Who was singer PSY before he became famous (17 photos + 2 videos)

When in 2012 the world music community literally shuddered under the power of the crushing hit “Gangham Style” performed by the South Korean singer performing under the laconic pseudonym PSY, ordinary citizens threw up their hands in confusion and involuntarily asked the question: “What else is this?”





Still from the video for the song “Gangham Style”

And, indeed, the track “Gangham Style,” which in all respects looked more like an advertising jingle than a full-fledged song, in the blink of an eye turned into a truly viral thing that sounded from every iron.

I'm not even talking about the video sequence in which a stylishly dressed Asian man with a perfect parting and a completely imperturbable expression on his face depicted some kind of parody of horse racing without a horse.



Still from the video for the song “Gangham Style”

Just a couple of months after the release of the video for the song “Gangham Style”, the number of views on YouTube exceeded... attention... over a billion, which was an absolute record for the platform at that time!



Still from the video for the song “Gangham Style”

Moreover, such a stir forced YouTube technical specialists to even rewrite the program code, since the video service was simply not designed for such a crazy number of views.



Record number of views

And, by the way, despite the fact that the video for the song “Gangham Style” is already more than 10 years old, the view counter is not going to stop and is slowly but surely creeping up to the terrifying figure of 5 billion, and the video itself ranks 11th in popularity among all YouTube videos. Just think about this figure!



Still from the video for the song “Gangham Style”

But it’s difficult to even sing along to this musical phenomenon: all the lyrics, except for the key phrase “Gangham Style,” which literally means “rider style,” are written in Korean. In general, “Gangham Style” is a slang expression for the residents of Gangnam, one of the most fashionable and expensive areas of Seoul, which you can read about in more detail here:

And it denotes the highest degree of everyday luxury characteristic of the residents of this area, which, it seems to me, is not alien to PSY himself, who managed to earn almost five million dollars from his hit! But who is this PSY? Where did he come from and how did he manage to drive the simple motive of his “Gangham Style” into the heads of millions (and even billions) of listeners around the world?



Still from the video for the song “Gangham Style”

If you think that what follows is a heartbreaking story about a poor Korean boy who dreamed of becoming an artist since childhood, but for lack of funds worked in a factory in order to somehow feed his large Asian family, and how he once wrote a song, which later became a big hit and brought the boy the desired fame and recognition, then I hasten to upset you - such a story will not happen. And it won’t happen because PSY or Park Jae-sang (the performer’s real name) has never been poor, unhappy, or even more so deprived of attention.



Park Jae Sang as a child

Moreover, the family into which the author of the hit “Gangham Style” was born was one of those “crazy rich Asians” who, in fact, could afford to live in Gangnam-gu, the most expensive and prestigious area of Seoul. Park Jae-sang's father worked as the executive director of DI Corporation, a South Korean company focused on the production of semiconductors, and his mother was the owner of a restaurant chain. So, as you understand, Park Jae-sang lived in abundance from early childhood and was surrounded by absolutely all the material benefits that the modern world could offer him.



Park Jae Sang as a child

Park Jae-sang's parents provided their son with a decent education: first he studied at one of the closed private schools in Seoul, and then, at his father's encouragement, he went to the United States, where he began studying business management techniques at Boston University. But this path is more interestingI resented the parents of the future YouTube conqueror rather than himself. Park Jae-sang's real passion was music, and it was to music that, starting at the age of 15, he tried to devote the maximum amount of free and non-free time. He chose American performers Eminem and 2 Pac as his main idols and, following their example, began writing his own songs.



PSY in his youth

Of course, his passion for music had a very negative impact on the young man’s academic performance. His grades were below average, he missed lectures and seminars with enviable regularity and could not show up for classes for several weeks, so his influential father at some point had to use all his connections so that his son would not be expelled from the university.



PSY in his youth

However, his father’s intervention did not save the situation, and after some time, Park Jae Sang himself abandoned his studies in Boston, because he no longer saw any point in it. But, having completed short courses in English, he applied to Berklee College of Music, where, in fact, he did not stay long either. After learning the basics of solfeggio, music synthesis, and modern writing, Park Jae-sang abandoned his pursuit of higher education in America and returned to his native South Korea to begin a career as a professional pop artist.



PSY

In South Korea, Park Jae-sang, who took the creative pseudonym PSY, began performing as a solo artist and even managed to appear on Korean National Television, where he presented his first real hit called “Bird,” which was received very, very warmly by the public. In 2001, the first full-length album “PSY from the PSYcho World!” appeared on the shelves of music stores in South Korea. This was followed by clips on TV, performances at various venues, and PSY, without even noticing it, turned into a real star of South Korea!



PSY

Well, having achieved a certain recognition in his homeland, PSY decided that he could afford to play a little hooligan, and in 2002 he released “Sa 2”, which was allowed to be purchased only by persons over 19 years of age due to “potentially dangerous” content , capable of harming the fragile minds of teenagers. But the “19+” label did not stop the South Korean artist from continuing to release music according to his taste, and, a year later, he “released” a new record called “3 PSY.” By the way, because of the scandalous content of the songs from this record, Park Jae-sang was even fined, but he did not intend to give up hooliganism.



PSY

By the way, the rebellious spirit of the performer PSY greatly spoiled the nerves of his parents and significantly hit their wallets. Just look at the story of evading military service and being arrested for possession of marijuana, due to which PSY missed the funeral of his respected grandfather. And this, you understand, in Korea is considered the height of indecency and even insult. So PSY “came” to his first truly global super hit with a solid store of knowledge and experience and was ready to conquer all possible music and Internet platforms!



PSY

And so, July 15, 2012, that same “fateful” day came, after which the lives of all YouTube users were divided into “before” and “after.” The video for the song “Gangnam Style” and, most importantly, the “rider without a horse” choreography presented in it, in a matter of hours, turned the South Korean performer of average skill into a mega-popular character, whose simple composition made even those who had never been able to dance dance. “Gangnam Style” was included in the Guinness Book of Records and became a true legend on the YouTube portal.



PSY with a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records

And, by the way, in his song PSY sings or, better said, talks about the Gangnam district, where, in fact, he was born and raised; an area where wealthy people live; an area where people who actually have nothing to do with it often boast about living in it.



PSY at a performance

"People whoThey are actually from Gangnam, they will never say that they are from Gangnam. “It’s just posers and wannabes who put on this look and say that they are “Gangnam Style” - so this song makes fun of those people who are trying very hard to be something that they are not,” this is how he described the main theme in one of the interviews. The idea of the song was the author and performer PSY himself.



PSY