Psy (singer)

Psy (2013)

Park Jae-sang ( kor.  박재상 ; born December 31, 1977 in Seoul ), known by his stage name Psy ( pronunciation : [ saɪ ], kor.  싸이 , stylized spelling PSY ), is a South Korean singer , rapper , dancer and music producer

biography

1977–1995: childhood and adolescence

Park Jae-sang spent the first years of his life in the Gangnam neighborhood of Seoul , where his father was an entrepreneur .

1996–2000: Studied in the United States

In 1996 Park began his studies in the USA at Boston University , but dropped out again after a short time. In 1998 he enrolled at Berklee College of Music , also in Boston , and took numerous core courses there. In 2000 he returned to his hometown, but without having obtained a university degree.

2001–2009: Early career and first successes

In January 2001, Psy released his debut album PSY from the Psycho World! For the anti-American lyrics in his rap songs ( Killer (2002), Dear American (2004)), he apologized publicly on MTV News in December 2012 . In 2006 Psy won the Best Video Performer of the Year award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards .

In South Korea, men between the ages of 18 and 35 are required to do military service of at least 21 months, which Psy did in 2008 and 2009.

2010–2012: move to YG Entertainment

Psy's absence from the K-pop music industry meant that he gradually got into financial trouble. In order to develop professionally, he moved to YG Entertainment , a South Korean artist agency and K-pop music label.

Since the South Korean music market is comparatively small, the Korean music labels prefer to upload their K-pop songs to YouTube in order to reach a global audience. Due to the Korean wave , K-Pop artists are well known, especially in parts of South America , throughout Southeast Asia and in Japan . On January 7, 2012, Psy performed with Big Bang and 2NE1 in front of 80,000 fans in Osaka . It was Psy's first musical appearance abroad.

2012–2018: Gangnam Style and the international breakthrough

→ Main article : Gangnam Style

Psy in Sydney (2012)

On July 15, 2012, Gangnam Style was released by his music label YG Entertainment. In the US alone, the song has been purchased over four million times. The song was viewed more than 3.6 billion times on YouTube (as of May 2020) . Numerous US media described 2012 as the year of K-Pop, not least thanks to the success of Gangnam Style .

Worldwide, among others, in Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, South Korea and the Czech Republic reached top positions in the single charts.

"It will only be a matter of time before K-Pop produces many other successful musicians like me."

- Psy

In April 2013, YG Entertainment and Psy began filming the single Gentleman . The single was among the most downloaded tracks on the day it was released in South Korea. In the same year it was announced that Psy has a celebrity guest for his new album in Steven Tyler , singer of the band Aerosmith .

On May 15, 2018, YG Entertainment announced that the contract with Psy had been terminated and that he would leave the agency after eight years of cooperation.

2019: P Nation

On January 24, 2019, Psy announced the founding of his own agency called "P Nation" via Instagram . On the same day, Psy welcomed the rapper Jessi to his new agency, also via Instagram. Later, Hyuna and E-Dawn also joined the agency. Further details on the structure of the new company are to be announced later.

Records

Psy held and continues to hold a slew of Guinness records , including:

• The "most likes on a YouTube video" ( Gangnam Style ) (until November 17, 2016)
• The "first video with 2 billion views on YouTube" ( Gangnam Style )
• The "video with the most clicks (38 million) within 24 hours" ( Gentleman )

Discography

Albums

• 2001: PSY from the PSYcho World!
• 2002: Sa 2 / Adult Only
• 2002: 3 PSY
• 2006: Ssa Jip (Cheap House)
• 2010: PSY Five
• 2012: PSY's Best 6th (Part 1)
• 2015: PSY's 7th album
• 2017: PSY 8th 4x2 = 8

