Singer FELIP Responds To Accusations Of Plagiarising EXO Lay Zhang's "Lit" MV & Song

It’s always a tricky situation when K-pop music videos are involved as some one is either plagiarising or being plagiarised. This time, a Filipino male singer has come under fire for allegedly copying Lay Zhang (张艺兴)’s song “Lit“.

The Filipino artist in question, FELIP, dropped the music video for his new single titled “Bulan” last week on 28th May. Following the release, fans noticed that the beats and rhythms sounded a bit familiar. One particular EXO-L (EXO’s fandom name) on TikTok came up with a video highlighting the similarities between the two songs.

@bambbhyn

I am a Filo and this needs to be addressed. There is indeed a resemblance. It would be fine if the producers said that their ideas were inspired/derived from that of Lay’s. But they didn’t and that is the issue. I hope their management could explain this. #fyp

♬ original sound – exopods – exopods

In addition, a Twitter user also uploaded a side-by-side comparison of the music videos for Lay’s “Lit” and FELIP’s “Bulan”. As seen in the 2-minute long clip, fans couldn’t help but noticed several scenes that appear to be rather similar to each other. Due to the similarities in the two songs, people began accusing the former SB19 member of plagiarism.

In response to the massive backlash, FELIP and his team have released a statement to address the accusation. In the lengthy statement which was posted on his Twitter account, the singer reveals that his creative process for the song “Bulan” takes inspiration from a lot of artists. This include the likes of Post Malone, One OK Rock and also Lay himself.

https://twitter.com/myreveland/status/1531494382511091712?

#FELIP_BULAN a straight up copycat of @layzhang 's Lit MV 😂

If you're curious… Watch Lit's MV here: https://t.co/UqtTjkxne3

I swear I thought Kingdom is worst, @felipsuperior is on another level. @lay_studio do something. I'm really pissed rn. pic.twitter.com/k51acmM7JU

— ,🐑🌶️ (@acdb_zyxo) May 30, 2022

FELIP further emphasised that “‘Bulan’ takes on a different style than ‘Lit’“. The 25-year-old explained, “While there may seem to be some similarities between the sound of ‘Lit’ and ‘Bulan’, a closer examination of the chord progressions, instrumentation, samples used, and even syllabication will prove the claim otherwise. Moreover, the melody and the ethnic chants in ‘Bulan’ were based on indigenous Filipino ritual music, made modern with the addition of rock and hip-hop elements.”

FELIP also went on to detail the differences in the two aforementioned MVs. According to him, the overall concept and story was inspired by several ancient Filipino myths namely the bulan-bulan game, the mythological creature “Bakunawa,” and also the goddess Haliya, among others.

“Apart from the lyrics, the music video was made to be a metaphor for real-world issues, while staying true to common knowledge of what transpired among the characters in most versions of the ancient myths. ‘Bulan’ was heavily and responsibly researched that details in the MV had its cultural basis, executed with some variations so as to not offend any cultures/indigenous populations,” he wrote in the statement.