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Facing the giant pair of bronze hands that stands outside the Starfield COEX Mall in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district, I felt dwarfed by the power of South Korea’s most celebrated cultural export.
Although it was my first visit to the country, I knew what those odd hands meant. They glorify the “Gangnam Style” dance, a 2012 hit song by the South Korean pop sensation PSY, which became a global earworm. It was the first YouTube video to hit 1 billion views, sending South Korean pop music into the history books.