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	KR
2010	Ring For Me Once Again	-	-	-	-	-	KR90 (1 week) KR	First published: March 28, 2010 with Kim Jang-hoon
	In My Eyes PSYfive	-	-	-	-	-	KR11 (9 weeks) KR	First release: October 13, 2010 feat. Lee Jae-hoon
	Thank You PSYfive	-	-	-	-	-	KR16 (8 weeks) KR	First release: October 13, 2010 feat. Seo In-young
	Right Now PSYfive	-	-	-	-	-	KR4 (12 weeks) KR	First published: October 20, 2010
	Emergency 20th Anniversary (Best Collection & Tribute Album)	-	-	-	-	-	KR79 (1 week) KR	First release: 2010 Shin Seung Hun feat. Psy
2012	Gangnam Style Psy’s Best 6th Part 1	DE1 × 5 Quintuple gold (50 weeks)DE	AT1 × 2 Double platinum (41 weeks)AT	CH1 × 3 Triple platinum (42 weeks)CH	UK1 × 2 Double platinum (55 weeks)UK	US2 × 5 × 5 Five times platinum (video single) + five times platinum (31 weeks)US	KR1 (24 weeks) KR	First published: July 15, 2012 Sales: + 13,500,000
2013	Gentleman Psy’s Best 6th Part 2	DE12 gold (21 weeks)DE	AT7 (19 weeks) AT	CH3 (17 weeks) CH	UK10 silver (19 weeks)UK	US5 (16 weeks) US	KR1 (14 weeks) KR	First published: April 12, 2013
2014	hangover	-	-	-	-	US26 (1 week) US	-	First published: June 8, 2014 feat. Snoop Dogg
2015	Daddy PSY’s 7th album	-	-	-	-	US97 (1 week) US	KR1 (17 weeks) KR	First published: November 30, 2015 feat. CL
	Napal Baji PSY’s 7th album	-	-	-	-	-	KR2 (16 weeks) KR	First published: November 30, 2015
2017	I Luv It PSY 8th 4X2 = 8	-	-	-	-	-	KR1 (19 weeks) KR	First published: May 10, 2017
	New Face PSY 8th 4X2 = 8	-	-	-	-	-	KR3 (23 weeks) KR	First published: May 10, 2017
	Love PSY 8th 4X2 = 8	-	-	-	-	-	KR12 (5 weeks) KR	First published: July 17th, 2017 feat. Taeyang
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2010	Mr. Ssa PSYfive	-	-	-	-	-	KR78 (2 weeks) KR
	My World Big Thing OST	-	-	-	-	-	KR81 (1 week) KR
	That's Why PSYfive	-	-	-	-	-	KR83 (2 weeks) KR	feat. Jung Yup
2012	Father (Live at Summer Stand Festival)	-	-	-	-	-	KR29 (1 week) KR
	Korea	-	-	-	-	-	KR75 (1 week) KR
	Passionate Goodbye Psy’s Best 6th Part 1	-	-	-	-	-	KR4 (18 weeks) KR	feat. Sung Si-kyung
	Blue Frog Psy’s Best 6th Part 1	-	-	-	-	-	KR9 (11 weeks) KR	feat. G-Dragon
	Year of 77 Psy’s Best 6th Part 1	-	-	-	-	-	KR10 (12 weeks) KR	feat. Leessang & Kim Jin-pyo
	What Would Have Been Psy’s Best 6th Part 1	-	-	-	-	-	KR11 (19 weeks) KR	feat. Lena Park
	Never Say Goodbye Psy’s Best 6th Part 1	-	-	-	-	-	KR14 (8 weeks) KR	feat. Yoon Do-hyun
2013	It's Art PSYfive	-	-	-	-	-	KR51 (1 week) KR
2015	Dream PSY’s 7th album	-	-	-	-	-	KR5 (12 weeks) KR	feat. Xia
	I Remember You PSY’s 7th album	-	-	-	-	-	KR10 (9 weeks) KR	feat. Zion.T
	Ahjussi Swag PSY’s 7th album	-	-	-	-	-	KR17 (3 weeks) KR	feat. Gaeko
	Dance Jockey PSY’s 7th album	-	-	-	-	-	KR19 (2 weeks) KR
	ROCKnROLLbaby PSY’s 7th album	-	-	-	-	-	KR20 (2 weeks) KR	feat. will.i.am
	The Day Will Come PSY’s 7th album	-	-	-	-	-	KR22 (2 weeks) KR	feat. Jeon In-kwon
	Sing (PSYmix) PSY's 7th album	-	-	-	-	-	KR28 (2 weeks) KR	with Ed Sheeran
2017	Bomb PSY 8th 4X2 = 8	-	-	-	-	-	KR14 (5 weeks) KR	feat. BI & Bobby
	We Are Young PSY 8th 4X2 = 8	-	-	-	-	-	KR32 (2 weeks) KR
	Rock Will Never Die PSY 8th 4X2 = 8	-	-	-	-	-	KR44 (1 week) KR

more publishments

• 2001: Bird
• 2002: Singosik
• 2002: Bird 2 (feat.Kim Hyun-juk)
• 2002: Champion
• 2002: Paradise (feat. Lee Jae-hoon)
• 2006: Artists (2006)
• 2006: 2 Beautiful Goodbyes (feat. Lee Jae-Hoon)
• 2006: We Are the One
• 2006: Calling You Because It's Raining
• 2012: Oppa Is Just My Style ( feat.Hyuna )

