Is "Dumb Dumb" K-Pop's "Bang Bang"?

K-pop girl group Red Velvet released "Dumb Dumb" off of their first album, "The Red" on Wednesday. The brassy pop song gained attention from K-pop fans for its similarities to the hit 2014 pop song, "Bang Bang," performed by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj.

The stylistic similarities of the two songs were highlighted on Korean community websites, and fans took to YouTube to create mashups of the two songs.

Both "Bang Bang" and "Dumb Dumb" use comparable pitch and tempo, as well as the same sort of backing instrumentals, leading to comparisons between the two pop songs.

As of 11AM on Sept. 11 EST, fans had created five remixes of the two songs, mashing up Red Velvet's song with "Bang Bang." The similarities of the songs lead to near-seamless transitions between their verses, reflecting the influence of "Bang Bang" on Red Velvet's latest album.

The popularity of "Bang Bang" and its style appear to have played a roll in "Dumb Dumb." K-pop as a genre has a history of adopting musical trends from overseas and making them fit the K-pop idol style. EDM became a trend in the Korean music world following its rise in popularity in mainstream international pop music.

Fans commenting on remixes of the songs on YouTube emphasized that the two songs are not plagiarized, but rather stylistically alike.

SM Entertainment, Red Velvet's company, historically has worked with overseas producers to create songs for their top idol group to create an international sound.

Ryan Jhun of Marcan Entertainment, a company that brings together K-pop and international producers, tweeted that Marcan produced four songs from "The Red," including "Dumb Dumb."

What do you think?

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