South Korean rapper Psy performs ‘Gentleman’ during his concert Happening in Seoul yesterday.

Reuters/Seoul


Hips swinging, South Korean rapper Psy yesterday launched the dance and video of his new song ‘Gentleman’ at a packed Seoul concert, with nearly 160,000 tuned in online to see if he could carry off a repeat of his megahit ‘Gangnam Style’.
The video for Gangnam Style is the most watched ever on YouTube with more than 1.5bn hits, and its horse-riding dance has been imitated by thousands around the world, from Eton schoolboys, to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
But a recent challenge from the ‘Harlem Shake’ global dance craze upped the ante for ‘Gentleman’, and the 35-year-old Psy has made it clear he was aware of the high expectations.
“Of course I feel more burden than before, because lots of people are watching,” he told a news conference before the concert. “(Today’s show) is a performance of thanks for the Gangnam Style success.”
The video for ‘Gentleman’, whose refrain is “I’m a mother father gentleman”, featured a fast, hip-swinging dance by Psy in his trademark sunglasses and a variety of jackets, from baby blue to hot pink and sparkly white.
Fans, many of them dressed in white as Psy had requested before the concert, packed the 50,000 seats at Seoul’s World Cup Stadium. The concert was also streamed live on the Internet.
‘Gentleman’, released on Friday at midnight, had more than 1.2mn hits on YouTube for the song alone before the concert. It was 90th on the Apple iTunes store chart.
“I thought it was really good, really funny. It is hard to compare with the classic though. Gangnam Style is perfect,” said Mark McKeon, a 25-year-old English teacher at the concert, who said he thought the new song still would do well.
Others said the video helped. “When I listened to just the song, it wasn’t good, but it is now okay with lots of dancers dancing together,” tweeted one Korean man.
Gangnam Style racked up 3.59mn digital sales in the US and Canada last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BDS, ninth in the best-selling list. It was third on Amazon’s MP3 song bestseller list for 2012.
But it has been challenged by Harlem Shake, an electronic dance track by DJ Baauer released last year that went viral as a YouTube craze after Australian teenagers posted their version of the dance, sparking thousands of imitations.