Gangnam Style hitmaker Psy releases 1st album since smash hit

South Korean rapper Psy, who is set to release his first album since becoming an international sensation more than three years ago with the smash hit Gangnam Style,says the pressure to live up to that success caused him to take his time with his latest project.

"There were many thoughts going around in my head, including thoughts like, 'If I write like this, it would be not as good as Gangnam Style,and 'If I write like this, the international audience will not understand,' so it took me a very long time to organize all those thoughts into one," Psysaid at a news conference in Seoul on Monday, a day before Chiljip PSY-Dadebuts.

He released the album's first track,Daddy, on Monday. In just a few hours, it racked up more than 400,000 views onYouTube.

Chiljip PSY-Da which means This Is PSY's Seventh Albumin Korean comes about a year and a half after the release of his single Gentleman.It's his first album since 2012, when Gangnam Styleswept the world with addictive music and dance moves and made Psya global superstar.

Gangnam Style,featured on the album PSY 6,recorded 2.46 billion views on YouTube, becoming the most viewed YouTube video ever.

• Psy's Gangnam Style breaks YouTube's video counter
• Psy's Gangnam Style reaches 2 billion views on YouTube
• Psy's Gentleman video surpasses 60 million views after debut

Psy's new album includes songs of various genres, including dance music, hip-hop and punk.

He said he tried to include many emotions, including happiness, anger, sadness, joy, love, hatred and greed, as he had done in his past albums.

"Because this is an album that retains my continued desire as a lyric writer who wants to try things other than love songs in a movie-like way, there are several genres," he said.