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Monday, January 25, 2010

Oh! my Gee did SNSD plagiarize Rihanna?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwtYqQ3-E0sendofvid
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Looks like we might have another case of plagiarism on our hands: everyone’s been tuning in to SNSD’s recent chart-topping hit track Oh!, and some eagle-eyed (err, bionically-eared) netizens have noticed an uncanny similarity between Oh! and popular American artist Rihanna’s Shut Up and Drive.

Obviously both tracks have different lyrics & different instruments, but with a bit of tweaking…

Many kpop fans have commented that the chorus really sticks out because it bears so many similarities to Rihanna’s track. “This is a great song, but the chorus is similar to Rihanna’s Shut Up and Drive,” one listener remarked. Another pointed out, “It’s ironic how Oh! begins with the words ‘brand new sound,’ yet the track sounds exactly like Rihanna’s Shut Up and Drive.” Some netizens believe that Oh! may not be necessarily plagiarized but is still heavily influenced by Rihanna’s song.

Shut Up and Drive and Oh! share a striking resemblance in terms of their arrangement of notes and how they are played. The melody of the SNSD track by Kenzie however seems more of an interpolation rather than a direct sample from Rihanna’s hit single.

It should also be noted that Shut Up and Drive contains a credited interpolation of New Order’s Blue Monday. We don’t know for sure if SME credited either parties for the sample; however, if Rihanna’s company bothered to give proper credits for their sample, surely SME should have done the same for SNSD’s.
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