Rumors Spark That LE SSERAFIM's "Smart" Failed To Be Copyrighted Due To Plagiarism

When LE SSERAFIM released their latest album, EASY, back in February, it seemed to be the starting point for a hate train for the K-Pop group that is still continuing to this day. Not only have the members been bombarded with criticism and hate for their recent vocal performances, but several of their songs have come under fire for alleged plagiarism, including B-side track “Smart”.

The song has been compared to both “Woman” by Doja Cat and “Water” by Tyla, and it has been compared to other songs as well and considered too similar to be a coincidence.

the LSF thing is so… watching everyone gaslight tyla and those who hear what they hear is insane.

the chords of the song is People by Libianca to a T. exact key.
the amapiano element, styling and choreo is Water by Tyla
and there are Calm Down Elements

— ★ DOPALIIS ★ (@fcknlisa) February 20, 2024

For these reasons, when a post was recently made stating that “Smart” had failed to be copyrighted by KOMCA (Korea Music Copyright Association), allegedly due to these plagiarism accusations, netizens were quick to jump on the bandwagon of hate towards the group without looking for further evidence.

Below is a list of some songs of LE SSERAFIM’s that are copyrighted, with “Smart” at the bottom not coming up on the KOMCA website.

The comments section on a forum post about the issue quickly got hundreds of comments, mostly from people criticizing LE SSERAFIM and their label for their alleged plagiarism, with some comments harsher and more hateful than others.

However, some people did do further research into the matter, and it turns out there’s a different reason “Smart” hasn’t been registered with KOMCA. Since foreign producers were involved in making the song, it has been copyrighted with ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) instead.

They’re not the only K-Pop group to have some songs copyrighted with KOMCA and others with foreign organizations. For example, while BABYMONSTER‘s “SHEESH” has been registered with KOMCA…

Another one of their songs, “Like That”, hasn’t been.

IVE was another example used in this situation, who has songs both registered and not registered with KOMCA. “Reset” and “Wow” are registered, while “Ice Queen”, “Blue Heart”, “Accendio”, and “HEYA” are not.

Once it was revealed that the accusations that “Smart” hadn’t been copyrighted due to plagiarism were false, netizens were quick to condemn those that had jumped to conclusions so quickly without any evidence or research.