The Singles Jukebox

We’re back for 2016 and more humourless than ever…

[Video][Website]
[3.47]

Megan Harrington: Ew.
[1]

Alex Ostroff: Does giving this a low score qualify as kink shaming? 
[3]

Jonathan Bogart: I’ve long been a well, not defender, but let’s say appreciator of Psy’s shtick. But at long last, even I can say: this joke isn’t funny anymore. 
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: Fitting, because Psy is a living dadjoke. At least the producer’s taking this seriously, although they keep forgetting this isn’t ATC.
[2]

Edward Okulicz: “Daddy”:’90s novelty techno-pop::”Gangnam Style”:’10s bro-DM. Sadly in comparison to all those reference points, this sounds like wallpaper and makes me feel nothing.
[3]

Alfred Soto: Psy might have heard “it” from his daddy, but the tune is closer to Aqua.
[4]

Madeleine Lee: Flipping the expected “where’d you get that body from” question and answer across the gender binary is great and perfectly expresses Psy’s sense of humour. The rest of this is surprisingly inoffensive and functional considering “Daddy ft. CL ft. will.i.am cowriting credit,” which makes me realize that I was hoping for something more godawful. At least that would be memorable.
[4]

Jonathan Bradley: In the three-and-a-half years since “Gangnam Style,” Psy has moved out of synch with Western pop; his biggest hit had a manic video to help it cross over, but it also complemented a pop landscape demarcated by the twin flags of LMFAO and David Guetta. EDM has shifted since, but Psy still sounds like Psy, and this changed context makes the jock-jam pound of “Daddy” sound dirtier and less compromising than the previous attempts to capitalize on YouTube serendipity that were “Gentleman” and “Hangover.” Also warping “Daddy” is the unfamiliarity — to Western ears, at least — of a male performer offering himself, and proudly, as a sexual object. Sure, LMFAO did that too, and like them, Psy’s ends are comedic: each of the 86 million views the video has received reiterate that the hook is a gag. But there’s a way to hear this uncomplicatedly as a Rule 63 take on will.i.am’s “I Got it From My Mama,” filial titillation and all. As a joke, this is his best since “Gangnam,” but beyond the pinging vocals echoing around the chorus, Psy isn’t offering much here he hadn’t already.
[5]

Crystal Leww: The fact that Psy deals in terrible stereotypes of the Asian man as the class clown is disappointing, but I also understand the desire to be known outside of East Asia and the willingness to make yourself into a caricature for tons of money. Psy is hardly the first (Jackie Chan’s played the card for decades now) and unfortunately, I doubt he’ll be the last. The problem, however, is that no one cares anymore, at least not really, so these little bonus forays into terrible EDM-pop songs that are really just a vehicle for Psy to shoot a video just reek of desperation. “Daddy” is not good, not even for EDM-pop, which is frequently still quite fun when it’s trying, and this is trying but maybe for too much: weirdly sexual, weirdly “look at me now, haters,” weirdly trying to be romantic (“you’ll be my curry, I’ll be your rice” like what?) and succeeding at nothing. I have no idea why CL’s team agreed for her to cameo here, either. Maybe Psy should make like Jackie Chan and defacto retire.
[2]

Patrick St. Michel: Psy is forever fated to be K-pop’s Sisyphus, punished for accidentally making the most famous Korean song of all time and basically dooming any compatriots attempts at global susses with “…yeah, but remember the horse guy?” His sentence is to continually push a ball of blaring EDM sounds and dick jokes up a hill, to diminishing YouTube and Michael Bublé disses. Whereas someone like Drake can be half respected artist, half Can I Haz Funny? factory, Psy is 100 per cent meme and, even when he makes very solid disco pop, he will only get attention for “Daddy,” all reheated noises and funny faces. Anyway, this was also the best thing CL was involved in last year, so that counts for something. 
[5]

Mo Kim: I can try to review the song, or I can focus instead on PSY’s dancing. Note the effort, but pay attention to the elegance, the swagger–the way this portly 38-year-old Korean man grooves like he knows anything he does is going to be followed, not only keeping pace with the youngins around him but setting it. PSY, I should mention, has become something of a dartboard for civilized people bemoaning the end of R3AL MUS1K on YouTube comment sections (or on Time): in its accidental success, “Gangnam Style” eclipsed an eleven-year discography that already happened to sound much like “Gangnam Style” when the world wasn’t listening. Commentators occupied by the project of Western global success may read “Daddy” as another example of diminishing returns; I’d rather read it as a continuation of work PSY has been doing for well over a decade, international viewers be damned. And, whether you like him or not, he’s still going to be there, appropriating 2NE1’s best hook and LMFAO’s loudness without hesitation, retweeting Michael Buble‘s moaning back at him, dancing over your protest, inviting you to laugh with him at anybody wringing their hands from the sidelines. 
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: This is a delightful goof, by which I mean that all of Psy’s singles I’ve heard are delightfully, self-aware-ly goofy, and this is firmly of a piece with those. Psy being Psy, this ably uses EDM tropes in the service of high-energy pop. And Psy being Psy, its chorus is so damn silly — CL (of K-pop superstars 2NE1) asking “Hey, where’d you get that body from?” and PSY responding “I got it from my Daddy” — that I can’t help but kind of love this. Sometimes the most memorable songs are the most ridiculous, and this is one. If loving “Daddy” is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.
[7]

Josh Winters: For all its connotations, no word in the English language makes me wanna run as fast as possible for a cold shower quite like “daddy,” as I feel the ick of devious grins running down my spine whenever I hear someone say it. Psy should know better than to take influence from will.i.am anyway; we as a society really didn’t need “I Got It From My Mama,” and we definitely don’t need this one either.
[2]

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: Any song that references the absolute worst song ever can become an impressive win or a glorious fail. This song is neither, but not even the layered synths in the pre-chorus save this from being complete meh. 
[3]

Will Adams: Beating will.i.am at his own game, eh? You can aim higher than that, Psy.
[4]

Brad Shoup: This thing flails so hard that a reference to honey’s suitability for long-term storage serves as the comic high point, narrowly edging the cut-off Eurodance riff. Still, even honey’s shelf life is limited.
[2]

Micha Cavaseno: The K-Pop Music Video Version of a Trump Speech comp. Or a IG meme deploring how real men and women used to behave cluttering my Facebook feed. In other words: junk.
[1]