Psy wraps ‘Gentleman’ promotions

Psy ended official promotions of his latest single “Gentleman” in true Psy fashion with a firework-filled extravagant performance at Canada’s 2013 MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto on Sunday.

“By the way, this was the official last performance of ‘Gentleman’ on TV, which was all with the fireworks, with the greatest crowd ever,” he said in an article on Billboard. “It was a really touching moment, so bless ‘Gentleman.’”

Most critics rightfully speculated that Psy would be unable to replicate the astonishing success of his “accidental” international hit single “Gangnam Style,” despite the high anticipation for the rap star’s follow-up single. Previous to the song’s release, Psy himself stated on numerous occasions that it would be “impossible” to outshine “Gangnam Style” and his only hope was to release another entertaining track. 

The music video for “Gentleman” appears to have received an over all positive response ― exceeding 2.5 million “likes” on YouTube ― and has seemingly eliminated the rap star’s previous fears of being pegged as a one-hit wonder. Although “Gentleman” toppled all the music charts upon its release in Korea ― as to be expected ― the song was not able to mirror the tremendous global reach of “Gangnam Style.” The single also lacked the chart-topping power of his previous YouTube world record breaker, which also reached the No. 2 spot on the U.S. Hot 100 singles chart.

“Gentleman,” which was released on April 13, peaked at No. 5 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart and rapidly dropped down the Billboard ranks soon after making its debut. According to Billboard’s latest announcement last week, the single currently ranks at No. 73, down 17 spots from its previous ranking at No. 56. However, the single made a dramatic jump in the U.K. singles chart this week, rocketing from No. 51 to No. 17.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the official music video for “Gentleman” had exceeded 427 million views on YouTube in the two months since it was released. Although the video was on a record-breaking pace straight from the get-go ― shattering the site’s previous record of most views in 24 hours with more than 38 million hits ― “Gentleman” is unlikely to surpass the 1.6 billion views of “Gangnam Style” as the views for Psy’s latest single have already started to plateau.

Psy previously announced that he planned to begin working on his first international studio album after his promotions wrapped up for “Gentleman.” The rapper also confirmed that he would be collaborating with Queen guitarist Brian May on his upcoming album and claimed that the band was one of his greatest influences and inspirations.

The yet-to-be-titled album is scheduled to be released sometime in late September.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)