On May 24, excitement rippled through the K-pop community as NewJeans unveiled their much-anticipated album and the music video for their single "How Sweet."
However, what should have been a celebration of creativity quickly turned into a storm of controversy as accusations of plagiarism surfaced, accompanied by suspicions of HYBE's involvement in sabotaging the group's comeback.
Within hours of the song's release, a video emerged online presenting a snippet of "How Sweet" alongside segments from two other songs, alleging plagiarism.
The video pointed out similarities with Midnight Fusic's "Summer Love" and Karencitta's "F.U.I.L.Y.," igniting a debate among netizens. Notably, the video's creator also referenced Min Hee Jin's previous claims of plagiarism against groups like ILLIT, further fueling the controversy.
The swift emergence of the video after NewJeans' release raised suspicions among netizens, with many accusing HYBE of orchestrating the plagiarism claims to hinder the group's comeback. Comments on social media platforms voiced skepticism:
"Is the account owner HYBE?"
"Wow, it has only been a few hours, I knew (HYBE) would do something like this."
"According to your logic, you are saying that the other two songs in this video plagiarized each other, am I right?"
"This is why HYBE only made 2900000000 last year. Pathetic HYBE."
While some fans condemned the allegations as misinformation and questioned the legitimacy of the video, others expressed concern over the potential impact on NewJeans' reputation.
One user remarked, "It's not even similar to begin with... For there to even be a debate, the evidence should be as strong as LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT's own plagiarism."
The suspicious nature of the YouTube account that posted the video, titled "tearnot," and its single focus on NewJeans' alleged plagiarism didn't escape scrutiny. Fans noted similarities between the account name and LE SSERAFIM's fandom name "FearNot," adding another layer of intrigue to the unfolding drama.
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Written by Cassidy Jones.
