NMIXX’s debut music video ‘O.O’ accused of plagiarism by ATINYs

JYP Entertainment’s new group, NMIXX, debuted on February 22 and was once again swept by plagiarism allegations. The group’s debut song, O.O, from the album AD MARE, received incredibly polarizing responses. The agency soon came under fire as ATEEZ fans, both international and South Korean, saw similarities between the music videos and accused them of plagiarism.

The seven-member girl group's debut has been one of the most highly-anticipated debuts of the year but was still prone to criticism. The group's logo was accused of copying MONSTA X's logo. The O.O music video's similarities to ATEEZ's have now become another point of debate.

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ATEEZ fans demand an apology from JYP Entertainment for NMIXX’s music video

As the new wave of solid and elegant concepts takes over, the girl group debuts, NMIXX’s music video for O.O from their debut album AD MARE fits right in. The music video surprised fans with its creativity and blending multiple concepts into one. While the multiple outfits, beat, and set changes looked spectacular, ATINYs, ATEEZ’s fans, noticed that the scenes closely resembled their group’s music videos.

Fans pointed out multiple scenes from O.O and ATEEZ’s Illusion and The Real, drawing a side-by-side comparison. Four scenes, in particular, triggered controversy - a pirate ship flying across a pink sky, a group dancing in the background of an abandoned ship, a rooftop view, and a street dance view.

KQ Entertainment’s powerful boy group ATEEZ has its entire concept based on pirates and finding the lost treasure. While it is not the first group to have a pirate concept, it is the only group that has built an entire story around it since its debut.

The strong resemblance to pirate ships in the O.O music video elicited a response. The plagiarism allegations trended on Instiz, a South Korean online forum with fans trending JYP_표절논란_해명해 (#JYP_Plagiariam_Controversy_Explain) and #JYP_해명해_사과해_인정해 (#JYP_Explain_Apologize_Acknowledge).

ATEEZ’s fans explained their stance, stating that they’re neither gatekeeping the pirate concept nor throwing hate at the girl group. Instead, they call out JYP Entertainment and their production team for almost no research and basing the group’s music and video on a concept ATEEZ created.

Meanwhile, some fans have also noticed the similarities between NMIXX and aespa. They believe that JYP Entertainment is creating a girl group like the Savage group. One fan compared the concept teasers, photo angles, and physical album designs.

Fans of TXT, LOONA, and ENHYPEN also expressed that certain scenes resembled the group’s music video. The plagiarism controversy continues to trend on Twitter and South Korean forums.

Apart from the plagiarism allegations, the new experimental pop genre JYP Entertainment aimed to debut with, isn't receiving positive responses either.

However, people also emphasized that the NMIXX members shouldn’t be thrown under the bus irrespective of the fandom. The members trained for years to debut and shouldn’t be discredited for their hard work because of the agency’s decision.

There has been no official comment from JYP Entertainment yet.