A few years ago, the whole world portrayed riders to the provocative music of the Korean singer PSY, in whose biography it was the first and, possibly, the last hit of such a scale. After all, the popularity of the song "Gangnam Style" even forced to reset the counter on the YouTube hosting, which was not designed for such a number of views. Before this song, few people in the world knew who PSY was.
early years
Park Jae Sang, the future singer of PSY, was born on December 31, 1977 in the Gangnam District of Seoul, where there are many offices of wealthy companies, expensive housing and boutiques of the most fashionable brands. Father Jae Sang served as executive director of the South Korean company DI Corporation, which manufactures semiconductors.
From a young age, little Park Jae-san lived in abundance and received all the imaginable benefits that were available in one of the largest megacities in the world. Like any other offspring of a wealthy family, he went to study at one of the prestigious private schools.
As PSY later noted in his biography, he was not interested in studying, since the age of fifteen he had become an avid fan of American music. Eminem and Tupak Shakur, popular in those years, became his main idols, the music of which he could listen to for hours. Even as a teenager, the future musical superstar began to write her own songs. He later wrote that he sometimes regrets skipping classes, but on the other hand, the spirit of rebellion allowed him to develop a creative beginning.
His universities
Like any Korean parent, Park Jae-san’s father decided that his son should continue his family business, he considered the passion for music not serious. In 1996, he was included in the DI Corporation corporate training program.
In the PSY biography, the American period begins, he moves to the Atlantic coast of the United States, where he studies business business administration at Boston University. However, he was still little interested in studying, there were practically no successes in this area. He devoted more time to music, disappeared from the university for a long time, and could not appear in classes for several weeks. They wanted to expel him already, and his father had to make a lot of efforts, connect all his connections in order to leave his son to study. Everything turned out to be in vain; Je San himself left the university six months later.
After studying short-term English courses, he entered the prestigious Berkeley College of Music, which is also located in Boston. Jae San did not study here for long either, perseverance was enough only for primary musical education, which later came in handy in a solo career.
First take-off
Having dropped out of school at Berkeley, Park Jae-san returned to South Korea and began to prepare for a musical career. He began performing under the stage name PSY (derived from the English word psycho). The singer himself explained this by the fact that he was crazy about music, dancing, singing, therefore, "such a loony."
The real success came to him after speaking on Korean national television, where Pak presented his song Bird, which became the first real hit in the stage biography of singer PSY. He instantly became a Korean music celebrity.
In 2001, the album PSY from the PSYcho World! Was released, which appeared on the shelves of many music stores in South Korea. His clips were already distinguished by unusual productions of energetic dances. Many songs from the album got into the top national chats and began to actively rotate on the radio, and the clips received hundreds of thousands of views on the Internet.
Slight decline
Alas, the first rise in popularity became short-term, since 2003 a period of nine-year stagnation began in the PSY biography. The released singles, including FATHER (2005) We Are the One (2006), Artists (2006), were not very popular. Ssa Jip (2006), which received awards at national music competitions, was a little better.
In 2010, PSY changed the record company by signing a contract with YG Entertainment, which it continues to work with today. In the same year he released the album PSY five, which also did not bring special laurels to the singer. He continued to give concerts in various cities of Korea, participated in music festivals and became more involved in producing and composing music for other artists. During the same years, Park Jae-san served as a signalman in the army as an communications officer in the infantry division.
Gangnam style
The premiere of the music video "Gangnam Style" took place on July 15, 2012. The perky melody and choreography in the style of a rider on a horse made the Korean rapper popular all over the world. Gangnam is the trendy and affluent district of Seoul where PSY was born and spent his childhood. As they wrote after the release of the single, this is an analogue of the American Beverly Hills - the place where the most successful and wealthy people live. "Gangnam style" in spoken Korean means a luxurious, somewhat artsy lifestyle.
The single sings about the perfect sophisticated girl who knows how to behave in different life situations. The clip shows a funny PSY dancing in various places in the Gangnam area. The video starred several famous Korean singers and comedians. He explained the popularity of the clip as follows: it seems to be a song about luxurious life, the singer himself portrays a nouveau riche, but so that no one believes him.
Song Records and Personal Achievements
The clip spread like a computer virus, quickly gaining 1 billion views on YouTube, for the first time in the history of hosting, by November 2017, the figure had grown to 3 billion. The video service was forced to change the counter code, since the number of views of Gangnam Style exceeded the capabilities of the program. Five years, until July last year, the video was in first place in terms of views. A few months after the premiere, the video hit the Guinness Book of Records, becoming the record holder for the number of likes in history.
Life after
Those who predicted PSY complete oblivion after an unprecedented success, fortunately, were mistaken. He did not rest on his laurels and released several popular music videos.
In 2013, the single "Gentleman" was released, the music video collected 948 million views on YouTube hosting. The concert dedicated to the premiere of the song gathered 50 thousand fans, and 150 000 users watched the live broadcast on YouTube. PSY is known for his sense of humor, at concerts he often imitates popular Korean singers and even Lady Gaga and Beyonce.
In recent years (2015, 2017), PSY has released two albums, which included songs along with the most popular Korean artists. PSY starred in several films where he played ordinary Koreans. As he himself said in an interview, he has a typical Korean appearance, and if he takes off his sunglasses, then no one will recognize Pak.
Personal life
In accordance with Korean traditions, PSY does not like to talk about his non-stage life. In the PSY biography, little is said about his personal life: in October 2006, he married his long-time girlfriend Yu Hyo Yeon.
They started dating in 2003, when the singer had a serious decline in creativity and, it seemed, there was no future on stage. The girl learned to play the cello and was a student at Yonsei University. Now the couple has two twin daughters, who were born on October 14, 2006. In addition to raising children, the wife is engaged in the wardrobe of the singer, carefully considering the design of the stage costumes of her husband. In the PSY biography, the family is central to helping him survive the ups and downs.
In the wake of the rise in popularity of the singer, the yellow press reported that he had a secret romance with the young Korean singer Im Yong, allegedly his wife knew about it and was silent so as not to destroy the family. PSY officials have denied these speculations.
In 2012, he bought an apartment on the Pacific coast for $ 1.25 million, not far from Beverly Hills, where his family lives now.