Gangnam Style, Explained

http://twitter.com/psy_oppa

If you have any sort of contact with the outside world pop culture these days, you will have undoubtedly run across the smokin'-hot K-pop (Korean pop music) hit, Gangnam Style by Korean pop artist Psy.  The first time I ran across it (compliments of Son #3, home on a weekend pass from the Korean Army) I thought it was a catchy, quirky little viral video that would certainly appeal to those of us who live - or have lived - in Korea (particularly Seoul) but not much else.  When Son#3 assured me that it had gone viral across the US, I still took it with a grain of salt.

Less than a week later, I ran across a video link on FaceBook posted by a friend in the US, followed quickly by many other videos, links, and memes testifying to the growing popularity of the trend. After I saw Psy's performance on the SNL season premiere, however, I had to admit that Gangnam Style really was the international sensation Son#3 had claimed.

By now, most people probably know that Gangnam is a posh, high-rent district in Seoul.  But many of the other 'inside' jokes and subtleties of the video can be easily lost on those who don't speak Korean - including yours truly.  So when I ran across this fabulous post on Gangnam Style written by Hails over at her wonderful blog Coffee Helps, I knew I had to share it with the world - or, at least, my little part of it.

Hails does a great job of explaining some of the language in the video and - best of all - the tongue-in-cheek fun that Psy is poking at Gangnam's style and culture.  She also very accurately conveys the excitement - and maybe a tiny bit of battle fatigue - that we here in Korea are experiencing now that a local boy has made good, positioned as he is at #1 on iTunes at the moment.

If you don't know who Psy is, this segment from ABC's 'Nightline' provides a good overview: