PSY Opens Up About the Pressure of 'Gangnam Style': 'How Do I Top That?'

PSY sat down with actor and host Daniel Dae Kim for CNN International's new documentary series K-Everything, and within minutes he said something that most artists in his position probably feel but rarely say out loud: "As a singer, I've been enjoying it my whole life, but as a songwriter, it's both a dream and a nightmare."

The follow-up was just as honest. "How do I make something better than that?"

The song he's talking about, of course, is 'Gangnam Style', released in 2012, the track became the first YouTube video to reach one billion views, doing so within just six months of its release. Daniel Dae Kim described it as the moment that "broke into the American market and completely changed K-pop's standing in the world," and it's hard to argue otherwise.

PSY backed that up with a story that carries real emotional weight. He recalled a phone call he received from Korean-American rapper Tiger JK, who had pulled his car over to the side of a highway, in tears. Tiger JK wanted PSY to understand what it meant for Korean-Americans to hear a song with entirely Korean lyrics playing on American radio. "You know what that means to Korean-Americans," PSY recalled Tiger JK saying. Daniel Dae Kim, himself Korean-American, said the image alone made him well up.

It's a moment that reframes 'Gangnam Style' beyond the viral novelty it's sometimes reduced to, a reminder that for a generation of Korean diaspora, it landed as something closer to validation.

On the subject of the 'Gangnam Style' statue erected in Seoul's Gangnam district, PSY was characteristically self-deprecating. "Honestly, personally, I find it a little embarrassing and more than I deserve," he said.

But if there's one thing that gives PSY uncomplicated joy, it's his annual Heumppeok Show, a summer outdoor concert series famous for drenching the audience in water. He described it as "the peak of happiness," explaining that performing in front of 25,000 people means seeing 25,000 faces made happy in real time. "In that moment, I genuinely feel like I could die with no regrets," he said.

For an artist who has spent over a decade living in the shadow of a phenomenon he created, that kind of unguarded contentment feels like the most honest answer to the nightmare side of his own dream.