South Korean singer Park Jae-Sang, also known as Psy, speaks during a press conference after returning from a US trip, in Seoul on September 25, 2012. The chubby 34-year-old shot to international fame when his “Gangnam Style” video went viral shortly after being posted on YouTube in mid-July. It has since notched up more than 270 million views on the video-sharing site. Recent appearances at the MTV awards in Los Angeles and on numerous prime-time US talk shows boosted his profile even higher, pushing “Gangnam Style” to the top of the US iTunes Chart. AFP/KIM JAE-HWAN
SEOUL – South Korean rapper Psy pledged Tuesday to perform his signature horse-riding dance “half-naked” somewhere in his home city Seoul if his global hit “Gangnam Style” tops the US Billboard chart.
The song is currently ranked 11 on the chart’s “Hot 100” list.
“If I do become number one on Billboard, I’d dare to dance half-naked in front of a large crowd of people,” Psy told a packed press conference on his return from a triumphant promotional tour in the United States.
“I would pick a place, preferably in front of Seoul City Hall,” said the singer, whose real name is Park Jae-Sang.
The chubby 34-year-old shot to international fame when his “Gangnam Style” video went viral shortly after being posted on YouTube in mid-July.
It has since notched up more than 270 million views on the video-sharing site.
Recent appearances at the MTV awards in Los Angeles and on numerous prime-time US talk shows boosted his profile even higher, pushing “Gangnam Style” to the top of the US iTunes Chart.
Psy told reporters he was still stunned by the success of the catchy single, which is sung almost entirely in Korean.
“This is my heyday, in 12 years since I debuted as a singer… This is just unbelievable, and I’m thankful for everything,” he said.
Commenting on his trip to the United States, which saw him teaching the horse dance to a bemused Britney Spears on television, Psy confessed to feeling homesick at times as well as mentally exhausted.
“Nostalgia is the biggest thing, and another thing is having to use English all the time. Translating the interviews from Korean to English and vice versa in my head gave me a bad headache,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said he had plans for a new release which he said could be a mix of his previous Korean hits sung in English.
“I’d like to be more than a wacky Korean guy doing the horse-riding dance, and be branded as a Korean singer who can have, and give, non-stop fun for hours,” he said.