Gangnam Style’s global hit relied on content not designed for export

Evidence

In 2012, Psy recorded “Gangnam Style” as a satirical dance-rap track mocking the ostentatious new-money culture of Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district. The video was a chaotic mix of mild hip-hop parody, Korean pop culture in-jokes, celebrity cameos, and absurdist humor—complete with a silly horse-riding dance and a slow-motion rage scream at a woman’s raised buttocks in a yoga pose. Aside from the phrase “Hey, sexy lady,” the lyrics were entirely in Korean, and even in translation, they required a deep familiarity with Seoul’s socioeconomic dynamics to pick up on the nuanced class commentary. All in all, it was not a song designed for global domination. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 297

Categorization

• QUESTION: What did global audiences actually consume in Gangnam Style if not the class commentary? The trend may hinge on signifiers emptied of local meaning — a case for omnivore monoculture or its opposite.