Artist of the week - Psy

Sep 12, 2006

Our featured artist this week is the multi-talented singer, songwriter, and rapper Psy. He is well known in Korea with his humurous performing styles, often imitating other (particularly female) singers that prvoides us all the entertainment. No wonder his latest hit, which is No. 1 on our chart this week, is titled "Performer".

When Psy first debuted, he was a more "hard core" rapper. Like many other hip-hop oriented singers, Psy has evolved into more pop style now. Besides doing his own music, Psy has also written many songs for other singers, most notably he helped launched the career of singer Lee Seung Ki. Lee’s well known debut songs "Because You are my Woman" and "Delete" were both written by Psy, showing us that he is also capable to write good ballads. Let’s find out more about Psy:

PROFILE:
Real name : Park Jae-sang
Date of birth : December 31st, 1977
Education : Boston University, Berklee School of Music
Debut song : Bird (2001)
Nickname : Bizarre singer
Blood type : O
Hobbies : Dancing, drinking, traveling
Talents : Playing the clarinet and drums

BIOGRAPHY:
In February, 2001, the rookie singer stirred up the Korean pop music scene with directly worded songs, peculiar dance moves and unconventional appearance. The rookie singer was Psy nicknamed as the “Bizarre Singer.” With “Bird,” the title song of his first album entitled , Psy showed off his own style, fashion and confidence successfully breaking down the idée fixe among the pop music lovers that male singers have to be good-looking and be able to dance well. In particular, the straight-out words of his songs appealed well to the younger generation of pop music fans. The fact that he graduates from the Berklee School of Music in the U.S. also acted as a merit for the singer.

However, just 5 months after his album was released in the market, Psy’s album was banned sale for juveniles as various civic groups complained that it can give negative influence to the younger generation. Several months later, Psy was arrested by the police on charges of smoking marijuana. In January, 2002, Psy was punished with a fine. His second album entitled “For Adults” was released in the same month and also was banned from being sold to ages 18 and under music fans. Still, he remade Park Ji Yoon’s "Adult Ceremony" into "Reporting Ceremony" which generated a lot of interest at that time.

In September of 2002, Psy released his 3rd album by launching his new music on an Internet music site. Being release just a few months after the World Cup games held in Seoul, the title song of Psy’s 3rd album “Champion” recorded great success. "Champion" was a remade of the theme song from the classic Eddie Murphy movie "Beverly Hills Cop".

After a long layoff, Psy released a remake album in 2005, titled "Remake & Mix 18번", spinning 2 hit songs "Joy" and "Father". But fans were wondering when they will hear Psy’s new album.

In June 2006, Psy released a digital single "We Are The One", becoming one of the theme song for team Korea in the 2006 World Cup, also served as a warm up song for his upcoming album. 2 months later, Psy finally released his long awaited 4th album titled "Volume 4". After its release, the album immediately became a top seller for many weeks. The title song "Performer" also hit No. 1 in almost every charts in Korea. Psy has further established himself as one of the top singer songwriter in Korea.

DISCOGRAPHY:
PSY From The Psycho World! (1st album, 2001) : Bird, The End, Leave It To Me
IPB Image
Psy2 For Adults (2nd album, 2002) : Reporting Ceremony, Ulssigoo, Dilemma

3My (3rd album, 2002) : Champion, Ppanppara, Paradise

Remake & Mix 18번 (remake album, 2005) : Joy, Father

We Are The One (Digital Single, 2006) : We Are The One

Volume 4 (4th album, 2006) : Performer, Alarm