XPOSU II

K -POP'S WILD STALLION MORE THAN 500 MILLION YOUTUBE VIEWS LATER. IS A GLOBAL POP PHENOMENON AND THE UNEXPECTED FACE OF A KOREAN MUSIC INDUSTRY THAT'S BEEN LOOKING FOR AN INTERNATIONAL VOICE FOR YEARS. BUT NOW THAT PSY'S A STAR, WHERE DOES K -POP GO FROM HERE? BY DONNIE KWAK

N THE AFTERNOON OF Aug. 15, Ko- I NOT SIGN THIS GUY!?!??!" What Braun didn't reveal then was want to keep the song exactly the way it is." PSY looked up at Braun, rean rapper PSY and the overseas busi- that he had already planted the seed for a secret meeting with the surprised. " You want to keep this in Korean?" he asked. Braun nod- ness manager from his record label, rapper. PSY's video was pulling in more than 1 million new view- ded in response. YG Entertainment, arrived in Los An- ers per day. lithe rest ofthe world was flocking to it, Braun figured, PSYpausedtolet thissink in. Hehadnever met Braun, fouryears geles after a 13 -hour flight from Seoul. why wouldn't the United States? his junior, but he was well aware ofhis reputation for shepherding At LAX, they were greeted by a smatter And so, slightly more than two weeks and 15 million You - No.1 hits. Could a songwith Korean lyrics really reach the topofthe ing of fans and YG's American rep, who Tube views after that tweet, "" was on its way to Billboard Hot 100? Or, perhaps, a better question: Whycouldn't it? usheredthem intoa waitingcar. PSY was Braun's house. -All right, let's do this," PSY said, smiling. "But first, let's go to going to Hollywood. By then, the buzz was loud enough that PSY was garnering in- Koreatown tonight and drink." As his ride rolled through L.A. traffic, terest from labels outside of Korea. One German rep had recently PSY. aka Park Jae -sang, cheerfully reflectedonhis whirlwindsum- warned PSY's team: "The first thing an American company will SOMETHING LIKE A PHENOMENON men It had been a month to the day since the video for 'Gangnam do is try to make you do an English version." (And, in fact, one U.S. In theweeks after that initial meeting, the Scooter Braun machine Style," the first single off his sixth album, PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part label had already reached out to YG -and were rebuffed-with quickly went into overdrive: an international multiple -album deal 1, was uploaded to YouTube. A satirical ode to his Seoul neighbor. such a request.) for PSY with Republic through Braun's School Boy Records (exclud- hood, "Gangnam Style hadall the trademarksofa PSYanthem: an But PSY had traveled to the States with an open mind. In past ing Koreaand Japan.where PSYwillstillbeunderYG):asuccession aggressive rap with a catchy hook, coupled with a whimsical dance years,hehadwatchedsomeofhisyoungerYGlabelmatesandother of masterfully orchestrated appearances on the MTV Video Music step and a comedic, over -the -top video. Like much ofhis previous Korean stars-fresh-faced girl groups and slickly produced male Awards, 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show." "Today" and "Saturday work,"GangnamStyle"wasvery mucha PSY DIY: Hewroteandco singers-venture off to America with hopes of breaking into the Night Live"; and sudden, inescapable pop -culture ubiquity. With produced the song and also co -directed the video. In Korea, where U.S. market. Asa 34.year.old solo rapper. PSYwas far from the typi- "Gangnam Style' on a relentless march to the top of the Hot 100, PSYhas topped multipkdomestic musicchartsa half -dozen times cal Korean -idol." Hedebuted in 2001, well before thecurrent K -pop PSY's first, still -untitled U.S. release has been fast -tracked for No- during his 12 -year career. the record was an instant hit. wave, and had become as famous for his offstage antics and rebel vember. The song's official clip has racked up more than 500 mil. But then the unexpected happened. Thanks to socialnews site persona as for his actual music. Through it all, he never harbored lionviewsonYouTubeasthesongitselfhas satsecureat No.2on the Reddit and tweets from high -profile artists like Robbie Williamsambitionsofmakingitbigin theStates.To PSY,whatever happened Hot 100 for four weeks and registered 1.6 million downloads sold, and T -Pain, "Gangnam Style" went viral beyond Korea, spreading next would be extra. according to Nielsen Sound Scan. across Asia, Europe and South America-and now, finally, to the And what happened next is this: PSY and his entourage were In the meantime, the American music industry has been left to United States. welcomed into the backyard of Braun's house in Hollywood. The makesense ofthe-Gangnam Style" phenomenon. As "Gangnam Style approached 10 million YouTube views at Korean rapper and the American music executive greeted each To some insiders, the fact that a monster international hit origi- the end ofjuly, Scooter Braun-the music executive famed for dis- other like brothers. nated in Korea isn't all that surprising. After all, during the last covering YouTubesensations-turnedpop-stars and Soon, thetwogotdown tobusiness. Braunwascharacteristically fouryears, Korean pophasgonefroma foreigncuriosity-see Ste- 8 -tweeted a li nk to the video, writing "HOW DID straightforward: "This is what I want to do: I want to sign you. And I phen Colbert's 2008 mock K-popvideoanddance-offwith Korean

NOVEMBER 3, 2012 I www.blllboard.blz 13