Gangnam Style! GR Adds A Famous Sister City [Video]
The City of Grand Rapids this week announced ties to a sixth sister, the Gangnam District of South Korea, best known for the most viewed video in history.
Grand Rapids City Commission announced the cultural collaboration in a press release on Wednesday, with Mayor Rosalyn Bliss saying the Grand Rapids and Gangnam are “complementary communities with similar strengths and opportunities to build and grow cultural, commercial, and artistic ties.” (More on that in a minute)
The Gangnam district is one of 25 autonomous communities in Seoul, the South Korean capital. It shares many things with Grand Rapids, including a diverse economy, the love of craft beer, and their own version of ArtPrize. Gangnam means 'South of the River' in Korean, so we also share riverside parks and walking paths.
But let's cut to the chase. Gangnam is best known for the wacked out video released in 2012 by the comedian Psy, which was the fastest video in the history of YouTube to hit 1 billion views.
"Gangnam Style" is still one of the most viewed videos in history.
But the video subversive nature reveals something about the Gangnam district that is not so complimentary. Psy intended the video to be a commentary on the superficial lifestyle lived by the young people who live in the Gangnam district, which is rich. Really rich.
How wealthy is the Gangnam district? Some financial folks have estimated the area compromises 7 percent of entire GDP of South Korea. Not bad for fifteen square miles.
"The neighborhood in Gangnam is not just a nice town or nice neighborhood. The kids that he's talking about are not Silicon Valley self-made millionaires. They're overwhelmingly trust-fund babies and princelings," Adrian Hong told the Atlantic Monthly back in 2012, at the height of the song's popularity.
Does that sound like Grand Rapids to you?
In a 2012 interview, Psy likened the Gangnam district to Beverly Hills' lavish and hedonistic lifestyle. He admitted the joke of the video was he was very awkward and not a trend setter by any means. That by saying he had 'Gangnam Style', he was clearly pretending because he couldn't possibly have it:
People who are actually from Gangnam never proclaim that they are—it's only the posers and wannabes that put on these airs and say that they are "Gangnam Style"—so this song is actually poking fun at those kinds of people who are trying very hard to be something that they're not.
We are now sister cities with a district of wealthy trend setters and a group of people who want to be trend setters by faking they live there. In other words, unless I'm missing something, a community that is NOTHING like us, save for the beer and the river.
Psy, meanwhile, continues to be a major influence in Korean music. After forming his own record label, he helped launch several popular K-Pop bands before being investigated in a bribery scandal.
Here's the English translation:
Oppa is Gangnam style
Gangnam style
A girl who is warm and humanly during the day
A classy girl who know how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of coffee
A girl whose heart gets hotter when night comes
A girl with that kind of twist
I’m a guy
A guy who is as warm as you during the day
A guy who one-shots his coffee before it even cools down
A guy whose heart bursts when night comes
That kind of guy
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let’s go until the end
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh
A girl who looks quiet but plays when she plays
A girl who puts her hair down when the right time comes
A girl who covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all
A sensible girl like that
I’m a guy
A guy who seems calm but plays when he plays
A guy who goes completely crazy when the right time comes
A guy who has bulging ideas rather than muscles
That kind of guy
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let’s go until the end
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh
On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
I’m a man who knows a thing or two
On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
I’m a man who knows a thing or two
You know what I’m saying
Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh