Everyone has heard of “Gangnam Style” in every corner of the world. In 2012, this song could be heard everywhere—in homes, nightclubs, and automobiles.
Who is to blame for this global sensation? PSY, a modest Korean man with stylish clothing and oversized sunglasses covering his nose, shocked the globe. If you run across this individual on the street, you’ll probably die. He lacks height, is overweight, and has a too-simple, cheeky face. He frequently cracks jokes, uses several voices when speaking, and dances in a unique way. Although he doesn’t have the appearance of a global celebrity, this man is the funniest class clown.
Psy Net Worth
With all of his success and record-breaking performances and sales, PSY is thought to have a net worth of $60 million. In terms of money, he makes money all year long. His yearly salary is $6,985,452. His monthly salary is almost $582,121. His daily income is $19,138, and his weekly income is approximately $134,335. It is abundantly evident from all of this that his career is still soaring and that his net worth will rise over the coming years.
He owns a 2,700 square foot condo in the Beverly Hills-near 29-story Blair House. Additionally, the value of his Los Angeles residence is $1.2 million. His sources of income are not just the sales of his albums and tunes. Millions of dollars are also earned by him on his official YouTube channel. His YouTube earnings are thought to be around $6.5 million per year.
Psy Biography
The future singer was born in 1977 in the Gangnam-gu area (in a different pronunciation of Gangnam-gu) – a rich and fashionable area of Seoul. His father was the chief executive of DI Corporation, a South Korean semiconductor company. And therefore, from childhood, young Pak Chae San was surrounded by prosperity that the world of the largest South Korean metropolis could offer him.
As befits a guy from a rich family, Park Chae-sang was educated at one of the closed schools in Seoul, but his own education was of little interest to him. From the age of fifteen, music became his true passion. His main idols were American singers Eminem and 2 Pac. Following their example, as a teenager, the future hero of video hosting began to write his own tracks.
However, his son’s hobbies were of little interest to his father. And already in 1996, as part of a corporate training program for DI Corporation, Psy moved to the USA, where he began studying business management techniques at Boston University. From the beginning of his studies, his academic performance was below average. He often disappeared for a long time, not appearing at school for several weeks. And therefore, soon his father had to sever all his connections in order to leave his son at the university.
But six months later, Park Chae-sang himself dropped out. After graduating from a short course in English, he applied for admission to the Berklee College of Music. It is worth noting that studying at the University of California was also not too long for the South Korean. Having mastered the basics of solfeggio, music synthesis and modern writing, PSY returned to Korea, where he began his solo career as a performer.
Psy Career
Having moved back to his homeland, Park Chae-sang, already performing under the pseudonym PSY, appeared on Korean National Television, where he presented his first real hit to the public – the song “Bird”, which instantly fell in love with the audience. In 2001, his first full-length album “PSY from the PSYcho World!” appeared on the shelves of music stores in the Republic of Korea. The artist’s clips hit the national charts; clips (already then filled with a lot of crazy dances) began to be actively broadcast on TV. In 2001, Park Chae-sang, now better known as the crazy singer PSY, firmly established himself as the new star of South Korea.
In 2002, the performer delighted his fans with a new album – “Sa 2”, which was allowed to be purchased only by persons over 19 years old due to “potentially dangerous” content for teenagers. History repeated itself six months later, when a new Korean celebrity released another of his studio records “3 PSY”. This time, due to the scandalous content of his songs, the performer was fined, but Pak Chae San (or rather the singer PSY) was not going to “tie up” with asocial texts.
In fairness, it should be mentioned that the artist’s third album contained a significant number of songs that were truly excellent. Thus, “Champion,” which was released to coincide with the 2002 Football World Cup, became the unofficial anthem of the tournament and earned the singer a Korea Music Award.
Origin of Gangnam Style
The music video for South Korean artist Park Chae Sang (stage name PSY) was released on July 15, 2012. The single first topped one of the national music charts, and then became the subject of study around the world. Music videos on YouTube for 5 years scored a record 2.8 billion views.
Gangnam Style became wildly popular thanks to the charisma of the performer, infectious music and new movements that began to be copied around the world. This movement was called the Horse Dance (Dance of the horse), because it resembled the movement of the hands while riding.
Interestingly, the phrase Gangnam Style itself is a Korean neologism, apparently invented by Psay. It symbolizes the haute couture and lavish, fun lifestyle that Korea associates with the Gangnam area of Seoul. In comparison with English slang, one can draw a parallel with the words Swag and Yolo.
On November 11, 2012, Gangnam Style won the Best Video category at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
On September 20, Gangnam Style entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the most liked video in YouTube history. On November 24, 2012, “Gangnam Style” became the most viewed video on YouTube, becoming the leader in the number of views as well.
On December 21, 2012, Gangnam Style’s video became the first video in history to reach over 1 billion views on YouTube
At the beginning of December 2014, the number of views of the clip exceeded the value of 2,147,483,647. Due to the fact that the view counter was of the 32-bit signed integer type, the video hosting officially announced the update of the counter.
Psy Personal Life
Unlike his stage career, very little is known about the singer’s personal life. In October 2006, Park Chae-sang married his longtime girlfriend Yoo Hye-young, a young cellist and student at Yonsei University in Seoul. After some time, the couple had two twin daughters. Currently, the performer lives in an elite residential complex on the west coast of the United States. His concert activity is also mainly connected with Western countries. Therefore, the return of the four performers to Korea is not yet planned.
