Taylor Swift Accused Of Plagiarism — Did ‘Bad Blood’ Video Rip From K-Pop Group 2NE1’s ‘Come Back Home’ Video?
Since 2007, Korean music — often summarized as K-pop — has grown exponentially in popularity. Thanks to the global appeal of Wonder Girls, Super Junior, and Girls’ Generation, other K-pop acts are following in their footsteps, breaking international musical borders. For example, Big Bang’s hit song, “Bang Bang Bang,” made it on the U.S. iTunes Top 100 chart upon its international release. Bangtan Boys (BTS) is on their first international tour that has concerts outside of East Asia. Finally, demand for live K-pop acts in the U.S. has brought KCON USA into fruition.
With increased popularity comes increased exposure, and in the case of K-pop group 2NE1, that may be a bad thing. Musical news outlets are now reporting that Taylor Swift’s music video for “Bad Blood” may have plagiarized 2NE1’s music video for “Come Back Home.”
According to The Muse, the argument of Taylor Swift plagiarizing 2NE1 actually came up in the midst of a Twitter battle Swift was having with Nicki Minaj. The two music icons were arguing over the VMA Awards, especially the fact Swift’s music video “Bad Blood” dominated. It was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Collaboration, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematrography, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Best Visual Effects. However, those nominations may be for moot as a Twitter user with the name handle “tay” brought up this peculiar tweet.
@NICKIMINAJ can we talk about how taylor’s video isn’t original and was copied from a group of four WOC, 2NE1 pic.twitter.com/LPtJzBHvAD
— tay (@chaelinfenty) July 21, 2015
From the side-to-side comparison, it does seem that Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” (released on May 17, 2015) is plagiarizing 2NE1’s “Come Back Home” (released on March 4, 2014). Despite this, the director of “Bad Blood,” Joseph Kahn, personally took to Twitter to express his frustrations, as reported by Soompi.
Writer of JEZEBEL accused me of ripping off a Korean music video because I was “born in South Korea.” WHAT THE FUCK. Really???? — Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) July 22, 2015
The fact none of you realize the flare-hallway sequence in BAD BLOOD is from ALIEN 3 disappoints me. Fincher FTW.
— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) July 22, 2015
As of now, the debate is ongoing. Did Joseph Khan and Taylor Swift plagiarize 2NE1? Numerous people in the K-pop community think so as shown in the comments of the aforementioned tweets. But what do you think? Below are the music videos for Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” and 2NE1’s “Come Back Home.” After viewing them, you can decide for yourself.
[Image via Soompi]
