On May 17 KST, the 50th civil court division of the Seoul Central District Court held a hearing for the ongoing legal battle between HYBE Labels and ADOR’s CEO, Min Hee Jin.
During the hearing, Min Hee Jin’s side, represented by Sejong Law Firm, disclosed an email sent by Min Hee Jin to HYBE executives earlier in April. The email outlined several grievances regarding HYBE’s operational structure.
One section of the email, which highlighted Min Hee Jin’s concerns about ILLIT copying ADOR’s girl group NewJeans, read,
“ILLIT isn’t the only one. LE SSERAFIM has also faced plagiarism accusations regarding their music and concepts three times. An overseas producer working with ADOR has informed us that HYBE is currently negotiating fees for plagiarism damages for certain LE SSERAFIM songs.”
A day after this revelation hit the headlines, netizens think they’ve identified the song at the center of the plagiarism negotiations - “Cliché” by American artist Velous, released in 2017.
A significant number of netizens believe that this song sounds “identical” to LE SSERAFIM’s “Easy”.
Netizens chimed in with comments like, “These songs are practically twins”, “It seems more like they remixed the original song”, “From the beat, the flow, the key verse, even the intro - it’s all exactly the same”, “I can sing ‘Easy’ along with that song without any issues”, “Excuse me, sir, how much did you ask HYBE for plagiarism damages?”, and more.
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