Past Accusations Of BTS Plagiarizing SHINee Reemerge Amidst HYBE Fallout

In the ongoing feud between HYBE Labels and ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin, there have been numerous accusations of plagiarism being thrown around about various K-Pop artists. Min has accused ILLIT of plagiarizing NewJeans, for example, as well as other groups such as TWS and even SM Entertainment artist RIIZE.

With all of this ongoing chaos and the many plagiarism accusations, an old instance of HYBE Labels artist BTS being accused of plagiarizing another K-Pop group has reemerged, and has been met with some interesting reactions from Korean netizens.

The claims go back to BTS’s HYYH era around 2015 and 2016. The various outdoorsy, camp-themed imagery and concepts used for the Young Forever era in particular were compared to SHINee‘s 2014 Japanese single, “Lucky Star”. For example, both groups used rainbow-colored hot air balloons in their concepts.

Also used in both groups’ concepts was a campfire with the members gathered around in the dark.

These two images also have some visual similarities.

On a forum post that brought up the past controversy, the comparison was also mentioned about the camper/bus that was used in both concepts.

There were even accusations against BTS for having similar accessories and clothes as some of SHINee’s members.

Like other instances of plagiarism accusations, it can be argued that this sort of concept isn’t owned by any single artist alone, and that it’s basic enough to have been created by BTS’s team without meaning to copy SHINee. Some Korean netizens, however, remember when the original accusations were made, and just how serious they were at the time.

• “I think SHINee fans said something back then, but everyone turned a blind eye to BTS.”
• “It’s been a long time.”
• “It’s embarrassing, but they must have known all about it.”
• “That’s right, there was this too.”
• “I remember it was seen as controversial back then.”
• “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this. It’s not just one or two, it’s ridiculous.”
• “It’s embarrassing.”
• “Wow, I found this out for the first time, what is this.”
• “At this time, SHINee fans must have been really frustrated.”
• “Wasn’t there more to it than this?”

This situation happened nearly a decade ago and didn’t have any major repercussions for either group. But it’s still interesting to look back in K-Pop history at times like this and realize that some things haven’t changed much when it comes to plagiarism accusations being thrown around!