Chubby and wacky South Korean singer Psy makes a big splash globally
He's far from your average K-pop star, but Psy'sGangnam Style is a winner
A chubby 30-something with wacky dance moves, Park Jae-sang is nothing like the prettified, teenage ideal embodied by the stars of South Korea's phenomenally successful K-pop industry.
But Park, known as Psy, has succeeded where the manufactured girl and boy bands have tried and failed, making a big splash on the music scene around the world thanks to a viral video and a rare sense of irony.
Since being posted on YouTube in July, Psy's video for Gangnam Style - the title song of his sixth album - has racked up more than 150 million views and spawned a host of admiring parodies.
The worldwide publicity earned him a US contract with Justin Bieber's management agency, a guest appearance at the MTV awards in Los Angeles 10 days ago and invitations to various US TV shows.
Earlier this week he had the opportunity to school Britney Spears on his increasingly famous signature dance moves on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
The breakout success of Gangnam Style is viewed with a mixture of pride and surprise in Psy's home country, with industry analysts scrabbling to identify the magic ingredient that made it such a phenomenal success abroad.