"Kkurismas" Composer Say Crayon Pop's New Song Is Not a Rip Off Of "Lupin The Third" Opening Theme

The composer behind "Kkurismas", which now faces criticism for allegedly copying the opening theme of "Lupin the Third", explains that both songs are completely different, citing musical theories to further prove his point.

Dec 4, 2013 11:44 AM GMT

TAGㆍcrayon pop

Crayon Pop was recently slammed with another plagiarism accusation following the release of their latest Christmas Track "Kkurismas" ("Lonely Christmas"). The first 10 seconds of the song was likened to the main theme of the hit Japanese anime series, "Lupin the Third", thus sparking the controversy.

Not long after, the song's composer, Kim Yu Min, issued a statement to address the allegations saying that "Kkurismas" is not a rip off of the "Lupin the Third's" opening song. In his defence, the composer iterated several musical theories that would explain why the two songs coincidentally sound the same.

On his Facebook page, Kim Yu Min wrote, "'Lonely Christmas' is an innocently-made piece of work without any reference used. I would've been a fool to copy 'Lupin the Third's' opening theme. Even if I had that intention, I wouldn't have been so foolish so as to make it sound so noticeable. In the first place, I've never heard of the 'Lupin the Third' song. The similarities was a result of similar genres."

He continued, "The two songs are both of the bebop genres with brass pattern subdivided into sixteenth note beats and an off-beat rhythm. In the case of bebop, the flow of the start of the song gives it anticipation, and one can say that the intro for 'Lonely Christmas' and 'Lupin the Third' falls into the same category. If you listen closely, the two songs' intros are actually different in tune and beat after the 1^st 16-beat measure. In terms of scale degrees, 'Lonely Christmas' is also 1^st-7^th-4^th-5^th/1^st-5^th-7^th-1^st while 'Lupin the Third' is 1st-3rd-7th-1st/1st-3rd-4th-1st/ and so on."

According to Chrome Entertainment, fans need not worry as Crayon Pop will proceed with its comeback activities notwithstanding the plagiarism controversy. "Crayon Pop will kick off their comeback stages this week beginning on December 4 as scheduled," a representative announced.

Tagㆍcrayon pop