NewJeans' agency refutes plagiarism allegations against their song 'Bubble Gum'
NewJeans’ agency ADOR refuted the plagiarism allegations for the group’s song, Bubble Gum. They also shared their problems with their parent company, HYBE, on how they are handling their public relations and legal affairs.
ADOR took to its social media pages on Tuesday, July 23 to address the plagiarism issue. In case you missed it, NewJeans released Bubble Gum in April ahead of their comeback.
Following the song's launch, the agency shared that English band Shakatak sent a complaint, which was received by HYBE via email, claiming that the song has similarities to their 2014 track, Easier Said Than Done.
The label detailed that they sought the statement of the songwriters of Bubble Gum, who stressed that "they had never even heard of the song Easier Said Than Done before the complaint was raised and therefore could not have used Shakatak's music without permission."
They added that they also commissioned an analysis from two renowned musicologists abroad, where they found that the two songs have different chord progressions, beats per minute, and "overall feeling and movement."
"Tellingly, it was deemed that the claim of unauthorized use over something so simple as a melody where a single bar sounds similar is a complete misrepresentation of the truth," ADOR said.
"It is, however, also difficult to argue that this particular melody is unique to Easier Said Than Done because it's the one that was in common use in pop songs of all subgenres before 'Easier Said Than Done' and one that remains common today," it added.
With this, ADOR stressed that they “strongly object” to the allegations and that they are requesting Shakatak to provide a credible analysis.
For their part, the English band shared on their X account that they also hired a musicologist regarding the matter.
The label also cried foul against some media outlets for “unfairly portraying” their move to hire experts, saying that it has been framed as an “unethical standard for their part and one out of step with standard industry procedure.”
“Because we have nothing to hide, it makes the most sense to go through the process of clarifying things out in the open rather than trying to cover things up or sweep things under the rug with a settlement,” they wrote.
Issues with HYBE
ADOR also expressed their dismay to their parent company for how they handled the situation, saying that despite the “highly sensitive nature of the issue,” HYBE “disseminated the content across departments without our consent, involving a far greater number of people involved than necessary” when it should have been directly communicated to them.
“Moreover, not only did HYBE not look to work closely alongside us to handle the issue and minimize negative press coverage, but they actually demonstrated a lukewarm and even passive attitude toward the issue," ADOR said.
ADOR also said that they sought help in tracking and countering defamatory content online, but HYBE’s legal counsel told them it’s difficult to track users on Korean forums. With this, the label’s CEO Min Hee Jin decided to contact the online forum’s CEO, who connected them to a direct hotline to report harmful comments on websites.
Concluding their statement, ADOR assured fans that NewJeans would take "a well-deserved rest, after which they'll be back to getting ready for their next exciting project for their fans."
HYBE has yet to respond to ADOR’s statement as of writing.
The two companies have been in a feud for months now. In April, HYBE filed a complaint against Min, accusing her of trying to take over ADOR to become independent from the parent company, which the latter denied.
In the same month, Min also released a lengthy statement, slamming HYBE for allowing Belift Lab's ILLIT to copy the Super Shy singers.
NewJeans is a five-member group known for their Y2K aesthetics, as well as for their hit tracks OMG, Ditto, Hype Boy, and Super Shy.