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Psy's long-awaited 7th album
Saying there will never be another “Gangnam Style,” world star says he stayed true to himself in nine-track album (Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Herald)
Psy‘s seventh studio-length album “Chiljip Psy-da” comes three years and five months after his sixth album, “Psy 6-gap,” which included the global sensation “Gangnam Style.”
“It’s been too long,” he began at a press conference at the Conrad Hotel in Seoul on Monday.
(Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Herald) |
According to Psy, the breakthrough came when he was performing at university festivals early this year. “I realized that I had chosen this job because I wanted to do what I wanted to do. Why was I paying so much attention to what other people thought?”
He said he remained true to that initial idea, doing what he wanted in this nine-track album. “As always, the album includes many different genres,” he said. “The base is in dance music. There’s EDM (electronic dance music), trap, hip-hop, funk, medium-tempo, ... in the lyrics, I tried to include all of the emotions people feel going through life.”
(Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Herald) |
The two songs are very different, according to Psy, because they were born while he was in two very different states of mind. “Daddy” was written last year while Psy was still in the afterglow of his U.S. promotions, while “Napal Baji” was written after he had decided to go back to his pre-“Gangnam Style” mindset.
(Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Herald) |
Meanwhile, Psy described “Bell-Bottoms” as being similar to the song “I’m a Guy Like This,” which he previously wrote for the group DJ DOC. “The arrangement and genre is retro funky dance, a genre I’ve wanted to do for a long time ... in the lyrics, I decided on the retro key word ‘bell-bottoms,’ and it worked out because a lot of women seem to be wearing bell-bottoms these days,” he said.
(Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Herald) |
Other tracks on the album include “Dream,” featuring JYJ‘s Junsu, “I Remember You,” featuring Zion.T, and “ROCKnROLLbaby” featuring will.i.am.
As to expectations of domestic and international success of his album, he stated categorically that he thought “Billboard No. 1 (was) out of the question,” and that “something like ’Gangnam Style‘ would never happen again. Statistically, it was highly unlikely in the first place that a song in Korean would be played across all continents.”
Rather than the ranking, Psy said he hoped fans would enjoy his full album. “For an artist, releasing a single and a studio-length album are very different. A single is like a snack, while a studio-length album is like a full meal. I prepared this album with the heart of a Korean mom, so I hope everyone would enjoy it all from start to finish without being picky.”
(Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Herald) |
Although he has no definite plans for overseas promotions, he said he is leaving the option open if he is “called.”
Psy’s seventh studio-length album, “Chiljip Psy-da,” was set to be released Tuesday.
By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)