN’ HILARIOUS.
[youtube 9bZkp7q19f0]
I first saw this a few months ago, and laughed my ass off. Actually, it was the *second* “Gangnam Style” video I’d seen…. THIS one is what caught my attention:
[youtube kAWS57Xlwoc]
When your music video can make an overweight sports team cheerleader security guard into a national hero and a worldwide sensation, you’ve done *something* right.
Further: you’ve done something right when your video inspires a billion parodies, such as:
[youtube uYBCgV6a5kE&]
[youtube M660rjNCH0A]
Making it in America is often easier if you’re pretty. But more important is talent, luck and timing.