Psy continues to take the world by storm, beginning his European tour by arriving in Paris on a private jet and performing at a “Gangnam Style” flash mob that gathered 20,000 screaming fans on Monday.
The flash mob, organized by a French Radio Music channel NJR, was held across from the Eiffel Tower. After his promotions in France, Psy will be heading off to the United Kingdom and Germany where he will give a speech at Oxford University and attend the MTV European Music Awards in Frankfurt, where he has been nominated for the Best Video Award.
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South Korean rapper Psy performs “Gangnam Style” in front of a crowd during a flash mob on Nov. 5 in Paris. (AFP-Yonhap News) |
“Gangnam Style” has now reached more than 650 million views on YouTube, officially surpassing Jennifer Lopez’s “On the Floor” to become the second-most watched video in the site’s history, behind Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” which currently stands at 796 million views.
Psy fans must wait a little longer to see a new dance to replace the notorious invisible horse. His much anticipated follow-up single, initially scheduled to be released on Nov. 20, has reportedly been postponed until early next year. However, the immeasurable popularity of “Gangnam Style” wave still shows strong signs of not only winning over more Psy fans, but also sparking global attention on Korea.
On Tuesday, the Culture Ministry announced that the singer would be awarded with the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit, the fourth-highest honor, for his contribution to the spread Korean pop music on a global scale and in increasing the world’s interest and awareness of Korea.
A recent survey conducted by the Korea Tourism Organization found that nine out of 10 foreigners expressed a desire to visit Korea after seeing Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video. In the survey, 1,556 internationals from 77 countries were asked various questions regarding one of the most talked-about music videos this year. The survey concluded that 91.4 percent of the participants stated that they have thoughts about visiting Korea because of the music video.
By Julie Jackson (
juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)
