Breaking down ‘Oppa Gangnam Psy’

Looking into how the singer behind the viral video start. Psy, the singer and songwriter who has been known for his humorous videos, has been well-known across the world because of his hit videos, "Gangnam Style" and "Gentleman.

Sep 15, 2013 07:42 PM BST

TAGㆍPSY

(Photo : Psy's Twitter)

Psy, the singer and songwriter who has been known for his humorous videos, has been well-known across the world because of his hit videos, "Gangnam Style" and "Gentleman."

The 35-year old singer has been a tool for K-pop music to be known worldwide because of his great dance moves which went viral and even had different versions made by ordinary people across the world.

Even before he was popular to the whole world, Psy wanted to become a singer and a songwriter. He planned to study business administration at Boston University in the US but he lost interest in his studies, spending his remaining tuition funds on musical instruments such as the keyboard, a computer and MIDI interface. He transferred to University of Berklee, where he took contemporary writing, core lessons in ear training and music synthesis, but he soon dropped out and went back to Korea to pursue his dream as a singer.

Psy made his first TV appearance in 2000 on Korean national television after his dancing caught the eye of the TV producer. He then debuted on January 2001 with his full-length album, "Psy, from the Pycho World."

After that, Psy had been always known to be controversial because of the content of his albums.  But after ten years of release of his two controversial albums, his sixth album, "Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1," where the song "Gangnam Style" is in, has made the charts and newspapers in and out of Asia. Because of his phenomenon, he was guested in various shows in the US and received a lot awards from different music charts all over the world.

But Psy did not stop there. On April of this year, his video for "Gentleman" has leaked one day before its official release. And on its release, it was the most watched video on that day, earning its title in the Guiness World Records.

Psy continues on conquering the world's music scene. He will be featured in Mnet America's new K-pop biography series. The first episode of the said series will feature his start as an unclear solo artist who conquered the music scene by wonder. If you want to know how he was before his career and what led to where he is now, this will definitely be a "headliner."

TagㆍPSY