Rookie group B.HEART was recently caught up in a controversy when the group's debut song "Realistic" was accused being a rip off of B2ST's song "Ribbon." Shortly after B.HEART released "Realistic" on Jan. 25, netizens quickly noted how similar the track was to BEAST's song.
According to Soompi, it wasn't just "Ribbon" that "Realistic" was compared. Netizens also draw similarities between B.HEART's song and BEAST's "12:30" and "Butterfly." They also noted that the rookie group's "Sad" track sounded similar to BEAST's "The Fact."
B.HEART's agency, Poong Entertainment, has denied the accusations. The agency explained that although "Ribbon" and "Realistic" may sound similar to other people, they can assure that the song wasn't plagiarized. Poong Entertainment nevertheless apologized for causing concern to B.HEART's fans.
"Realistic" composer also commented on the matter, reiterating that he did not commit plagiarism. "Compared to the characteristics of a 3-beat song and 4-beat song, a remake is relatively narrow. It may only sound similar due to the inclusion of similar fillers," he explained, as quoted by allkpop.
Junhyung, however, had a different story to tell about "Realistic." The rapper didn't mention the name of the composer, but narrated that he contacted BEAST and expressed that he liked the group's music. He also sent BEEAST a demo of the song that would later become B.HEART's controversial debut track.
Junhyung revealed that Kim Taejoo (the one who arranged and composed "Ribbon" for BEAST) cautioned the composer that the song was too similar to "Ribbon" and advised that it shouldn't be released.
"Though I think it's a very good thing that people are finding inspiration from our music and making new projects, this kind of situation is very regrettable," Junhyung added.
Meanwhile, Kim Taejoo has also expressed his anger at Stay Alone's statement, saying it was an "arrogant answer" to the controversy.
