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Japan’s Amuro Namie plagiarized G-Dragon?!

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Written by On November 11, 2011

Recently Japan’s Hip-Pop queen Amuro Namie has been under attack by Japanese media and netizens for her new single Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! that allegedly sounds like G-Dragon‘s Heart Breaker. Japanese and Korean netizens are on opposite sides of the fences on this issue, but does this debate even matter? Asian artists have always sampled music from fellow artists from America and Asia.  Furthermore, G-Dragon sampled Heart Breaker from Flo-Rida, which allows me to argue why this controversy the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

First, lets not pretend that G-Dragon and Korea as a whole are innocent victims.  Do I need to remind everyone that G-Dragon narrowly escaped his own scandal for this exact song in 2009?  The only reason he was cleared was because Flo-Rida, made a video with him later.

As a whole, Kpop has long history of plagiarism scandals.  Hyori’s H-Logic album has so many questionable songs on it that she was banned from performing for a month. YG has been accused of plagiarizing several times, which hasn’t all been cleared. Sadly, we currently live in an age where only a few artists produce original work, and sample other artists’ music, both legally and illegally. So lets not pretend Kpop hasn’t been caught in this grey area of plagiarized music before.

Second, I really think people don’t know what plagiarism means. Plagiarism is a blatant out right copy of an original work. Amuro Namie’s track has similarities but not enough to be called plagiarism. If a similar intro was all it took to be considered plagiarism, half the musicians in America would be sued.

Also how can this song be questioned for plagiarism when the song that she allegedly copied wasn’t an original work to begin with? People need to give Amuro Namie a break. It’s not like she pulled a Baby Vox, and used his voice and beat in her new song. This claim may have been legitimate if it wasn’t inspired by G-Dragon, the same artist who has the most plagiarism scandals next to Lee  Hyori. The beat of Namie’s track is vaguely similar but definitely not enough to call it plagiarism. In sum, this was drama created by netizens trolling the internet waiting to stir up another scandal.

Why don’t you be the judge.

Amuro Namie’s Sit! Stay! Wait ! Down!

G-Dragon’s Heart Breaker

This accusation of plagiarism is nonsense and clearly the definition of plagiarism has been redefined as the result of this controversy but what do you think?

(Nate 1 , 2 )

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  • Oh Ji’s Ho

    And Flo Rida’s song was sampled from Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Right Round’……

    • Anonymous

       use samples and plagiarism are two completely different things

      • Anon

        i don’t think flo rida gave sampling credit on right round. that was part of the problem.

      • Oh Ji’s Ho

        Ditto to what Anon said and the paragraph in the article of: “Second, I really think people don’t know what plagiarism means. Plagiarism is a blatant out right copy of an original work. Amuro Namie’s track has similarities but not enough to be called plagiarism. If a similar intro was all it took to be considered plagiarism, half the musicians in America would be sued.” summed it up for me.  I do think that all of the songs beginning with Dead or Alive’s original sound similar and are sampled, but I don’t consider any of it plagiarism.  Maybe I should’ve clarified that better.  :)

    • Mer

      Two of my cousins make beats and produce… they’re fond of saying “The Old Heads pretty much thought of everything.” :P  That’s not to say some one current can’t come up with something new, but most of the older songs are good and inspire the new and maybe even make better.

      • Oh Ji’s Ho

        That is so true…it is easy to pick up beats from old classics in newer songs.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XHJ4GQGXHP6ZQ7ULE2PQ2M5S7I ic

    from what I can hear, that is one hot song Namie!

  • nhoki

    so are u saying that because she plagiarized a plagiarized song, she’s innocent? LOL 
    and because gd’s work is not original, everyone can plagiarize it and it’s fine? some bizarre logic here! IMO, u should tell Namie “why the hell would u plagiarize an unoriginal song? Recycling again?” 

    and i’m not saying she did plagiarize heartbreaker, just trying to question the author’s logic and analysis. 

    • Anonymous

      you do have a point 

  • http://twitter.com/ovenfreshhhhh 조르디

    I’m trying to figure out what part of GD’s song she plagiarized… If it’s about the two songs sounding similar, I think people are going to have to sit down and think about how many songs there are out there with this type of beat.

    I could pretty much understand the GD/Flo-Rida thing, but this time I think people are trying too hard to find fault here.

    O/T: That’s a nice picture of Namie there, though. :)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LL4QDJLVFDT2RDIZYBALSE75JE angel29

    I have a question.  Was it YG who accused her of plagiarism or just the fans?  Because that makes a whole lot of difference in this discussion.  Thanks.

    • nhoki

      the fans – again because YG and AVEX work together, I don’t think YG is stupid enough to create tension between the 2 companies 

      • lay

        from what i have read, it is the Japanese netizens who claim that – no mention of them being fans or not.

        • Anonymous

          And that there makes this article in and of itself a waste of bandwidth and word processor usage.

  • Jenny

    It’s not a copy, maybe two seconds sound similar but that’s it. And I also wonder who made the claims first, korean G-dragon fans or the japanese media. I think Avex and Namie are more careful that they don’t use plagiarized songs. 
    And if someone wants to play the blame game GD again copied from another song.

    • Anon

      the first article i saw on it was from a korean news source (kbs) quoting japanese netizens. so far i’ve heard nothing from gdragon fans, amuro fans, yg, avex, or even korean netizens.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LL4QDJLVFDT2RDIZYBALSE75JE angel29

    Just submitting a little critique on the article: 

    First, your definition of plagiarism is incorrect.  Having said that, you should have cited your source so as not to be questioned yourself given the topic being discussed is plagiarism.  The internet can be a source of a lot of correct and incorrect content so it is best that you are covered.

    Second, and going back to the definition, plagiarism does not have to be a “blatant out right copy of an original work.”  In fact, in some cases, plagiarism are done in a subtle manner.  If I have a thesis 20 pages long, it would be difficult to identify I have plagiarized if I insert three innocent looking sentences off my sister’s boyfriend’s cousin’s award winning article.  It’s possible nobody would notice or ever find out but it’s plagiarism nonetheless.  It applies to music as well.

    Third, and I agree with Nhoki on this one, I question the logic of your argument.  Not concluding any of the abovementioned works were plagiarized, if indeed GD’s work was, it can still be a source of somebody else’s plagiarized work.  There’s no rule of exclusion here as there are many ways to copy a song from the lyrics to the composition.

  • Anonymous

    it’s just the media making a big fuss out of nothing. 

    i think we’ve come to a point where there are just too many tunes in the world and well… if you want them to sound good they’ll just sound like each other.

  • Anon

    this is a very irresponsible article from seoulbeats. not only does it get the definition of plagiarism wrong, it gives credence to the mindless ramblings of a few netiznes and posits that if amuro did in fact plagiarise, she plagiarised from an already (allegedly) plagiarised source, which is an awful way to justify plagiarism. it also makes claims but doesn’t substantiate them. yg has been accused of plagiarism but hasn’t been cleared? when? what are the cases that have been filed? by which artists? which companies? same with gd. what are the other instances? has legal action been taken?

    i’m not defending yg or gd or amuro or anyone. there have been cases in kpop where legal action has been taken for plagiarism, but none of those cases (other than hyori’s) have been mentioned here. instead it builds on an accusation by a nameless, faceless person and corroborates that with more accusations and little proof.

    plagiarism has a very precise, legal definition. just because someone hears something doesn’t make it plagiarism. i think b2st’s fiction sounds exactly like a robert miles song. but if robert miles doesn’t want to do anything about it, there’s nothing i can do. i can’t go around saying b2st plagiarised a song. plagiarism is also a very, very serious accusation to level at any artist. that the word is already tossed around so carelessly is regrettable enough but when it is tossed around by a site that is generally known for its sensible approach to kpop, it makes it 10 times worse.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anngelica-Aguilar/100000185514336 Anngelica Aguilar

      You took the words right out of my mouth. 

    • Igbygrl

      I remember YG’s teddy got sued by Sony Music because he “sampled” from one of Mariah Carrey’s songs. No follow up to the lawsuit ever made it in the news though.

      • Ann

        yg was not sued. if they were sued we would have heard about it. sony atv, which is the korean branch of sony music, sent a warning letter and asked for 4 songs not to be broadcast. since the songs continued to be broadcast and promoted, one would assume sony atv had no legal grounds for a suit.

        and it was not a mariah carey song. in fact, yg said a mariah song sounded similar to one of teddy’s.

  • http://www.facebook.com/littlelulufearless Little Lulu Fearless

    “G-Dragon sampled Heart Breaker from Flo-Rida” Sampled? Much like inspired, though. But I would like to say that I don’t think G-dragon ever even thought of Flo Rida when he was making the song. Yes,I’m a reasonable GD stan. But it would be too long if I elaborate more.

    “Do I need to remind everyone that G-Dragon narrowly escaped his own
    scandal for this exact song in 2009?  The only reason he was cleared was
    because Flo-Rida, made a video with him later.” Yeah, you’re own opinion. But, get your facts straight, darling. And don’t make your opinion sound like facts because it makes you sound stupid.

    “This claim may have been legitimate if it wasn’t inspired by G-Dragon,
    the same artist who has the most plagiarism scandals next to Lee Hyori” Are you even sure of what you’re saying? Your article is saying these plagiarizing issues are non-sense but you keep on implying and inferring that G-dragon plagiarized the song Heartbreaker.

    Biased much? Irresponsible.

  • kc

    so if you have a reputation of plagiarizing you’re free game for everyone else to plagiarize off of you? Cause that’s the message I got from this article…
    (and really, when have Korean and Japanese Netizens ever needed a reason to fight?)

  • http://twitter.com/AmandaRenee480 Amanda Evans

    The beats sound similar, but this is not a plagiarized song. I’m tired of seeing this (although I’m glad someone finally made an article saying how stupid these accusations are).

    She’s a respected artist in Japan and a talented performer (and someone I really look up to and respect; Namie is probably my favorite artist of all time). Seeing the Korean media say stuff like this really upsets me, when it’s obvious she didn’t copy anyone and people are just trying to get her into trouble.

    Sit!Stay!Wait!Down! is a better song, anyway. Sheesh.

  • http://twitter.com/PhanTheHotness Jenny

    i don’t think so the beginning sounds similar but so does gd’s beginning to flo-rider
    all in all, they all resemble each other
    it’s a stupid controversy. very dumb

  • Anonymous

    This is just big fuss about nothing. I´ve heard so many songs (and not just Korean) that did sound like “something” I have heard before. Sometimes the rights to the song (music composition not lyrics) are sold to more than one artist as everyone of them make it in different way (style). My big cousin is a composer and it´s a common thing.
    I agree these accusations are very harmful, people should be more careful saying stuff like that as plagiarism is a serious crime agains intelectual property.
    Anayway if she had plagiarized song would´n she have plagiarized FloRida´s song? I have to ask my cousin.

  • Mgflutie87

    Oh please. G-Dragon is the definition of plagerism. If she “plagerised” then G-Dragon should be charged too because NONE of the music he “writes” is his own

    • Anon

      if gd is the definition of plagiarism, then you’ve got the wrong defintion of the word or have a severe lack of reading comprehension. and i don’t even like gd or his music, so don’t make me defend his ass.

  • Mary G

    basically according to this article, since GD was accused of plagiarism, other artists can plagiarize him..

    Ok Chloe

  • KOPYKATS

    I always thought( and still do), GD totally plagiarized FloRida. As for Amuro Namie, similarities are there but not as strong as GD’s copy of FloRida’s. IMO, of course.

    I dont get why they just don’t give credit where credit us due. Not to mention… PERMISSION FIRST!!!

  • Omiomi

    Jeeze.  Not this again.

    You can’t plagiarize a rhythm. A few seconds of using the same beat in a song is not plagiarism. If you looked hard enough, you could find that same beat in thousands of songs. GD didn’t narrowly escape anything… he was never officially charged with anything.  And it seems everyone likes to forget that the one person whose song is the LEAST original is actually Flo-Rida’s.  He sampled, lifted melody and big portions of the lyrics from the original Dead or Alive song.  Flo didn’t plagiarize.  GD didn’t. Amuro Namie didn’t.  Big companies throw these accusations at each other all the time.  Sometimes it is a legitimate issue, but often it is pre-emptive and not something that even the accusing company thinks will stick.  If you have an army of lawyers on staff already, it doesn’t cost much to throw these accusations around.

    Also, being accused of something by netizens hardly makes someone guilty.  Comparing GD’s situation to Lee Hyori’s is unfair.  Lee Hyori also did not plagiarize anyone, however she did purchase songs from a man who is a plagiarist and he has been found guilty by the courts and is paying for his crime.  It is not the same thing at all.

  • Anonymous

    What makes this situation even more hilarious is that Flo Rida sampled/(plagarized?) “Right Round” from Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round”… XDDD

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