Remember “Gangnam Style,” the 2012 hit from South Korean singer Psy that became a global sensation? Of course you do; it was the first YouTube video to reach a billion views, and even now it’s the 11th most-watched video on the platform.


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Unsurprisingly, Koreans remember it too, and in 2016 they felt so compelled to honor its legacy that they unveiled a giant sculpture in Seoul’s Gangnam district of two giant golden hands making the same gesture Psy makes throughout the video as he pretends to be riding a horse.


The statue apparently cost around 418 million won, or $361,000, to install, and despite being a tribute to Psy’s most famous song, the man himself declined an invitation to the opening ceremony, calling the statue excessive.


Once you know what the statue is paying tribute to, its meaning becomes obvious, but without context (and if you’ve missed the giant words “GANGNAM STYLE” emblazoned on one of the arms), it just looks like a statue of hands delicately crossed. At least, that was one Twitter user’s experience when visiting Gangnam recently.



They tweeted, “We walked by this sculpture, and I really liked it like it looks so delicate for its scale and medium I was actually kind of in awe then I found out it was a statue made to commemorate gangnam style,” following it up with, “And I loved it even more.”


Their final two comments on the statue were, “1. I knew we were going to a gangnam style statue but i thought it was going to be like a fiberglass psy cartoon figure not the cuntiest pair of hands I’ve ever seen 2. See what beauty we can have when we have a budget for the public arts.”



Other users were amazed that the statue really was a tribute to Psy’s seminal work, while some shared that fans have been going on pilgrimages to the statue, which can be found outside the Starfield COEX Mall.


Sounds like a profoundly moving religious experience, IMO. Oppa Gangnam style!