PSY Talks Hulu’s Summer Swag, BTS, Bidding Farewell To Gangnam Style

After a two-year hiatus, Gangnam Style and Thing Thing star PSY returned to the stage for a record-breaking lineup of seven cities, ten shows, and 350,000 passionate fans, captured in the concert special Summer Swag 2022, now streaming on Hulu.

PSY took the time to talk to me about his record-breaking tour, collaborating with Suga of BTS, and bidding farewell to his internet-breaking hit, Gangnam Style.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity)

The pandemic forced you to spend a lot of time away from the stage. Did you find yourself reinvigorated after the big break?

If I take a break under my will, then it’s a different thing, but this break was not my intention. As a performer and a musician, I thought that when this is done, then I’ll do whatever I can to recoup these years of loss, to pay it back to my audience.

What was different about this Summer Swag tour compared to the previous?

It was the biggest, and it was literally all over the country. Our population in Korea is not that big, only 50 million, but when I launched the show website there were two million people trying to purchase a ticket at the same time, the biggest show in Korea’s show business history.

I was so shocked about that number, and shocked that I could perform in stadiums in so many cities. I’m not an idol, so I really feel honored about the record.

You seem to have more energy than anyone on the stage. What’s your secret?

When I first step up and make my appearance on the stage, the crowd gives me that energy. All of those people cheering, it’s like my energy bars go up.

I’m not a sports fan and I don’t go to the gym, but once I hear the crowd applause, I can be a warrior. I can’t explain it, because if I’m on a running machine, I can’t run that much. But on the stage, I can run really hard and fast.

I understand that you were originally inspired to be a musician by watching a Queen performance. What was it about Freddie Mercury that inspired you?

When I was 15, I happened to watch Queen’s live concert footage for the Wembley Stadium 86. It was so avant-garde; they were playing elegant music, but their stage presence was the opposite.

[Freddy Mercury] was wearing white Adidas pants, and nothing on his upper body. They were playing these elegant songs together and turning on every light of the stadium, lighting their crowds so bright.

Doing group chants and singing along together was the starting point for me. I didn’t dream about specifically being an artist, but I wanted to stand in front of that many people and do something. My first dream was being a cheerleader.

What was the biggest challenge of Summer Swag 2022?

The weather. Korean summer is really hot, humid, and it can rain a lot, sometimes it’s really windy. All of the venues were outdoors, so it wasn’t under my control.

Because of that weather, it was really hard to maintain my stamina and keep it up, it was really challenging.

Was there anything that didn’t make the final cut of the footage that you would like to see?

The encore. The footage you saw was the main show, and after the main show is done, my encore is really popular, I keep going for literally two hours after the show. But that encore is not appropriate for the film because it’s really raw, and sometimes I drink on the stage [laughs].

Was there anything you would like to improve upon next time?

After every show I cannot say I was the best, but I can say I did my best. That was my best as a performer.

But I’m a co-director of the show as well, and as a director, right after the show ends, I dream hard about making an upgraded show, making a great visual and greater sound, greater lighting, better equipment for shooting water.

Which musical performers do you admire right now?

There are too many. I heard Madonna’s gonna have a new tour soon. She’s the best, along with Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Beyonce.

Among the K-Pop artists, BTS, of course, do a great live show. Their performance and stage presence are great. They are popular in every single way, but I especially enjoy their showmanship.

Did you enjoy collaborating with Suga (of BTS), and do you plan to collaborate again?

Yes. I hope so, but we are expecting him to go to the army, so after his military service is done, definitely, we gotta do something together again.

Your music video with Suga, That That, contains a moment where Suga slaps your Gangnam Style character. Was that intended as a goodbye to that stage in your life?

It was. That blue tux guy, he has come and gone; last year was the 10th anniversary of Gangnam Style. It was time to say farewell to that blue tux guy, because new blood has arrived.

[BTS] are number one in the world right now, and [Suga] is saying, “Yo, thanks for the good job.” So, he said goodbye with a slap, and that blood. I love that blood!

[Gangnam Style] came with the biggest pressure. Especially as a songwriter, it was the biggest pressure to follow up. At the same time, as an individual, it was the biggest trophy and I know how lucky I am to achieve that. The trophy is still in my living room.

So, farewell to Gangnam Style. But I’m not saying forget about it. I’m saying I still keep that memory in my mind, but I want to move on.

What’s your take on the current music landscape, where songs are likely to go viral on TikTok?

Short form content makes music really dry, it shortens the length of the song. These days, not just Korea, but everywhere, most of the pop songs are not even three minutes. Most of them are around two minutes, 30 seconds. I think short forms on social media influence that.

So when we make music, we have to make it work within 20 seconds, it needs to be more intense. It’s kind of hard to do so, but we’ve got to follow that trend and adjust to it. But wasting music in that short way is kind of unfortunate.

Would you say that something is being lost in the process?

I don’t want to describe it as a loss. I think my genre of music is comfortable with the short form, especially if you talk about memes. My previous music video, it was all about memes, there were fifteen or twenty in there.

Right now, I’m preparing a new song with some new moves, and the challenge is to make another meme for this short form world. But for other kinds of musicians, those who play acoustic or band music, and need four, five minutes to express themselves, then this form is too short.

Are you going to continue Summer Swag in the future?

I hope so. Since I’m a pop musician, that means I’ve got to be popular. There’s got to be demand from the general public. As long as there’s demand, then of course I’m going to do my job.

If I feel that I’m no longer useful, I’m not sure how long I can maintain this job as a performer. But as long as there’s demand, then of course. I gotta keep this up.