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| X/aespa_official |
HYBE is back in the spotlight with the debut of their newest virtual group, SYNDI8, which has drawn sharp criticism from netizens. Apart from the fact that the name can interfere with the search for other idols, one of the characters is made to look too much like Aespa's Karina.
aespa is suspected of being a reference to HYBE's artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual girl group called SYNDI8. Apart from four people, one of the members is thought to be as similar as possible to Karina.
On Thursday (27/6/2024), Supertone Co., an audio and AI sound technology company owned by HYBE Labels, launched the girl group SYNDI8i. They consist of members Canary, Nest, Goyo, and Raven.
In addition, they have released the group's first single, 'MVP', released worldwide on June 27 and containing 3 songs, including the title song "ATOTA" and the B-side songs "My Fantasy" and "True Color".
However, many Korean netizens began to question whether the group was "heavily referencing" the real K-pop idol group, aespa. Some initially started to question it after learning that one of the members was named Canary, which when pronounced in Korean, sounds like "Kanari".
Plus, HYBE became the center of criticism from K-pop fans after more information about the girl group became known. Like aespa, SYNDI8 is also a group that has certain characters they play.
Apart from that, netizens found similarities in SYNDI8's album cover with aespa's "Girls". Many have pointed out the mistakes of this girl group. The biggest concern is ruining the search keywords because the member's name is similar to Karina, and the group name includes Hangeul which is similar to The8 SEVENTEEN (II)'s name.
"This virtual group album cover reminds me of the 'Girls' album cover from aespa," said one netizen. "One of the members is named after Karina and the group name is also like The8 lol," said another netizen, "At this point, I don't think anyone is able to create something original unless they reference something that already exists," added another.
"There are only 4 members, why are there 8 group names?" commented one netizen. "Does he really want to have a group like aespa?" continued another netizen. "The group name... That will ruin the search results for HYBE idols," said another.
Overall, although SYNDI8's debut presents an interesting concept about a sound-powered virtual world, the negative reactions from netizens show that HYBE needs to be more careful in creating new characters and concepts to avoid accusations of plagiarism. They must also ensure that their work makes an original and distinctive contribution to the competitive music industry. (wk/inta)
