Gwiyomi Fever (Viral Video)

The Gwiyomi song, or Kiyomi song (귀요미송), is a K-pop single by the South Korean indie musician Hari. The song was released on February 18, 2013 and is based on an Internet meme known as the Gwiyomi Player, which was invented in October 2012 by the K-pop idol Jung Il Hoon and has inspired many similar versions uploaded onto the Internet by Asian netizens.

According to The Bangkok Post, "Gwiyomi" or "Kiyomi" is a Korean slang used to refer to a cute person. The lyrics of the song can be interpreted as "1 + 1 = Cute, 2 + 2 = Cute", etc.

The "Gwiyomi Player" first appeared in October 2012 on "BToB MTV DiaryMany", a variety show featuring the South Korean idol group BTOB whose rapper Jung Il Hoon performed the Kwiyomi song with various gestures considered by K-pop fans to be "cute".

Weekly Idol, a South Korean variety show also featured a mini segment dubbed "The Aegyo Battle" (Battle of Cuteness) where various idols performed different variations of Gwiyomi. Towards the end of 2012, other K-pop idols from popular bands such as Miss A, Girls' Generation, Infinite and SISTAR also exhibited the hand gestures and movements of the "Gwiyomi Player".

On February 18, 2013, the "Gwiyomi song" was released by a South Korean music artist known as Hari. 6 days later, a separate version of the "Gwiyomi song" was uploaded onto the video sharing platform YouTube by Jung Il Hoon and his music label Cube Entertainment.

This inspired many South Korean teenage girls to upload their own version of Gwiyomi onto the Internet. According to the K-pop website Soompi, many of these videos subsequently went viral on various Korean language web portals.

From March 2013 onwards, the "Gwiyomi Player" was mostly recreated by teenage girls from Southeast Asia, where the K-pop music genre has a huge and loyal fanbase especially in Thailand and in the Philippines. A few Thai actresses including Nuengthida Sophon and Tanyares Ramnarong also performed their own version of Gwiyomi. On March 26, The Bangkok Post described the "Gwiyomi" song as the latest web-viral sensation that has unseated "Gangnam Style" to become the new K-pop craze.

Over in the Philippines, the trend caught on after Vice Ganda (a comedian and television presenter) performed his version of Gwiyomi on a popular teleivison show called "It's Showtime" aired by the Filipino broadcasting network ABS-CBN. Alodia Gosiengfiao (a cosplayer and model) also performed Gwiyomi for her fans.

In early April 2013, the China Internet Information Center (a web portal operating under the auspices of the Chinese State Council Information Office) reported that large numbers of Chinese Internet users have uploaded their own version of the "Gwiyomi" song. On April 2, an article by a regional newspaper was republished by Xinhua News Agency (the official news agency of China), hailing "Gwiyomi" as the latest South Korean melody surpassing the popularity of "Gangnam Style".

The Gwiyomi phenomenon began trending in several other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

And here's my own video,  the UNCUTE version of GWIYOMI. Enjoy...