Joey Yung’s New Song Under Fire for Plagiarism
While fans are excited to see Cantopop Queen Joey Yung (容祖兒) release new music, her song “See You in a Different Light” <另眼相看> has received criticism for plagiarism. The song is highly similar to Adele’s “Rumour Has It” and Korean singer, Lee Hi’s song “1.2.3.4”.
While some of Joey’s biggest fans have given much support to the new single, saying that the style is fresh and unique, keen-eyed netizens claimed that the first 30 seconds in Joey’s new song sounded exactly like Adele’s “Rumour Has It”. Besides claiming that the melodies were alike between the two songs, listeners said that the entire single resembles Lee Hi’s “1.2.3.4”. All three songs have a pop rock feel to it, so some listeners were confused and deemed the three numbers to have similar beats.
Joey’s Response to Negative Comments
Joey, unaffected by the negative comments, happily praised music producer and writer, Alex Fung (馮翰銘), “Trust is valuable in my collaboration with Alex. I think this experience has been successful and I’m very glad to have worked with him!” Joey admitted that she spent a long time working on this project, and voiced her gratitude for all the positive feedback she has been getting from supporters.
Below are the three songs; are there too many similarities to be a coincidence?
Joey Yung’s “See You in a Different Light” <另眼相看>
[vsw id=”kG_h6zOyUgc” source=”youtube” width=”500″ height=”375″ autoplay=”no”]
Adele: “Rumour Has It”
[vsw id=”Ti3t7MAwaaM” source=”youtube” width=”500″ height=”375″ autoplay=”no”]
Lee Hi “1.2.3.4”
[vsw id=”1AI7UP1iRAU” source=”youtube” width=”500″ height=”375″ autoplay=”no”]
Source: Apple Daily
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
she’s gonna feel the wrath of the kpop fans. . LOL hahaha
kpop singers have been accused of plagiarism also. Lee Hi was in trouble with for copying Britney Spears.
So kpop copies from britpop and hkpop copies from kpop?
As in HKpop>Kpop>Britpop?
lol what. lee hi was never accused of plagiarism except being nicknamed as korea’s adele because of her deep, soulful voice.
HKpop copied mostly from Jpop back in the 80s. everyone is influenced by whatever is popular at the time.
omg! her new song sounds like something from the 90’s! ^^ i like it (cus i only like 90’s hk music, lol. the music from today’s cantopop is total crap)
After listening to all three, her song does sound like both Adele’s and Lee Hi’s, but then honestly nothing is completely original anymore. However, it is a bit obvious…. esp Adele’s beginning.
Yup, what is original?? Even back in the days, I hear singers plagarize all the time, but it is even more common these days….
sounds nothing like90s hk pop
Just no.
cantoqueen or not.
This is horrible!
Well I would never call Joey a Cantopop queen. She is just not at that level. Maybe she is slightly better compared to the newbies, but she will never make an impact like Anita Mui did…
I agree with you. None of the current singers are at the previous cantopop stars’ levels.
Yup, agree with both Maryanna and Simon. Somehow bringing up Anita Mui’s name reminds me of Leslie Cheung with his haunting and melodic voice.
I also agree with all of you. It’s sad though.
I never got the rave over Anita Mui. Her singing to me was not that great and at times sounded like a man. Leslie was talented but not Anita in my opinion.
I think Joey is pretty good and can reach the Cantoqueen level. I have seen her sing live and it is good as well. Singing is subjective as well. Some can love a singer while others can hate them and think they can’t sing. That is how many singers and actors survive these days.
well said @HeTieShou 😀
Thanks Simon!
@HTS –
Definitely in a disagreement with Anita Mui.
She’s iconic and one that took many risk in her music choices.
She defined Canton-Pop. Majority of the artist then sang the sappy chinese songs while the elite few challenged themselves in those faster, upbeat songs ..
Anita was one of the few female artist that had that ..
Oh i was talking about the last part of @HTS’s comment. I haven’t heard Anita Mui’s singing.. but I do know she’s very iconic in the world of cantopop
I’m afraid Anita Mui, good as she was, wasn’t completely original either. Btw, what is the criteria for being a Cantopop queen?
@MT –
Canto-Pop Queen. LOL, my preference is the best answer but there are some things you can’t define. I will, however, give you my examples.
Sally Yip
Sandy Lam
Anita Mui
Sammi Cheng
Joey Yung
My personal favorites that aren’t exactly iconic:
Cally Kwong
Cass Pang
Amanda Lee
@HTS
” Her singing to me was not that great and at times sounded like a man. Leslie was talented but not Anita in my opinion.”
She has a deep voice. So, it’s natural that she sounds a bit like a man when she sang the lower notes. But, it cannot be denied that she has good singing skills. A singer who does not have a voice to your liking doesn’t mean his/she is not talented.
