Before reaching their current status as a global group, BTS struggled their way up from negative figures, burdened by the enormous debt of their management company. BTS began to gain traction in South Korea in 2016 when Spring Day became a national hit and has held digital music records in the country ever since.
However, during their early rise to fame, BTS faced several plagiarism controversies involving senior groups. Some of the groups BTS was most often compared to in their early days included BIGBANG, EXO, and SHINee. Recently, BTS has once again been accused of plagiarizing BIGBANG with evidence dating back nearly 10 years.
Specifically, from the You Never Walk Alone album, released in 2016, is claimed to have similarities in melody, harmony, and instrumental arrangement with BIGBANG’s song Feeling from the Special Edition Still Alive album released in 2012. Many netizens have resurfaced the two songs, conducted comparisons, and accused BTS of plagiarizing BIGBANG. On platforms like X and K-pop forums, Korean netizens believe there is a noticeable resemblance, suggesting BTS’s music production team may have taken inspiration from BIGBANG.
This accusation has been met with strong opposition from ARMYs. BTS fans argue that similar melodies are not uncommon in the music industry, and that accusations of plagiarism require more concrete evidence, not just based on subjective listening experiences.
Nonetheless, netizens remain unconvinced by this defense. This is not the first time BTS has faced plagiarism allegations.
This May, a topic titled “HYBE’s sins including BTS’s plagiarism” was published on the Korean forum “theqoo” and drew massive attention.
According to the topic in question, various rap lyrics written by BTS member RM, j-hope, and Suga are actually plagiarized from a huge number of artists, including Drake, E-Sens, DOK2, YOU, SoNyeoRadio, Kim Gaeri, Gaeko, Yankee, Swings and BIGBANG‘s TOP.
Responding to these allegations, in 2014, the official Twitter (X) account of BTS, has denied the plagiarism scandal themselves with a Tweet saying, “We have always been serious about music and plan to continue doing so in the future. Please trust and continue to watch over us, and we will deliver all the good music that your heart desires”.
Nevertheless, BTS eventually admitted to the lyrics plagiarism scandal in 2015, according to quoted articles in the topic.
In 2018, however, a concert VCR of BTS painted the boy group as victims of false accusations, manipulating fans into thinking that BTS never did anything wrong.
Drawing their conclusion from this sequence of events, the author of the topic said, “(The VCR) showed the acronyms for ‘Plagiarism Boys’ and ‘Chart Manipulation’. At the time, this community (theqoo) was filled with people saying that, although the chart manipulation allegations were wrong, BTS had admitted to the plagiarism accusations. Now that I think about it, there is no way that Big Hit (the original HYBE) didn’t know the verdict for the chart manipulation accusations and that the leader of their group had already apologized (for plagiarism). But they still made something like this to incite grief and anger in fans during the concert. Afterwards, HYBE has become a master at inciting anger and grief in fans.”
In the context of HYBE—the corporation that evolved from Big Hit and launched the global group—facing widespread criticism for a series of plagiarism scandals and unfair competition accusations, the evidence of BTS’s plagiarism is being met with increased ridicule.
Below are some comments from netizens:
- BTS’s song is said to sound like BIGBANG’s. It’s exactly the same.
- The beat is no different at all.
- Huh…? The beat is identical, yet no one has said anything about it all this time…?
- The frustrating part is that they copied it but still couldn’t make it better than the original.
- Oh!!! No wonder I felt a sense of familiarity when I first listened to this song.
- It really does sound similar, probably plagiarized.
- BIGBANG fans probably all know. On YouTube, BTS’s video is even tagged with BIGBANG’s name, so when you search for BIGBANG, their group shows up.
- A long history of plagiarism.
- This group is successful, so their past has been whitewashed. But what was done in the past will always come back.
Source: K14, X, theqoo
