Said to be the modern day “Macarena”, South Korean superstar Psy’s hit song took the world by storm throughout 2012. Love it or hate it, the smash hit “Gangnam Style” was the biggest song of the decade, having won numerous awards, gained thousands of mentions, spawned hundreds of covers and spoofs, and not forgetting racking up more than a billion views on YouTube alone.
There isn’t a person in the world who doesn’t know Psy by now. But the reign of “Gangnam Style” is finally coming to a close.
“Gangnam Style” was released in July and with thanks to various social media platforms, the hilarious music video, which takes a stab at the lifestyle of those who are trying to live like the rich and famous, spread like wildfire. At first, only regionally but with the blink of an eye, it speedily gained international recognition.
By December 2012, Psy, who spend countless late nights coming up with his now-trademark “horse riding” dance, admitted that he was getting sick and tired of “Gangnam Style”:
Sometimes, honestly, yes I get tired or I get sick of it because I got so many requests to teach them, you know, like average let me say 50 requests per city, per country. I already taught the dance to so many people, so many times but still the dance takes me here, to make a press conference in Singapore, so of course sometimes I’m tired of it, but I got to do it, it’s my job.
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On his birthday (31st December), right before he performed “Gangnam Style” during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, Psy told MTV that he will be “ending” his hit song. While he doesn’t plan on completely doing away with “Gangnam Stye”, he’s anxious to follow up the hit with another:
Being in Times Square on New Year’s Eve is already special – it’s the biggest stage in the universe – plus it’s my birthday, so, with all that, it may be the ending of ‘Gangnam Style’. I mean, what better way to do it? It’s my biggest and most meaningful birthday. The song became too popular, and so you start to have some concern about its life period. I’m really working hard on a new single right now, and I’m not saying that ‘Gangnam Style’ is ending on Dick Clark – I still have a lot of invitations to perform it. I’ll be in Paris and in February I got invited to perform in China, and I’ve still got to do promo. So let me say that in America I need a new single because ‘Gangnam Style’ got too popular, so I’ve got to write a new single.
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Aww. We don’t blame him for pulling the plug on the song. It was a good run though, Psy. And props to you for putting South Korea on the map. We can’t wait to hear your new single!