Gangnam Style: Horsing Around Pop Culture
Rodrigo: Remember when we talked about peruvian fans in concerts? We forgot to mention that we’re a tropical country and most latin concerts are bigger hits.
Amy: I can name a few just from the early 90s… Sopa de Caracol [MV], El Venado [MV], El Apagon [MV], Pa Los Coquitos [MV]. Though Sopa de Caracol and Pa Los Coquitos don’t really have silly dances, since it’s merengue hips shaking… but they were staples at parties (Caracol in grown ups and kids parties, Coquitos in children parties). But El Venado had that antlers hand movement in the chorus’ hook.
Rodrigo: I still remember El Venado, but not the other ones because I wasn’t living in Peru during the early 90’s. But our country embraced El Baile Del Perrito [MV].
Amy: Yeah, El Baile Del Perrito was a staple of parties too. There was El Baile del Mono [MV] (which had the monkey dance, but at least the song said something xD). But Macarena was the first song that made a worldwide impact like that… and it was because it got popular in the States.
Rodrigo: Even Bill Clinton danced the Macarena, if I remember correctly.
Amy: I don’t know if it was because the world was beginning to become the global village we know today, or if there was some other factor.
Rodrigo: Are Americans weird in what they decide to embrace?
Amy: I don’t know, what has become “viral” for the last 10 years in the States?
Rodrigo: American content or non-American content in the States?
Amy: Either. I only remember Two girls one cup (which I’ve never watched, THANKYOUGOD).
Rodrigo: Lies.
Amy: What’s Lies? Hahaha
Rodrigo: Janet Jackson’s tit slip counts?
Amy: No, the wardrobe malfunction isn’t viral, it’s just silly scandal (if they could only see our vedettes LOL).
Rodrigo: Tina Fey parodying Sarah Palin?
Amy: Oh yeah, Tina Fey’s Palin… even though it didn’t bounced as much. I don’t think I ever saw it being covered down here. And Psy has!
Rodrigo: Peruvians don’t have SNL as their most viewed shows.
Amy: They don’t, but considering it had to do with the American election, news programs could have at least mentioned it. Peruvians newscasters, however, are a complete different issue.
Considering I must be one of annoying friends that share all the Gangnam in facebook, yes I did like the song. It was catchy and funny, and that’s how I like my music lately (besides the music I already like or anime songs).
I think all the social commentary people talk about, it’s mostly for its title, what with Gangnam being the most wealthy district in South Korea. But the lyrics of the song itself is about this (upper-class) guy who tells all what he wants in a (upper-class) woman, and then describes himself as a match for said woman?
@Mirella, hahaha and that’s in contrast to Rap and Hip Hop saying that they drink the most expensive booze, drive the coolest cars, but want them hos ? xD
@Mirella, The difference between you and the other friend that posts Gangman Style non-stop is that the other person I know is more of an “Asian pride” type of person and would probably like Gangman Style almost by default. You like it because it’s catchy and funny.
Checking Facebook at the moment, now there’s like 6 persons that I know who like the GS song.
I forgot to mention that some of the videos that turned “viral” lately have been Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s PONPONPON [MV] as well as Hyuna’s Bubble Pop [MV], but they never made it past the 50M views or never reached the status of “people that don’t listen to it have watched it”
I remember that “Asereje” got quite a bit of airplay on the Latino outlets here in the US, but it never got as big as I heard it got in Europe. I think I saw something about it on the German news (Deutsche Welle)…
anyways, Gangnam Style is fun and I hope that since it’s intentionally funny, that it doesn’t come across the same mean “make fun of the Asian guy” way as the William Hung business sort of turned out in the USA…
@chrryblssmninja, Aserejé got pretty popular among hispanic countries and Europe, yes. I remember one of my university teachers briefly singing a bit of the song and it was lulzy.
I have no idea how long Gangman Style’s staying power will last in the States, but it’s catchy right now. Even members of my family talked about it briefly (they know it as “El Baile del Caballo”), and they know jackshit about Kpop (in my case, I am aware of Kpop thanks to YAM’s shoving promotion and talks about it).
William Hung… lol, I forgot he existed until Amy and I chatted about GS.
With the 2012 Emmy Awards airing tonight, does anyone thinks that the song will be used somehow and/or the song being danced by anyone? I guess Psy himself could do a cameo and teach it to Jimmy Fallon in the intro segment… or maybe Rex Lee or Ken Jeong imitate Psy.
@Rodrigo, did they? I didn’t watch the show. xD
@amy, Nope. 0 GS references. Opening segment was Jimmy Kimmel (who fucking sucked as a host) inside the women’s bathroom getting punched by a good amount of female Emmy nominees including a naked Lena Dunham.