The hidden brilliance of 'Gangnam Style'

MANILA, Philippines - The music video for Gangnam Style, the hit song by South Korean rapper Psy, has been viewed over 74 million times on YouTube. On the surface, it may seem like a K-Pop craze the country has seen before — unintelligible to anyone who doesn’t speak Korean, a catchy song by a flashy performer, with beats fit for a girly bar.

But the video itself is peculiar. It doesn’t feature a cute little girl band by way of 2NE1, or a hunky male quintet the likes of Super Junior. Viewers instead see Psy, a plump 34-year-old man, dancing as if he were awkwardly riding a horse. It’s neither the macarena nor the otcho-otcho — it’s a funny little move that makes viewers ask, “What the f*ck is this?”

Fine Social Commentary

Gangnam is an affluent district in the southeast area of Seoul. In the video, Psy portrays a caricature of a Gangnam Man, sipping juice on a beach, relaxing in a sauna, dancing at a posh nightclub — the gaudy life of the nouveau riche. But after each scene, the camera pulls out to reveal things aren’t what they seem. The beach turns out to be a sandlot, for example, and in one shot, Psy walks down a red carpet only to be pelted by trash.

The suggestion that Gangnam wealth is dirty and that the rich are disillusioned makes for fine social commentary. In a piece by Max Fisher in The Atlantic, Korean-American observer Adrian Hong explains, “Koreans have been kind of caught up in this spending to look wealthy… I think a lot of what [Psy] is pointing out is how silly that is.”

“He was satirizing more than just this one neighborhood,” US-based Korean blogger Jea Kim says in the same Atlantic piece. “Koreans made extraordinary gains as a country, in terms of GDP and everything else, but that growth has not been equitable. I think the young people are finally realizing that.”

Saying So Much

British street artist Banksy once said, “Modern art is a disaster area. Never before in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.” But Gangnam Style uses so little to say so much, and perhaps this is why the song has resonated around the world.

Now, many Filipino artists are of the same cut as Psy. Gloc-9 is a prime example. He riffs on the OWF phenomenon on Walang Natira, and on LGBT issues in the recent hit Sirena. The Apo Hiking Society’s songs, which this week feature in the movie musical I Doobi Doobi Doo, are rife with commentary on love, life, and the human condition. Noel Cabangon’s Tatsulok, which was remade by Bamboo, is about social inequality, and became massive hits for both of them.

Medium And Message

For today’s artists, perhaps Gangnam Style is a reminder that the message is as important as the medium. And for today’s listeners, who find themselves deep in mindless robotic candy pop, perhaps Gangnam Style is a reminder that “listening” involves understanding what’s being said.

But the hidden brilliance of Gangnam Style is that this stupid-looking video sucks us in. It invites us to dig deeper. As it turns out, “What the f*ck?” can often be the start of some enlightening discussion.

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Tweet me @PepeDiokno.