K-pop girl group Red Velvet have released their music video for song "Dumb Dumb" off of their first album, The Red. This comeback song is getting a ton of attention with K-Pop fans everywhere wondering if this is the genre's answer to the Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj hit 2014 release, "Bang Bang." Or, if it is even a possible rip off.
Fans have taken to YouTube to create and post mashups of the two songs using the remixes to highlight the similarities of the two tracks. However, fans commenting on the remixes on YouTube are not crying plagiarism, they are instead supportively emphasizing that the two song are stylistically alike.
Billboard.com commented that "'Dumb Dumb' vaguely resembles the Ariana/Jessie/Nicki hit 'Bang Bang' but is pulled every which way that it hardly resembles such a catered-to-Top-40 hit."
The music video for "Dumb Dumb," which is markedly different from "Bang Bang," follows Red Velvet as they dance around colorful sets, including factories and offices and at one point, you see a conveyor belt spitting out cute doll-like copies of the girls.
If Red Velvet have indeed drawn their inspiration from Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj's "Bang Bang" this would not be something out of the ordinary. The genre has a rich history of adopting popular musical trends from overseas and re-purposing them to fit the K-pop style. Just last year saw INFINITE, one of K-Pop's hottest boy bands, release the EDM-inspired music video for "Destiny."
Ryan S. Jhun, president of Marcan Entertainment, confirmed on Twitter that they have produced four songs from The Red for SM Entertainment who manage Red Velvet. Marcan works with songwriters and producers from all over the world and this helps to explain the international sound that the tracks they produce tend to have.
#DUMB #REDDRESS #CAMPFIRE #dontuwaitnomore 4 songs with redvelvet #redvelvet #redvelvetcomeback... https://t.co/UgEII0iaGn
— Ryan S. Jhun (@ryanjhun) September 5, 2015
What do you think? Is "Dumb Dumb" a copy of "Bang Bang" or is it acceptably similar? Are you a fan of Red Velvet's comeback video? Tell us in the comments.
