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“Gangnam Style” meaning

PSY · 2012 · 🇰🇷 Seoul · Level B2

PSY’s joke about Seoul’s richest district: wordplay and slang from Gangnam.

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What the song is about

“Gangnam Style” (2012) is PSY's satire of Gangnam, the wealthy, trendy district of Seoul south of the Han River. He describes his ideal woman — classy by day, wild by night, a woman who knows how to enjoy a coffee — and himself as the guy who is the same, while the video shows him acting “Gangnam style” in the least glamorous places imaginable.

It became the first YouTube video to pass a billion views, and its horse-riding dance went around the world.

The famous line uses 오빠 (oppa), what a woman calls an older brother or an older man she's close to. The Korean is fast in the verses, but the chorus is easy, and the jokes come through even with a little vocabulary.

Slang and key words

The slang and key words to know before you listen. Words with an arrow have their own slang page.

Learn Korean with “Gangnam Style”

Level B2 · Seoul slang and wordplay

Lyrics and translationComing soon

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