South
Korean rapper Psy's song has broken a Guinness world record and is the most
liked video in the history of YouTube
|
Gangnam Style has passed 1bn views on YouTube and is also the most liked video ever on the website. Photograph: Lee Jin-Man/AP |
It's
spawned a new dance style, parodies, copies and a fascination with things
Korean – and on Friday afternoon Gangnam Style, the video by the South Korean
singer Psy became the first ever to break a billion views on YouTube.
The song –
an ironic comment on the rich socialites living in the Gangnam area in central
Seoul, the south Korean capital – also had its title added to the Collins
Dictionary as one of the phrases of the year (along with omnishambles and
fiscal cliff).
The K-pop
(Korean pop) song and particularly its video – with its "horseriding"
dance – has made 34-year-old Psy an international star who has since performed
with Madonna, broken a Guinness World record for the most liked video in
YouTube history, and inspired flashmobs: one is scheduled for new year's eve at
the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin where hundreds of thousands could turn up.
Described
by Reuters as "chubby", the South Korean singer had released five
studio albums, but had never had a hit in the west until Gangnam style was
released on 15 July.
Progress
was slow until on 28 July, the video was shared on the social site Reddit – and
remarked on by Robbie Williams on his personal blog. At that point it took off,
and in late November passed Justin Bieber's Baby as the most-watched video of
all time. Ranked second, Baby has a mere 813m views.
No comments:
Post a Comment