Skip to footer

Psy has new music video. World hits 'play' button.

The world may be rattled by North Korea's bellicosity. But for the moment at least, Korean pop star Psy's new song and video 'Gentleman' is the biggest news from the Korean Peninsula.

|
Kin Cheung/AP
South Korean rapper PSY performs his new song "Gentleman" in his concert titled "Happening" in Seoul, South Korea Saturday. PSY's first new single since his megahit "Gangnam Style" was released in 119 countries on Friday.

Suppose they gave a war and everybody decided they wanted to go to a dance party instead?

That’s pretty much what happened on the Korean Peninsula and beyond, at least for today, as pop-star Psy performed his new song “Gentleman” in a mega concert broadcast live via YouTube.

OK, the whole world wasn’t tuned in live on April 13. After all, Psy’s “Happening Concert” in South Korea occurred at a time when the typical resident of New York was rolling out of bed to walk the dog.

But it’s safe to say that lots of people will be clicking online, one way or another, to find out if Psy’s latest number compares to his “Gangnam Style,” the dance number that set YouTube records last year.

That global response remains to be seen.

But those who tuned in to the “Happening” show were treated to the theatric equivalent of a “shock and awe” bombardment. Fireworks. Thumping upbeat rhythms. Giant video screens on which Psy’s head merged at one point onto Beyonce’s body. And of course, Psy and his backup dancers gyrating up and down a massive stage.

North Korea, your missile tests have just met their match.

Really. Such an overwhelming show of indulgent, pop-culture force is enough to distract everyone from real tensions in the region. Or so it seems if you watch the video. Saber rattling generals might as well just put down their binoculars and go home.

Psy, for one, has expressed something along that line – saying he hopes North Koreans enjoy his songs.

At a press conference before the concert, he described the political division of the Korean peninsula as a "tragedy" and said he wanted North Korean people to share in the "fun and happiness" of his music.

"Tonight me and 50,000 Korean people … we are going to sing out loud. We are going to shout out loud and we are really close to them, so they can hear," he said, according to the news agency AFP.

Perhaps Monday will bring back headlines about diplomatic tensions. (In fact those headlines were there Saturday, too, right along with coverage of Psy’s concert.)

But consider again: With so many hips moving like that onstage, who needs nuclear weapons?

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Psy has new music video. World hits 'play' button.
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2013/0413/Psy-has-new-music-video.-World-hits-play-button
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe