Netizens Defend Jay Park From Plagiarism Accusations

Is he copying or paying homage?
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Koreaboo

Solo artist and businessman Jay Park dropped the music video teaser for his upcoming song “Your/My.” It’s the title track off Jay Park Season 1, which releases on April 25 KST.

The teaser went viral on X (formerly Twitter) with 625.9K views at the time of writing. Netizens were quick to judge the video based on the few seconds of the clip, pointing out similarities to another music video.

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When watching Jay Park’s teaser, K-Pop fans couldn’t help but think of BIGBANG member Taeyang‘s iconic “EYES, NOSE, LIPS” MV. Taeyang’s MV slowly zooms out from a singing Taeyang, who is shirtless, on a dark set.

Yet, it’s not Taeyang’s fans who are upset over this. Many VIPs have expressed their support for Jay Park’s upcoming release.

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Many other netizens are coming to Jay Park’s defense, too, against the “plagiarism” allegations. Some have pointed out that if Jay Park is copying any artist, it’s actually American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer D’Angelo.

In 2000, D’Angelo debuted at No. 1 on US Billboard 200 with album Voodoo, and its lead single, “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” along with its provocative music video featuring panning of a completely naked D’Angelo on a black set, earned him nominations for “Video of the Year,” “Best R&B Video,” and “Best Male Video” at The 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, but won him the Grammy Award for “Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.”

It’s pure sexuality. D’Angelo, muscularly cut and glistening, is shot from the hips up, naked, with just enough shown to prompt a slow burning desire in most any woman who sees it. The video alone could make the song one of the biggest of the coming year.

— Billboard

D’Angelo’s influence is undeniable for any R&B-loving male music artist. Many pay homage to him by filming similar music videos to his “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” as a few netizens have now pointed out in defense of Jay Park. For one thing, Jay Park covered his tattoos for “Your/My.” He wouldn’t have needed to do so if he had been imitating Taeyang, as the idol had tattoos in his MV. Jay Park was clearly attempting to imitate D’Angelo, with no tattoos, just bare skin and a chain.

A decade ago, Panic! At The Disco‘s Brendon Urie released the music video for “Girls/Girls/Boys” from the album, Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!. If it wasn’t obvious, Urie confessed in the YouTube description that the music video was homage to D’Angelo.

Girls/Girls/Boys is such a racy song that it immediately made me think of one of the sexiest videos of all time, which also happens to be one of my favorites. Doing an homage to D’Angelo’s classic video seemed like a perfect fit.

— Brendon Urie

Likewise, in 2016, Jason Derulo directed and starred in the music video for his song “Naked.” With a title like that, it was only natural to pay homage to D’Angelo by baring it all against a black background. Despite Derulo making his music video different from D’Angelo’s by adding scenes including a woman, many criticized him for “copying” D’Angelo.

So, Jay Park isn’t the first to be influenced by D’Angelo and imitate the “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” music video, but he also isn’t the only one who has been criticized for doing so. Still, Jay Park probably won’t be the last, either.

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