South Korean K-pop sensation PSY appears to have become a victim of his own success. While the video clip for his smash hit single Gangnam Style cruises past 400 million views and more likes than any other video on the site, PSY now has to overcome the track’s success for his new single, which he has told Newsbeat will be in English.
The track has been so successful that North Korea took time from their busy schedule to make a parody of it, and North Korea doesn’t parody anything! But as PSY (real name Park Jae-sang) has explained (Via NME), there is a downside to writing a song so infectious that it penetrated even the most hermitic countries: “The problem is my music video is more popular than I am. That’s a big problem for me right now, so I’ve got to overcome my music video first,” he added. “I’ve got to come to the UK, I’ve got to go everywhere to promote myself, who I am and what I’ve done for 12 years in Korea.”
One of the first hurdles PSY plans on tackling is the language barrier. Though Gangnam Style doesn’t lose any impact in translation, the next single from the rapper will be in English: “The second single is going to be in English. And the thing is, it’s too much pressure to overcome Gangnam Style. It’s really hard.”
PSY has had years of success in the K-pop scene throughout South Korea and, as he discussed, he has become somewhat of an international ambassodor for the genre: “Everybody is describing me as a worldwide phenomenon, so especially for Korea, they are thinking of me as representing our country for the new history, for the K-pop history, so they are cheering a lot here.”
Australia is the next in line to experience the glitz and the glam of the PSY live performance; he will be in town very soon for a promo tour.