I find Anita Mui a really good singing. She was more known for her fast songs, but, I personally prefer her slow songs. She sang her slow songs beautifully and you really can feel the song.
It has the same feel as the two songs, but they don’t sound the exact same….but it does sound more like Rumour Has it…as for Lee Hi’s 1,2,3,4 I don’t think it really sounds the same…..
It is not the first time she has copy before….
Technically, she didn’t copy, it’s the composer who did, but she gets the blame. Unless she told the composer she liked this song from another singer and wanted something similar for herself.
Didnt she copy someone’s clothes too also?
Well, I definitely see her in a different light now…and I thought dating that dude was bad, but this, hohoho.
Wow, talk about a non sequitur.
Yup, I honestly do agree on this one. 🙂
Run out of songs?
But I thought HK singers and composers are copycat.
This song isn’t that great.
I tend to like songs composed by Johnny Yim! (:
August 2011, there was a big flap over Joey plagiarizing Steven Ma’s 1994《不再悲觀》by composer, 張宇, who also sang the mandarin version.
Listen to the song on this link:http://stevenma-fanblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/different-songs-same-melody.html
that was way too similar … haha ..
Steven Ma did great toooooo
I’m actually really confused with how the Asian music industry runs. First, do singers actually write their own sings or its mainly composers? I know well that those kpop idol groups, hardly any of them writes their own songs, maybe one or two who actually have the talent for it. But anyway, if the song is plagiarized, which is not written by the singer, who gets ridiculed? The singer? The composer? Most likely both.
I remember this happened to Lee Hyori. Her entire album were originally English turned Korean. She was heavily criticized for not being careful. Her composer ran away? LOL. I don’t even know.
It really isn’t a mess any singer wants to be submerged in. Good luck Joey!
Regarding the “who gets ridiculed?”, I think it depends on some factors (eg. is it intentional? did the singer plan it that way? , etc.)
I mean Linda Chung did copy some people’s songs in her newest album, but she wasn’t like ridiculed for it.
“eg. is it intentional? did the singer plan it that way?”
I haven’t come across any singers who did any of the above. I’m not saying that there aren’t some greedy, ambitious singers out there, but I really doubt any singer would burn themselves like that.
Also, Linda Chung… she’s still singing? LOL. I didn’t even know……
What I mean is, some composers may intergrete other singer’s style to make it their own thing. They may not necessary do it on purpose…
And sorry for misleading you.
And her latest album has shown that she is gradually improving her singing.
Oh okay, that makes more sense!
And no worries.
Linda’s voice isn’t that bad. I just think she needs to get rid of her stage fright. I saw her performance on youtube at the Korean place, she still has stage fright!!!!
Oh okay xD
I don’t think Linda Chung intentionally copied other people’s song. She composes songs by humming into a recorder whenever there is inspiration. So, she might have heard the song before and forgot about it, but, the melody suddenly came up in her head later in time.
Honestly, there are only so many notes to go about. There are bound to be some repeat.
Plagiarize or not, the song sounded crap lol >_<
I’m not going to bother listening to the song. Just want to ask if Joey copied both Adele and the Korean singer then does that mean Adele and the Korean singer copied each other too?
Dude, I was just about to ask the same thing..
Seeing this news is hardly a surprise for me. How many Asian singers these days who are able to compose? They are not Danny Chan. With that said, I applaud Danny’s ability to compose simple but yet defining songs.
Hmm, even a lot of songs that we consider Cantopop classics these days were covers of Japanese songs.
True, which added to my frustration when I questioned “IS there any original songs in HK?!”
At least they all sounded good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4nrAIk8inM
Did someone say “Cover Trivia”? Because I think I heard someone say “Cover Trivia”.
Plagarise or no plagarise, at least a lot of the songs back then sounds good. Now? How many of the current songs that can be remembered in 5 years time? None of them are memorable truthfully.
^ There’s a difference between plagiarism and doing a cover. But yes, at least they sounded bloody good whilst doing so.
One of my favourite covers is possibly Anita’s “Yuuyake no Uta”.
—————
I love Southern All Stars. I only know it’s Jacky Cheung since Sandra Ng did a cover on Super Trio whilst receiving a painful foot massage. 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOX1Sbb3FqU
Wrong choice of words. Not a cover, she just sang it.
There needs to be an edit button. I am such a plonker. Oh well.
Oh oh, Hacken’s 「紅日」
That was gonna be my next one D=
Agree. Danny was such an amazing singer, song writer and writes amazing lyrics.
Whenever I read news or comments about how Joey (She is my fave female singer) sucks or isn’t etitled for queen of pop (or other current singers too), I don’t even care or bother to say good things about her cause I know that every generation, there are going to be people who say that the current top singers are crap and the singers they grew up with were the best! When I grow older and look at the singers that will take over Joey’s spot, I’ll prob say the same and think they don’t compare to Joey. That’s only because I grew up with listening to her and am so use to it.
