Park Jae-sang (Korean: 박재상; pronounced [pɐk̚.t͡ɕεsɐŋ]; born December 31, 1977), better known as Psy ( SY; 싸이), is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has received numerous accolades, including an American Music Award, a World Music Award, 10 MAMA Awards. He is the founder of the talent agency P Nation.
Psy released his debut studio album Psy from the Psycho World! in 2001. He gained international prominence in 2012 with the hit single "Gangnam Style", which reached the top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and became a global viral phenomenon. Its music video was the first on YouTube to reach 1 billion views; it held the record for most-viewed YouTube video from November 2012 to July 2017. Psy's followup, 2013's "Gentleman", also reached the top 10 of the Hot 100 and its video set a new record for YouTube views in its first 24 hours.
He is a recipient of the Okgwan (4th Class) Order of Cultural Merit.
Park Jae-sang was born into a wealthy family in the Gangnam District of Seoul on December 31, 1977, the son of Kim Young-hee, who owns several restaurants in Gangnam, and Park Won-Ho, who is the executive chairman of manufacturing company DI Corporation. He is a member of the Milyang Park clan. He attended Banpo (반포) Elementary and Middle Schools and Sehwa (세화) High School, but disliked school and was known as the class clown.
Park later told Alina Cho that he was introduced to foreign pop music by a Korean TV show he watched when he was 15 years old, with one particular episode showing the English rock band Queen's 1986 concert video Queen Live at Wembley Stadium, which he said sparked his love for music.
1996–2000: Brief study in the U.S. and career beginnings
As part of preparations to take over DI Corporation from his father, Park had originally planned to study business administration at Boston University in 1996. However, upon his arrival in Boston, he lost interest in his studies, spending his remaining tuition funds on musical instruments and entertainment equipment, including a computer, an electric keyboard, and a MIDI interface. After attending an English-language summer course and studying for one semester, Park dropped out of Boston University and applied to study at Berklee College of Music instead. During his time at Berklee, Park took core curriculum lessons in ear training, contemporary writing and music synthesis, but he soon dropped out and returned to South Korea to pursue a career as a singer, without having attained a degree from either Boston University or Berklee.
Psy was found by South Korean rapper zoPD and featured in the song "카사노바" from his second album In Stardom Version 2.0 in 1999.
In South Korea, Psy made his first appearance on Korean national television in 2000 after his dancing caught the eye of a TV producer.
2001–2002: Psy from the Psycho World!, controversy, and domestic success
In January 2001, Psy debuted his full-length album Psy from the Psycho World!, for which he was fined by South Korean government authorities due to his album's "inappropriate content". Psy was a rookie hip-hop singer that stirred up the Korean pop music scene with very blunt lyrics, peculiar dance moves, and an unconventional appearance that earned him the nickname "The Bizarre Singer" (엽기가수).
His second album Sa 2 also created controversy upon its release in 2002, earning complaints from civil groups due to the potentially negative influence his album would have on children and teenagers. Since then, Psy has been thought of as a controversial artist, and Sa 2 was banned in 2002 from being sold to the under-19 set. In September of the same year, Psy released his third album 3 Psy. The album's title song, "Champion", saw great success partly due to the hype from the World Cup games held in Seoul. Despite the significant amount of controversy surrounding his music, Psy was awarded songwriting accolades at the annual Seoul Music Awards, marking his breakthrough in the South Korean music industry.
2003–2009: Military service, Ssajib, and re-enlistment
In 2003, Psy was conscripted into the South Korean military as part of mandatory military service imposed on all South Korean men aged 18 to 35. Psy was excused from military duty due to working at a software development company (the South Korean government grants exemptions to those with technical expertise working in companies that serve the national interest). He was expected to be released from duties in 2005. In 2006, Psy released his fourth album Ssajib, which won honors at the 2006 SBS Music Awards and Hong Kong's Mnet Asian Music Awards.
In 2007, state prosecutors accused Psy of "neglecting" his work, holding concerts and appearing on local television networks during his period of prior employment. On October 12, 2007, the Seoul Administrative Court decided that Psy must be redrafted, rejecting a lawsuit filed by Psy against the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) in August. Two months later, Psy was re-drafted into the military where he had held the rank of Private First Class and served as a signalman in the 52nd Army Infantry Division, before being released from duties in July 2009.
2010–2012: Fifth studio album and debut performance in Japan
Owing to financial difficulties, Psy could no longer release his own songs. His wife encouraged him to join the South Korean music label YG Entertainment, whose founder and chief executive officer Yang Hyun-suk was an old friend of Psy's. In 2010, Psy joined YG Entertainment. Psy released his fifth album PsyFive in 2010, and its lead single "Right Now" was banned from under-19 audiences by South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for what it deemed an "obscene" lyric, "Life is like toxic alcohol". Despite the ban, Psy received awards during the 2011 Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards. Psy had, up until this point, topped domestic music charts half a dozen times throughout his twelve-year career in South Korea.
On January 7, 2012, Psy performed alongside K-pop bands Bigbang and 2NE1 in front of 80,000 Japanese fans during the YG Family Concert in Osaka. His performance was broadcast by Mezamashi TV (mezamashi meaning "wake-up alarm"), a Japanese news magazine show produced by Fuji Television. This marked his first appearance on a foreign broadcasting network. During the concert, Psy introduced himself to his Japanese fans with a sign that read "I'm a famous singer well known for driving the audience wild in Korea, but here, today, I'm just a little chubby newcomer" and sang five of his hit songs while Japanese TV commentators expressed their approval in their astonishment at his humorous incorporation of the moves of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé.