NewJeans Accused of Plagiarism: Is it a HYBE Sabotage Attempt?

The Korean news site “Sports Chosun”published an article on May 12 accusing NewJeans’ new song, “Bubble Gum”, of plagiarism. The article referred to a YouTube video from the 11th which compared “Bubble Gum”to the 1982 song “Easier Said Than Done”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRPfiAkk0YQ

Following the publication of this article, there was a surge of discussions on Korean forums surrounding the alleged plagiarism by NewJeans, igniting heated debates.

Conversely, the YouTube channel responsible for the original video acknowledged that the resemblance between the two songs was derived from a popular melody known as the “Shakatak song”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvc_nlVrx4I

At the same time, sampling is a widely accepted method in the music industry, and “Bubble Gum”may have legally incorporated elements from the popular “Shakatak song”, which has been sampled in numerous tracks in the past.

Furthermore, it was noted that due to the absence of “Bubble Gum”on music platforms, the official credits and sampling details of the song have not been revealed.

The initial article addressing this problem and other related ones has now been removed.

Despite the ongoing debate, focus remained on the author of the Sports Chosun article – reporter Lee Yoo-na. It was revealed that this same reporter had written multiple now-deleted articles supporting HYBE in the HYBE-ADOR conflict, including one which falsely accused Min Hee-jin of alleging that BTS had plagiarized her.

Consequently, there was speculation that HYBE’s alleged involvement in the new plagiarism scandal against NewJeans was a deliberate act of sabotage, causing frustration among netizens.

Displayed below are a few remarks from internet users:

They are really trying to get rid of NewJeans
HYBE’s media play really disgusts me
HYBE is trying to grasp at straws to take down NewJeans
It’s laughable how blatantly obvious their intentions are, daring to make these claims. HYBE, why can’t you just let ADOR go?
I’m siding with NewJeans and Min Hee-jin

The information was obtained from theqoo, Alk, and Krb.