"We keep it local" - Malaysianising "Gangnam Style": a question of place and identity

In 2012, Psy’s “Gangnam Style” reached rst place on the iTunes chart in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, among over 30 countries where the song topped the chart.1 It spread quickly through social media among Malaysians, prompting the Malaysian prime minister to tweet “Been hearing about Gangnam Style all of last week, even in the news. What’s your view that makes it so popular?”2 A conventional answer would be the catchy tune and simple dance moves that, unlike other K-pop songs and music videos, make it easy for children and older people to participate in the numerous ashmobs, line-dancing groups, and parody videos. That aside, I suggest that its parodic qualities and the replicability of its modern urban settings call out to be re-performed, recast in, and adapted to different locales; in that way, giving forth new identities.