TWICE Nayeon continues to break history as a newly-debuted soloist, but her song "Sunset" takes a sudden turn after it gets embroiled in plagiarism accusations. Music listeners note that they noticed its similarities to THIS song.
Read on to know more.
TWICE Nayeon's Track 'Sunset' Plagiarized From Stevie Wonder's 'How Will I Know'?
On July 13, a discussion commenced on the online community forum Instiz, the subject being TWICE Nayeon's b-sidetrack, "Sunset." In the post, the author wrote, "I feel like Nayeon plagiarized this song..."
Attached in the post is Stevie Wonder's song "How Will I Know" featuring Aisha Morris. The song was released in 2005 under his 23rd studio album, "A Time to Love."
Also attached is Nayeon's "Sunset," and the author implied that the two sound alike.
Soon enough, the post attracted attention, and K-pop fans began expressing their divided opinions. Some alleged that Nayeon's song plagiarized from the Stevie Wonder hit due to its similarities.
- "It's way too identical."
- "I was wondering if how similar it could sound, but it's almost like at the level of a song cover. It's surprising."
- "Oh, the melody is really the introduction."
- "Who wrote this song? It's not Kenzie."
- "I think it's only 6 to 16 seconds, but the plagiarism standard is more than 8 bars. Is this plagiarism?
- " Yes, but other than the intro, the song is completely different."
TWICE Nayeon Plagiarism Issue Draws Mixed Reactions
However, K-pop fans, especially ONCEs, immediately came to TWICE Nayeon's defense.
- "Is it just me? But I can't hear recognize the similarities."
- "What are the similarities here? I feel like all jazz music sounds like this?
- "Don't you know what is a sample?"
- "It's not plagiarism, you can also recognize the key difference."
People who claimed it was plagiarism noted it's not a sample since the original author wasn't even credited by JYP Entertainment. In context, a sample in music means reusing a portion of an existing sound recording for another recording.
The idol's fans, however, further argued that it's a sample since the alleged plagiarized song was under Motown, a platform that provides source materials for sampling.
Fans also implied that it could be an interpolation, wherein a certain portion of a song is re-recorded instead of sampling it.
What are your thoughts on this issue?
TWICE Nayeon released her first mini-album on June 24. The album is comprised of seven songs, including the title song "POP!," "No Problem (feat. Stray Kids Felix)," "Love Countdown (feat. Wonstein)," "Candyfloss" "All or Nothing," "Happy Birthday to You" and "Sunset."
Three weeks since its release, the album continues to break records as it makes it to US Billboard main chart "Billboard 200" for two weeks in a row following last week.
Nayeon also became the first K-pop solo artist to chart in the top 10 on the chart.
READ MORE: TWICE Nayeon Makes History on Artist 100 Following Billboard 200 Milestone
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Written by Eunice Dawson
