How popular is it? The song's music video was released on the Internet in mid-July, and as of the day before yesterday, it had 325 million views, breaking a Guinness World Record; no video has had more than 100 million views in the past year. In the UK, it became the number one single album in the UK Singles Albums Chart for the first week of the month. In the U.S., it came in at No. 2 on the 41st Billboard chart on Oct. 4, with Britney Spears and Robin Williams joining the parody army, and actor Tom Cruise shilling for it on his homepage. In our country, it has also become the object of imitation from celebrities to grassroots. Not only that, the song also triggered a wave of adaptations around the world, appearing "Obama campaign Style", "U.S. Navy Style", "Nanjing Style ", "Zhou Xingchi Style", "Hakka Style" and many other versions.
Nowadays, like all the divine songs that come out of nowhere, the question about "Gangnam Style" for half the people is "What the hell is it?" And the other half is asking, "Why was this song an overnight hit?"
Masters crack the code
Cultural context is clearly not enough to explain how "Gangnam Style" has spread like the plague across the globe. More than the lyrics, people outside South Korea seem to be more interested in PSY's original "horse riding dance" in the music video: the chubby PSY repeats the motions of raising his whip and galloping his horse to the rhythm of the music, which gives people an inexplicable urge to dance along with him. This is also from the stars to grassroots are rushing to imitate the passage. Cracking the code of Gangnam Style's popularity has become the talk of the town, and various interpretations have further formed an important part of the "Gangnam Style" phenomenon. The conclusion of these studies is that although the "horseback riding dance" is easy to learn, it is the music itself that really helped it become a hit.
One is the physiological theory. A Korean research institute studied the song and found that it repeats five syllables four times in a cycle of 3.6 seconds, and the core rhythm of the five syllables is repeated more than 100 times throughout the song, which is almost in sync with a person's heart rate after jogging for half an hour -- the moment of greatest excitement. This statement explains why most people unconsciously shake their bodies to the song. Another element that stimulates people's physiological response is its catchy melody and rhythm - scientific research has found that when a person to a piece of music melody and rhythm to produce **** Ming, this music will be repeated in its brain, the scientific community called this "earworms The scientific community refers to this as the "earworm" phenomenon. Although the music that triggers the "earworm" phenomenon varies from person to person, it is clear that "earworms" prefer works that are easy on the ears.
The second is psychological. Some Korean psychologists say that Gangnam Style stimulates the body's response and autonomic nervous system through simple repetitive rhythms; the climax, in particular, stimulates people's instincts to get rid of psychological repression and format their lives. There are even clinical cases proving that some psychiatric patients are laughing happily and appearing relaxed after listening to the song.
Thirdly, music theory says. Some music critics say that "Gangnam Style" coincides with the electronic music trend that has taken the American mainstream music world by storm in recent years; and its chorus part, in turn, is a Korean music style. The combination of the two produces a marvelous chemical effect, which is not contrary to the preferences of Korean fans, but also fits the aesthetic interests of audiences in other countries and regions. Considering that PSY graduated from Berklee College of Music in the United States, this argument has some credibility.
In addition, the culture of ugliness, herd mentality, group effect and idolatry are all contributing to the popularity of Gangnam Style. However, it is predictable that no matter how thoroughly people analyze the popularity of "Gangnam Style", they can't decide or even predict what the next song will look like. The weird thing about pop culture is that no success can really be duplicated.
The article was quoted in China Newsweek's article, "Gangnam Style": A Culture of Ugliness":