Back in mid-late 2009, Korean singer and songwriter G-Dragon’s ‘Heartbreaker’ was sweeping the top of the charts and hitting gold everywhere. But not long after, bloggers started commenting on the similarity between ‘Heartbreaker’ and Flo Rida’s ‘Right Round’, which ranked at the top of the charts in early 2009.
The issue was with the near identical beats and melody of the two songs and, considering that Flo Rida’s ‘Right Round’ was released much earlier in the year, all fingers were pointed toward G-Dragon’s ‘Heartbreaker’ with suspicions of plagiarism. A side-by-side comparison of the two songs was posted online and Sony Music stated that they would be taking legal action concerning the matter. In response to all complaints, G-Dragon’s agency, YJ Entertainment, released a statement apologizing to disappointed fans and others, saying that they were working on a solution that would quell any misunderstandings. However, not all bloggers were against G-Dragon, and some posted a sampling of various songs that were similar to ‘Right Round’ in G-Dragon’s defense.
And so, one of the hottest new stars of the Korean music industry had been facing a whirlpool of angry Internet bloggers, lawsuits, and disappointed fans until a few days ago when G-Dragon released a new solo concert album titled ‘Shine a Light’ with a new version of ‘Heartbreaker’ featuring Flo Rida. There is no official word available on as to how they were able to reach a settlement, but it is nice to see how nicely both parties cleaned up the situation through collaboration. Even if the remixed version of ‘Heartbreaker’ featuring Flo Rida has been significantly remastered from the original.
Below are links to the original ‘Heartbreaker’, a side-by-side comparison of ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘Right Round’, a collection of songs similar to ‘Right Round’, and the remixed version featuring Flo Rida.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOXEVd-Z7NE (original)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwyTCLJNIU4 (heartbreaker v. right round)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RbVXunFk6U (songs similar to ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘Right Round’)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6suB4BJlqm0&feature=related (feat. Flo Rida)
I thought this was a very good solution to G-Dragon’s copyright issue. There have been too many artists who have been sued for having similar beats or melodies with other artists from other cultures. To have G-Dragon come out with a new song featuring Flo-Rida allows both artists to be recognized. Will this influence other artists to do the same?
i dont like the title g-dragon vs. flo rida, it makes it sound like some sort of battle