Very true.. :/
Yup … agree.
Joey does not suck though .. she’s such a great live singer and there’s not a song she can’t sing.
You should really compare the quality of the 80’s/90’s singers to the current crops of singers. They are really that bad! To make things clear, I’m in my 20’s and I’m really disappointed with the quality of today’s singers. They can’t sing live and always depend to the technologies to make them sound good. For me, all the best songs are from 80’s and to certain extent 90’s. There are no more songs like that.
I’m in my early 30s, grew up with the Four Heavenly Kings and am sad to say that my generation heralded the beginning of the end of Cantopop.
These days, I’ve been listening solely to 80s music, from Danny Chan, Roman Tam, Anita Mui, early Sally Yeh to Beyond (during the Wong Ka Kui days). This is not even stuff that I paid attention to as a kid – I was only a toddler in Danny’s heyday! – so it has nothing to do with nostalgia. There truly IS a difference between the songs from the past and the stuff that’s churned out today, in terms of the quality of lyrics, composition and singing.
Am truly heartened to see youngsters out there who CAN tell the difference. And apologies in advance for sounding like a judgmental old fart, but I thought good taste in music went out with the post-85 generation. 😉
To blame it on post-1985 generation is a bit wrong. I agree with you… but if people didn’t “like” songs written by the recent singers such as Mag Lam, G.E.M, etc, why would they buy their albums? Obviously, their companies saw there was a market.. and that’s why they invest in their songs. :S
@Akira – I’m not “blaming” anything on anybody. The decline in the HK music industry warrants an entire discussion on its own, and I have no intention of doing that here. I was simply making a facetious statement that many post-85ers – at least those I know – appear to have anaemic taste in music. Which is why I was heartened to see folks like Mun Yee who can appreciate stuff that would almost certainly have been consigned to the dustbin of history by many young listeners. I don’t doubt that albums today continue to have a market. I just don’t think they are of the same quality as those from the past, in terms of lyrics, composition and singing. Anyone else is, of course, free to disagree with me. After all, there’s no accounting for taste.
She is a good singer, but she can’t sing this style… she is in tune etc but her voice really doesn’t fit it
Duh! Of course she’s in tune. There’s autotune. Ring a bell, anyone?
Well I was born in 1994 and I still think the current “top” singers suck, so yeah…
Oh man what a rip off also sounds crap
Shouldn’t ppl be blaming the composer not the singer?
I think it’s a collaborated effort.
It still is her song. People will blame the singer.
Te Intro is definitely a rip off Adele’s song… sad thing is Joey can’t even pull of this type of song either. If she could at least make it sound good it wouldn’t bother anyone so much.
Its no big deal. Heck Beyonce does it all the time. if that biatch can do it, so can joey.
difference is payment of royalties. Beyonce probably paid, Joey definitely did not.
holy crap, the beginning sounds exactly like Adele’s…at least change it up a bit…
Remind me of Vanilla Ice’s attempt to rip off David Bowie/Queen…
LEE HI IS AWESOME .
I must say, the Korean version is the best, haha.
And I don’t think Joey’s version sounds crap or whatever. At least she tries something new instead of the same songs most HK singers keep pumping out. All those sweeter than honey love songs with the damn same boring sad melody, well that honey is making my ear bleed.
Thats the future of Hong Kong music industry 🙂
What future?
Ok, there is no future 🙁
As Picasso once said “Good artist imitate, Great artist steal”
Wow… total knockoff! What a rip off!
Joey even copied Adele’s style (of singing) too…
What a disgrace.
By the way, canto singers or musicians are not the only copy cats. Mando singers do too. I had just heard this new mando song on the radio today and right away I related it to a english song that sounded so similar. The mando one is by Vaness Wu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5PqZT3N24Q
and the english one is by Justin Timberlake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5PqZT3N24Q
my sister didn’t think they sound similar, but I wasn’t talking about the way Vaness sang, but the melody of the song. Plus if you change a english song to mando, it can’t sound exactly the same inorder to fit the mando words.
Forgot to ask, do you think the 2 songs sound the similar/the same or not?
Have you guys ever watched Joey performed live? Singing off key, shaky vocals, lack of breath and audible breathing technique is part of her repertoire. She is that bad as a singer. Sadly, most young listeners nowadays only go for mediocrity.
It’s not a bad song (or bad copy) but Joey’s voice doesn’t really suit this type of soulful, jazzy genre. I love Lee Hi’s song but I think it’s great that Joey is doing something different apart from the sappy sad melody songs Cantopop often does gosh.
Yes and raymond lam’s ‘Nice’ copied duck
Sauce – Barbara Streisand