There is more to PSY than ‘Gangnam Style’.
With five albums already under his belt in his native South Korea, 34-year-old Park Jae-sang has suddenly found himself the subject of international attention. The frenzy around his single ‘Gangnam Style’ and its accompanying viral video resulted in politicians singing his praises and him sharing a stage with Madonna.
By now, most people will be aware of ‘Gangnam Style’, with its irresistible hook and pristine dance-pop production, but it is far from the best thing on offer on this mini-album. Anyone expecting five facsimiles of his hit will be surprised to find the likes of ‘Tree Frog (청개구리)’, whose fusion of rap, dance beats and rock guitars creates one of the record’s standout moments. Similarly, the alternation between piano ballad and pop-punk sections on ‘Never Say Goodbye’ yields an unexpected but surprisingly satisfying result.
Unfortunately, it is not all of such a high standard. The main offender is ‘What Would Have Been? (어땠을까)’, featuring fellow K-pop idol Park Jung Hyun, which is a standard, dull-as-dishwater R&B ballad that could have been released by any pop artist in the last 20 years.
One major drawback is the obvious language barrier; the music is generally well put together but it may be hard for an Anglophone audience to find a connection with the actual songs without a decent grasp of Korean. Nevertheless, this mini-album should be proof to his critics that there is more to Psy than ‘Gangnam Style’.