Fan Chant: PSY Talks Bringing His ‘Summer Swag’ to Disney+, K-Pop’s Global Growth, and More
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The post Fan Chant: PSY Talks Bringing His ‘Summer Swag’ to Disney+, K-Pop’s Global Growth, and More appeared first on Consequence.
Welcome to Fan Chant, a weekly column for K-pop fans, stans, and newbies alike. Each week, I’ll be rolling out interviews, lists, and all kinds of content to keep you in the loop on the latest and greatest from our friends in Seoul and beyond. Also, make sure to subscribe to my companion newsletter!
According to PSY, he speaks better English when he’s hungover. This observation feels like the perfect way to set the scene for our conversation, which takes place over Zoom and sees the legendary South Korean entertainer open up about his experience with viral fame, seeing K-pop grow over the last decade, and his new concert film, now streaming on Disney+.
For many folks outside of South Korea, PSY’s name is undoubtedly synonymous with the surprise 2012 hit, “Gangnam Style.” At home, though, PSY has continued churning out hits and launched his own label, P NATION, in 2018.
In 2022, he teamed up with SUGA of BTS for the wildly entertaining single “That That,” produced by the BTS member himself — and later that year, PSY welcomed the rapper onstage for a surprise live performance. The excitement of the moment was electric even through cell phone footage that exploded on social media, and now audiences can revisit it — and PSY’s full concert, complete with all his trademark energy, humor, and choreography — in PSY SUMMER SWAG 2022 on Disney+.
Watch the trailer for the concert film, and read on for the full interview with PSY.
Congrats on the new Disney+ concert film! The first thing I had to ask you about was how you possibly keep your energy up onstage.
About three weeks out from the show, I’m swimming for my lungs and breathing. Especially onstage, there’s very little oxygen, and when there’s fireworks it’s even worse. I swim hard before the show. There’s also a Korean jacuzzi — you should try it — where you dip your body halfway for about 10 minutes to circulate blood flow.
That’s so cool; my go-to workout is boxing, and it sounds like that would be so helpful.
Obviously boxing is better, so don’t worry.
The concert film was so fun, and I’m curious from a performance standpoint if you’re someone who is able to step offstage and remember highlights of a show, or if you’re so focused and so in the moment that it blurs together.
Let me compare it to a birthday party: There’s the day before the party, the party, and the day after. That’s rehearsal, D-day, and the day after the show. D-day we are out of our minds and I can’t remember a single thing. I’m a performer, and at the same time I’m directing the show, so I can’t enjoy the show during the show itself. I’m checking things — we have fireworks, eighteen fire shots, in a particular spot — why was it only fifteen? Where were the other three? Things like that. As a director, I’m singing and also checking things, so on D-day I can’t enjoy it.
After the show is worse. There’s so much emptiness after the show.
Coming down from that much energy is probably wild.
During a show, it’s four hours with 30,000 people all treating me like I’m something. After, I’m alone in my room, wondering, “Am I something?” That’s the next day. So my favorite is rehearsal; I can dream and imagine what’s going to happen, like the day before a birthday party when we can anticipate. I’m the kind of artist who feels happiness and who is really fulfilled by rehearsal.
So, I’m a reasonable person, which means I’m a fan of BTS.
That is reasonable.
“That That” was such a treat last year; SUGA is obviously such a talent. That part of the [Disney+] show was so special. I wanted to hear a little about how you feel, since you were someone who helped introduced K-pop to so many people outside of South Korea with “Gangnam Style,” seeing BTS step into that space, too, and anything you’d want to share about your friendship with SUGA.
I saw some articles and heard from people that when BTS hit a good record on Billboard, they had a comment of appreciation to me. I really appreciate them for appreciating me, because their thing and my thing are different. When I had “Gangnam Style” and “Gentleman,” I felt the barriers, but there are two kinds of explosions: One, the song goes huge. Two, talent goes huge. If a song goes huge, that’s a good thing, but you have to release a good song again, and again, and again, which is a low possibility. When talent explodes, they’re already something.
