Inspiration or fraud? Yoo Hee Yeol’s Plagarism Scandal
[ 객원 에디터 3기 / 정연우 기자] In September 2021, legendary artist Yo0 Hee-yeol uploaded a second track piano piece titled “A Very Private Night” onto his “Yoo Hee-yeol’sLife Music” Youtube series. Soon after, viewers began accusing the video of being too similar to a famous Japanese piano piece “Aqua” that was released back in 1999. Yoo, in response, quickly put out an apology explaining that he has “long [been a] fan of Sakamoto who exerted a lot of influence on his music” and claiming that Sakamoto’s musicality was unconsciously channeled into his composition.
In spite of the apology, fans and netizens began a trend of comparing Yoo Hee Yeol’s past pieces with other songs and artists. One after another, pieces like “Please Don’t Go My Girl,” “Stay at Our Sea,” and “I’m a Moon” were accused of having similar flows or melodies to already existing compositions and merely transposed to a different key, damaging the artist’s public image. Nonetheless, many of these allegations targeted songs that were clearly not plagarised or mixed.
Many former colleagues and friends of Yoo have since voiced their opinions regarding the scandal. During an episode of “100 Minute Discussion,” Boohwal leader Kim Tae Won and music critic Im Jin Mo criticized Yoo’s plagiarism and his qualifications as an experienced singer-songwriter. This incident apparently forced Yoo to leave “Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook,” a thirteen-year ongoing show created to support young and upcoming pop-artists in sharing their talents.
Though it is true that Yoo may have taken inspiration from other songs and pieces, he has demonstrated his reflection through his sincere apology and his departure from the public spotlight. The hate and public backlash that Yoo has received remains unparalleled in K-music’s history of accused plagarism scandals.
Though the fault of plagarising ultimately falls on Yoo, netizens should also refrain from unreasonable coercion towards the artist who they once celebrated.
Sources: Korea JoonyAng Daily, News Directory3, BIZoom, SKPOP, Allkpop
