By Julie Jackson

“Kim Jong who?” was the line that kicked off the New York Daily News article that introduced the release of YouTube sensation Psy’s long-awaited follow-up song to global hit “Gangnam Style.”

While the current political tension between the Koreas is making headlines around the globe, the buzz about Psy’s follow-up single “Gentleman” has begun to overshadow talk of missiles and war. 

Psy had kept people around the world on their toes for months with promises of a new song and a new dance routine to follow the addictively clever horse dance that put the singer on the map as a global star to be reckoned with.

The wait is now over with Psy’s newest single “Gentleman,” which was released worldwide in 119 countries on midnight Thursday. The track’s official music video was then unveiled for the first time at the rapper’s “Happening” concert held on Saturday night at Seoul’s World Cup Stadium.

The “Gentleman” music video was officially released to the public and uploaded on YouTube at 9 p.m. Korean time on the night of his concert. And as of Sunday morning, 13 hours after the video was uploaded, Psy’s “Gentleman” music video already garnered more than 6.9 million hits.

The music video is a comedic portrayal of Psy as a not-so-gentlemanly man, arrogantly strutting about the city of Seoul causing mischief tagged with the chorus line of “I’m a mother father gentleman.”

The song’s signature dance move, which the singer dubbed as the “arrogant dance,” is a side-to-side pelvic/hip-sway, a spin-off of the “Abracadabra” choreography by the popular K-pop girl group Brown Eyed Girls.

Although it is too soon to tell whether or not “Gentleman” will even come close to making as big a splash as “Gangnam Style,” its 7 million YouTube hits in less than a day make it a serious contender.

(juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)