Plagiarized? Lee Chaeyeon's Album Draws Flak For Similarities With SHINee Key's Design

People are criticizing WM Entertainment & creative team of Lee Chaeyeon for giving the female idol a "plagiarized" concept for her much-awaited solo album. Here's the full story.

Lee Chaeyeon Drops Concept Photos for Debut Album 'HUSH RUSH'

On October 6, WM Entertainment posted the concept photo for Lee Chaeyeon's first mini-album, "HUSH RUSH," on official SNS.

Under the blue lightning sky background, Lee Chaeyeon, who hung out her long hair, showed various poses while dressed in a black dress and accessories. Her conceptual Gothic punk look and pale skin tone are a reminiscent of a fantasy movie.

Upon release, numerous fans looked forward to Lee Chaeyeon's album, not just because it's her debut album but due to its concept adding excitement to the upcoming halloween season.

Aside from the concept, the previously-announced track list also received great attention. The album contains a total of four tracks, including the title song "HUSH RUSH," "Danny," "Aquamarine," and "Same But Different."

The public is paying keen attention to what will be Lee Chaeyeon's charm as a new solo artist.

Lee Chaeyeon's Album Design Accused of Copying SHINee Key's Ideas

But amid the anticipation, Lee Chaeyeon gets slapped with an unexpected controversy.

This is after SHAWOLs (SHINee fandom) claimed that the album's concept and design were stolen from SHINee Key's second studio album, "Gasoline," released in August.

Initially, fans noticed that the two album's fonts were similar, including their theme, purple and green. At first, SHAWOLs were criticized for assuming it was "copied" just for having similar colors.

But several people started to agree with the fandom upon seeing teaser posters of Chaeyeon's album, in which the layout is similar to Key's. The last straw was when WM dropped teasers of Chaeyeon with lightning bolts, a heart design on the CD and eyeballs, which was specially created by Key himself.

As the issue went on, people also noticed that the album wasn't only the one possibly copied but as well as the MV teaser itself, which both gave off gothic vampire vibes.

On Korean communities and internet platforms, K-pop fans started calling out the creative team of the idol, as well as WM Entertainment who failed to do checking process before approving the concept and design.

People believed that this is not only disrespectful to SHINee Key who worked hard for the original idea and concept, but netizens also felt bad for Chaeyeon who was given a "ripped off" concept for her much-awaited solo debut.

Lee Chaeyeon gained massive popularity as a member of the project group IZ*ONE in 2018. After the end of her activities in 2021, she also worked as a dancer in the entertainment show "Street Woman Fighter."

Prior to this, she initially entered the music industry in 2013 and is known for joining survival shows four times.

Thus, fans were extremely happy that Chaeyeon will finally have her first album in about nine years, only to face plagiarism accusations.

"HUSH RUSH" is set for release on various music sites at 6 p.m. on the 12th.

READ MORE: 5+ K-pop Idols Who Competed in Several Survival Shows Before Debuting

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Written by Eunice Dawson.