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Australia 2013: for the single gentleman  Finland 2013: for the single Gangnam Style  Italy 2013: for the single gentleman Platinum record  Denmark 2013: for the streaming gentleman  Sweden 2013: for the single gentleman  Spain 2012: for the single Gangnam Style

2 × platinum record  Belgium 2013: for the single Gangnam Style  Denmark 2013: for the single Gangnam Style  Italy 2012: for the single Gangnam Style 3 × platinum record  Denmark 2013: for streaming Gangnam Style

4 × platinum record  Canada 2012: for the single Gangnam Style  New Zealand 2012: for the single Gangnam Style  Sweden 2013: for the single Gangnam Style 10 × platinum record  Australia 2013: for the single Gangnam Style

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	gold1	10 × platinum10	735,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	-	-	2 × platinum2	60,000	ultratop.be
Denmark (IFPI)	-	-	6 × platinum6th	60,000	ifpi.dk
Germany (BVMI)	-	2 × gold2	2 × platinum2	900,000	musikindustrie.de
Finland (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	9,025	ifpi.fi
Italy (FIMI)	-	gold1	2 × platinum2	90,000	fimi.it
Canada (MC)	-	-	4 × platinum4th	320,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	-	4 × platinum4th	60,000	radioscope.net.nz ( Memento from June 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Austria (IFPI)	-	-	2 × platinum2	60,000	ifpi.at
Sweden (IFPI)	-	-	5 × platinum5	200,000	sverigetopplistan.se
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	-	3 × platinum3	90,000	hitparade.ch
Spain (Promusicae)	-	-	platinum1	40,000	elportaldemusica.es
United States (RIAA)	-	-	10 × platinum10	5,250,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	-	2 × platinum2	1,400,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	5 × gold5	53 × platinum53

Web links

Commons : Psy  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website ( Memento of March 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
• Psy in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Psy on YouTube
• Psy at Discogs (English)
• Psy on MusicBrainz (English)
• Psy on Facebook
• Psy on Twitter
• Psy on Instagram

Individual evidence

1. ↑ KBS
2. ↑ BU hopes to get donation from former student Psy, the South Korean rapper known for 'Gangnam Style' hit , boston.com. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
3. ↑ Nick Carbone: Gangnam Rile: Psy's Past Anti-American Performances Stir Controversy . Time. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
4. ↑ billboard.com: PSY Apologizes for 'Inflammatory' Lyrics Against US Military , accessed September 14, 2017
5. ↑ About Psy . MTV. Retrieved October 28, 2012.
6. ^ YG Entertainment, “It's all Thanks to the Wives of Psy and Tablo” . allkpop. August 9, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
7. ^ PSY Catches the Attention of Japanese Media . Soompi. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
8. ↑ Gangnam Style gallops to over a million sales in the UK! , The Official Charts Company.
9. ↑ Psy's new song features 'Psy style' take on Korean dance ( Memento from April 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Agence France-Presse
10. ↑ Psy to Begin Filming for 'Gentleman' MV this Weekend, 'It's Going to be Fun' , Kpopstarz
11. ↑ Music - South Korea: "Gangnam Style" follows "Gentleman": Psy with a new piece ( Memento from April 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ blabbermouth.net
13. ↑ K-pop singer-rapper Psy ends contract with YG. In: koreaherald.com. May 15, 2018, accessed May 17, 2018 . 
14. ↑ Psy sets up entertainment agency. In: yna.co.kr. January 24, 2019, accessed January 24, 2019 . 
15. ↑ PSY's New Label Signs Jessi As 1st Artist + Reportedly Recruiting Idol Trainees. In: soompi.com. January 24, 2019, accessed January 25, 2019 . 
16. ↑ ^{a b} PSY secures new YouTube world record with “Gentleman” . Guinness World Records . Retrieved April 30, 2013: "PSY's previous music video, 'Gangnam Style', earned him multiple GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles, including Most viewed video online, Most 'liked' video online, and First video to receive one billion views."
17. ↑ Most "liked" video online. In: Guinness World Records . Retrieved March 21, 2017 (English). 
18. ↑ Korean rapper cracks two billion mark , in: Handelsblatt , No. 104 of June 2, 2014, p. 46.
19. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
20. ↑ IFPI Digital Music Report 2013 . Retrieved January 3, 2018.
21. ↑ Gaon Year-End Charts 2012 . Archived from the original on February 28, 2014.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Park is the family name here, Jae-sang is the first name.