Korean media published a new analysis of plagiarism allegations related to NewJeans' "How sweet". This is the latest development after the group and related units were sued by American musicians in the Central District Court of California (USA).
According to the lawsuit file, four musicians Adam Gockschevay, Aidan Rodriguez, Audrey Amacost and Michael Campanelli argued that the melody (topline) they composed for the song "One of a kind" was illegally used in "How sweet".
The plaintiff said that previously BANA - the unit participating in music production for NewJeans - sent the background music to Pulse Music Group and requested topline composition. After completion, the demo was transferred back to BANA, but the songwriting group was informed that the song would not be used.
However, about four months later, "How sweet" was released. The musicians said they were surprised to see the melody of the demo appear in NewJeans' song.
In the analysis, comparing the music section from the 30th to 43rd second of "One of a kind" with the section from the 8th to 20th second of "How sweet". According to this unit, the two songs have the same 4/4 rhythm, the same Si lower register, the same 125 BPM speed and especially possess a nearly identical melody sequence.
Korean media also released a transcription for comparison, saying that the sequence of pitch, duration, rhythm and the use of stress-generating notes in the two songs are almost the same.
A Korean music expert said it is very difficult for two toplines to simultaneously coincide in pitch, duration, rhythm and melody structure if it is just random.
The lawsuit also attracted attention when targeting many parties, including HYBE, ADOR, NewJeans, BANA, producer 250 and former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin.
BANA, run by Kim Ki Hyun, is the A&R unit of NewJeans and participates in the development process of "How sweet". In the K-pop production system, the A&R department is responsible for searching for songs, processing copyright and checking intellectual property rights before release.
The plaintiffs argued that Kim Ki Hyun directly received the demo, so he could not not know about the origin of the melody. They also cited Min Hee Jin's previous statements about directly participating in the production of NewJeans' songs.
Regarding the allegations, ADOR said that "How sweet" was received through BANA and the company is reviewing the entire song reception process, including analysis of the degree of similarity between the two works.
This is the second time in a few days that NewJeans has faced copyright disputes, after the song "ETA" was also sued by a music publishing company in the US on copyright infringement charges.
