by Kay Kim, staff reporter
PSY has hit over 50 million views on YouTube with his new title track “DADDY,” from his 7th album, PSY 7th Album. This song has also hit the Billboard Top 100 upon its release.
The music video for “DADDY” has been labeled as creepy.
“That creepy video? My first impression was ‘What am I watching?’ It was more of the weirder things that I’ve watched because there is a grown man’s face in a child’s body. [But] it is worth the 37 million views because it is entertaining – the graphic,” senior Michael Vezyrakiz said.
PSY (short for psycho) is a South Korean artist, who unexpectedly gained popularity through his song, “Gangnam Style” that was released in 2012. Currently, he is signed under YG Entertainment and Universal Republic Records.
The album was released on December 1st and consists a total of nine tracks. For this album, PSY collaborated with many artists, including Ed Sheeran, will.i.am, and various K-pop artists, such as CL, Zion.T, and Gaeko.
The songs from this album are in correspondence to his album title “I am PSY” (as translated from Korean into English). The title shows that it has to do something about his identity. Therefore, a majority of the songs are centered around who he is and are arranged according to his music color and style.
“Dance Jockey” is very upbeat, with a repeating saxophone melody throughout the song. PSY opens up his song proving that he is Korea’s trend starter. He uses this to call his audience to dance with him, as he will be the DJ for the night.
Getting over a relationship isn’t easy for everyone and it seems that PSY has experienced the same phase. Through the second track, “I Remember You,” featuring Zion.T, he pleads that his ex-girlfriend remembers him when she hears this song. He is nostalgic of his former relationship and cannot get rid of the memories they had together.
“NAPAL BAJI,” which is one of the two title tracks is an energetic song with a punky guitar riff. (The title directly translates into bell bottoms). The song’s melody makes one want to dance as he dances in his bell bottoms.
In the next track, “DADDY,” CL of the K-pop girl group, 2NE1 asks PSY, “Where’d you get that body from?” PSY answers, “I got it from my daddy.” This is a fast-tempoed EDM (electronic dance music) song that radiates PSY’s great amount of energy. In this song, PSY shows interest in a girl and the girl in return seems to be in love with him because of his body. The lyrics of this song are obviously not serious, for he does not have the lean, muscular, ideal body shape that is favored in today’s society.
“I listened to the first four lines of the song and turned it off. The lyrics didn’t speak to me,” social studies teacher Mr. Gembara said.
Different from the first three tracks, “Dream” is a slower and calmer song that opens up with a piano intro. It features XIA of JYJ. This song is dedicated to his close peer and friend, Shin Hae Chul, who passed away in 2014. In an interview (in Korean), PSY revealed that the lyrics of this song is a collection of the things that Shin said on a daily basis. He hopes to one day wake up from the dream called life, and meet his friend again, for he is still in grief.
Will.i.am and PSY are going rock ‘n roll in the song “ROCKnROLLbaby.” It is a fast EDM rap song, that emphasizes their will to party as if there is no tomorrow.
“The Day Will Come” is one of the slower songs. It features Jun In Kwon, who is a singer with many years of experience in Korea’s music industry. This song encourages people to not fear the world and get back up when they fall, for tenacity will bring a greater day.
Coming back to the colors he is known for, PSY collaborates with Gaeko of Dynamic Duo to perform “Ahjussi SWAG.” (Ahjussi has no direct translation into English. However, it is a word used to represent middle-aged men). They admit that age has prevented them from being as invincible as they were in their youth. However, they are still young at heart and they have the swag that the younger generation does not pursue.
The final track, “SING” is a remix with Ed Sheeran. It is only available if you buy a physical copy of the album. Therefore, it cannot be purchased on iTunes.
In this song, PSY is attracted to a girl that he has seen for the first time in his life. He calls the girl his darling and wants her to “come on and set the tone” so that he can sing with her.
PSY has been raised to the spotlight with his 7th album as he expressed his colors through a variety of songs. For this album, there are no scheduled live shows that he will partake in. However, he is scheduled for several concerts at the end of this month.
More information on the tracks can be found here.
