Want to reach over two billions views on YouTube? Going to Berklee may increase your chances, as Charlie Puth and PSY have found out.
Berklee College of Music’s mission statement reads,
“Berklee’s mission is to educate, train, and develop students to excel in music as a career.”
Throughout its 72-year history, Berklee College of Music has prepared famous musicians. John Mayer, Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer, and Quincy Jones are among the many notable musicians that have attended Berklee. Now, the contemporary music college has another claim to fame: two former students have topped YouTube’s most-viewed charts.
On Monday, Wiz Khalifa’s ‘See You Again’ featuring Charlie Puth surpassed PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ to become the most-watched YouTube video. The video hit 2,894,026,649 views, while PSY’s smash single sat at 2,894,022,885 views.
Wiz Khalifa’s music video averaged over three million views per day in 2017 alone. The song has also become one of the most requested tracks at funerals in the UK.
Both songs, which currently sit at the top of YouTube’s most-watched videos list, prominently feature two Berklee alums.
South Korean superstar PSY attended the contemporary music school from 1999 to 2000. ‘See You Again’ was co-written and co-produced by Charlie Puth, who also sings the chorus. While at Berklee, Puth majored in engineering and music production. He graduated in 2013.
PSY isn’t the only notable South Korean alumni — not by a long shot. South Korean musicians have represented the largest group of international students at Berklee. And any have returned home to impact the Korean music scene. Many, like PSY, have become popular singers and songwriters. Others, like tenor saxophonist Jung, Sung-jo, have become instrumentalists and composers.
2NE1’s Bom and Canadian singer/rapper Henry Lau have also attended the popular music school. Along with PSY, Lau and Bom have had an enormous impact on the Kpop scene.
Image by Funky Tee (CC by 2.0)
Yea..but the thomas pridgen and tony royster drum battle was by far one of the most watched video at one point…every drummer in the world has seen that film…
Fuck Berklee!
Fuck Berklee x1000. Half of the famous people on their shiny alumni list were given honorary degrees because they were already famous and Berklee wanted their stamp. I went there while working two jobs to make ends meet (which I didn’t), playing in two bands, and had to walk away from an internship at a recording studio I helped build so I could go to class and hear a failed engineer tell me how to make it. I was so strapped and stressed from the workload that I “graduated” with a GPA .11 points under the requirements and walked away with $77,000+ of debt and nothing to show for it. Fuck them all.