Thursday, September 27, 2012

Oppa Braddy Style!


Maybe some of you haven't yet experienced the majesty of "Gangnam Style." If you belong to that crowd, I would recommend that you click here.

No, go back up there and click that link. Do it now.

There, don't you feel better?

"Gangnam Style" is a Korean pop song by a fella by the name of Psy. Thanks in large part to that rather goofy music video, it's currently the biggest thing on the internet (you know, until somebody posts a video of a hamster playing the harmonica or something). The song's been the number one download on iTunes, and... well, basically, it's everywhere.

And I've gotta say: Not only do I hope "Gangnam Style" is here to stay, but I hope we hear a lot more music like it. I'm pretty sure this K-pop marvel may be the best thing that's happened to popular music in the last several years.

I'll say it again, to prove that I'm serious. This:


is the best thing that's happened in contemporary pop music.

I listen to a lot of Top 40 radio while driving around the Salt Lake Valley and get REALLY SICK of all the samey-sounding "let's have sex in public while 'nnn-TISH nnn-TISH nnn-TISH' blasts through the speakers" garbage that's passed off as music these days, and even though "Gangnam Style" shares a lot of similarities with that kind of music, there's a lot to love here.

First of all, it's totally refreshing to have a hit song NOT in English. I've heard a statistic thrown around (a complete garbage statistic, I'm sure, but one that happens to line up with my own tastes) stating that 90% of everything is crap. The way I see it, if we limit ourselves to only that 10% of music that's good which is delivered in English, we're letting a lot of truly excellent music slip by us. So, by all means, pipe more of that K-pop through our radio tubes, Oh Great Musical Mens!



Obviously, "Gangnam Style" has a sense of humor. Whether you find that humor refreshing or horrifying probably depends on your tolerance for pelvic-thrusting, but I, for one, would like to see more lightheartedness in the pop world, which takes itself far too seriously for being the most frivolous and transitory of all musical stylings extant.

Even beyond that, though, there's a real sense of satire to what Psy's put together here - especially when the translated lyrics are coupled with the video. Here's an article that goes into things with a bit more depth than I intend to here. Suffice it to say, "Gangnam Style" has got a lot more substance to it than the goofy-as-fun video would imply.

So, yeah, "Gangnam Style." I want more, please!

2 comments:

Justina said...

I love the dance they do in the video. :)

Miss Megan said...

I like this video MUCH more than I did my first intro to this music (which was, as my usual introduction to most music is, a spoof): http://youtu.be/M660rjNCH0A