KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — After being accused of plagiarism by fans of Kpop group Infinite for his latest song, Taiwan’s King of Mandopop Jay Chou has clapped back by giving them a music lesson.
Singapore portal TODAY reported that the matter came up when Chou posted a short video on his Instagram on August 27 of a 25-second instrumental teaser of his upcoming song.
Days later, Korean internet users started accusing Chou of plagiarism.
대만 가수이자 영화배우인 주걸륜님이 인스타에 업로드 하신 신곡 프리뷰가 인피니트의 줄리아 도입부와 너무 유사한 거 같아 표절 의혹 제기합니다 pic.twitter.com/wHCtS5T5Jn
— 곽묭팔 (@myxxgvly) August 31, 2021
According to them, the teaser was remarkably similar to the opening of K-pop boy band Infinite’s song Julia that was released in 2011.
Responding to the allegation, Chou explained via a statement that the song’s chord progression has been used for his other songs like Sunny Day, Qi Li Xiang, and Her Eyelashes.
“If the chord progression and the arrangement of the instruments are the same, then you’d find that the music is similar.”
“Basically, the chord progressions in pop music are all roughly the same,” he said.
Chou added that creating a new melody using the same chord progression that everyone uses today is the key.
“Ge (referring to himself as brother) should be considered a trailblazer already, [I’ve] used the 6m-4-1-5 four-loop chord method since very early on, do you want me to list out a bunch of examples for you?” he said.
