Ungentlemenly Psy gives library fame and noise

Psy performs in his "Gentleman" music video.

By Kang Hyun-kyung

In his latest music video "Gentleman", Psy does a number of distinctly ungentlemanly deeds, among them, dancing and singing in a public library.

As a consequence, Seoul Metropolitan Library, where a short sequence in the hit video was shot, is attracting enormous attention.

But the sudden explosion of interest in the public facility is not necessarily good news for some staffers and those who use it.

Lee Soon-han, a public relations officer at the library, run by the city government, said there have been mixed results after the video featuring Psy performing with dancers in the library for five seconds went viral worldwide. It drew more than 150 million YouTube viewers as of Friday.

The city government allowed the singer to shoot his music video in the library in March.

"The good news is that the library is drawing unprecedented attention from citizens following the video's release," she said. "We opened a Facebook page in early March and some 80 people or so visited it. After we posted the footage featuring Psy dancing at the library on our Facebook, more than 1,000 Facebook users visited our page."

But the library is becoming noisier and is sometimes crowded with visitors who want to take photos there.

"Staffers from the information center complained about the public relations team because they received numerous questions from visitors about where they can find where the video was shot."

Some voiced concern about the library's image. On Wednesday, Jang Se-hwan, a Seoul City Council member, blamed Mayor Park Won-soon for allegedly giving approval for Psy to shoot his music video there.

"I am worried because the footage showing Psy dancing in the library could send the wrong signal to visitors. Some might want to mimic the popular singer or regard the library as a tourist destination. It's not what a library is for," he said.

A Seoul city official said that the marketing effect could outweigh the negative fallout from such minor hassles, claiming that the city authorities' decision was right.

Lee explained that the library approved Psy's use of its space because they were convinced that promoting making noise or dancing in the library was not the message the singer intended.

"Actually what he told to us was the opposite. We're told that Psy's message was that people should not dance or make noise in the library," she said. "In the music video, Psy did the opposite of what a gentleman is supposed to do. It's to show that dancing in the library is ungentlemanly behavior."

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