One reason [K-pop acts] are doing a great job on Billboard is the YouTube counter; we don’t get played on the radio, unfortunately, so the only possibility of reaching good scores on Billboard is the streaming count. I don’t think I paved the way. I just did my job. [“Gangnam Style”] was one in a million and I still don’t get why it happened. People didn’t know what the lyrics said; they just liked it.
The one tiny thing that I helped with — not just BTS, but every K-pop artist — is that because of me, Billboard changed charting. I think I can proudly say that I supported K-pop and BTS that way.
I would also love to hear about some highlights from the past few months — was there an album you heard or film you saw that really filled you up? And what’s coming up next that you’re excited to share with people right now?
K-pop artists already have some tremendous records around the world, but industry people are interested in FIFTY FIFTY.
It’s so interesting, they had no idea what to expect with “CUPID” and it became a massive global hit.
In my case, I went viral from YouTube, the hottest platform of the era, and this one went viral through TikTok, the hottest platform of the moment. So I’m really interested in that, it’s impressive.
It seems like you have your finger on the pulse, and since you’re running your own company now, P NATION, what are some things you’re working on from a business standpoint?
I’m trying hard to be balanced as a performer and as the founder of the company. Regarding running the company, 51% of the time I’m a manager of my artists, and 49% of the time I’m still an artist. When you do those extremely opposite jobs with one body, and one soul, it’s kind of hard.
Before the pandemic, I was all-in as a manager, and after the pandemic and “That That” (produced by and featuring SUGA of BTS), I’ve re-instated my career. Right now, I’m trying my best to be a good player and a good manager at the same time.
That makes sense. Is there anything people didn’t get to see in the concert film that you really want to share with people?
Audiences from overseas might recognize me from a few songs, including “Gangnam Style,” but other than that I would love to represent the different songs and different genres, not just the fast EDM songs I have with catchy dance moves. Of course that’s my base, but I have so many things I’ve done over the last twenty years in Korea. That was the point and purpose of the film; I want to share my other stuff with overseas audiences, and Disney+ was the best choice.
Not included in the film is that my concerts in Korea are famous for the non-stop encores. I’ll do a show for two hours and 30 minutes, and then I’ll do another two hours as an encore.
That’s some encore.
That encore is called “en-en-en-core” in Korea. I didn’t include it in the film because that’s for the people who are there. If you have a chance to visit Korea this summer, I’d love to invite you to the show.
Don’t tempt me — I was there in November and I’m dying to go back.
You’d be all right for the encore because you do the boxing.
Exactly. I’ve been training for this.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER Cover Story
In case you somehow missed it, our May cover stars are none other than TXT! I flew to Japan last month to spend a few days with the quintet for our very first K-pop cover; read the full story here, and keep an eye out for the members’ individual profiles. So far, Soobin, Yeonjun, and Beomgyu’s stories are live for your enjoyment, and Taehyun and Hueningkai will be coming in the next few days.
ICYMI: LE SSERAFIM Interview
Photo courtesy of SOURCE MUSIC
I recently caught up with the ladies of LE SSERAFIM to talk pop culture villains, their new album, and more. They’re so much fun; find the full story from last week’s column here.
Song Rec of the Week:
The COLDE album is fantastic, and while I do really love the song with RM, the jazzy album opener hooked me this week.
Fan Chant: PSY Talks Bringing His ‘Summer Swag’ to Disney+, K-Pop’s Global Growth, and More
Mary Siroky
Popular Posts
Taylor Swift Calls Out Security Guard During Philadelphia Show
Disturbed's David Draiman: I Recently Almost Lost My Life to "Addiction and Depression"
Billy Corgan on Kurt Cobain's Death: "I Cried Because I Lost My Greatest Opponent"
The Cure Kick Off First North American Tour in 7 Years: Video + Setlist
Little Kids Start Raging Circle Pit at Death Metal Gig Outside GameStop: Watch
