As usual, stan twitter rejoices once again to throw plagiarism allegations at NCT.
The 'victims' this time around:
I decided to bring this up myself because I knew this matter would find its way to this forum without people doing some proper research.
TXT's album, 'The Chaos Chapter: Freeze' (and the b-side Puma is in), belongs to EKKO, a music rights company:
"EKKO is powered by Culture Technology Group Asia (CTGA Co Ltd), sister company of SM Entertainment.
"EKKO is the result of a long-standing idea from Korean leading music business executive Lee Soo Man who is also the Founder and Chairman of successful music entertainment firm, SM Entertainment Co."
Their headquarter is located in Seoul (South Korea) and they also have offices in Stockholm (Sweden) and Los Angeles (USA) and Japan."
Also, this company works with pretty much everyone in the K-pop industry, from Twice to NCT :
NEWS – EKKO Music Rights (Powered by CTGA)
TXT – The Chaos Chapter: Freeze – EKKO Music Rights (Powered by CTGA)
And pretty much everything we listen to belongs to them.
There are a bunch of producers under their belt and they most definitely share samples and info - they have producers who work for different Kpop groups. These companies and their producers are not the enemies some of you want them to be.
Another example is January 8th, a group of lyricists that have been working with a lot of people in the industry, including Hybe and SM artists:
Also, both Ebenezer and Magnus, the producers credited in the TXT song, work for SM artists. They are even credited in a few NCT b-side tracks:
Ebenezer is also credited in one of the songs for Universe, NCT 2021 album that just got released:
Since both producers (Ebenezer and Know Now's producer) work for SME, it's possible they share samples with other producers under the company, or the music rights company might sell samples.
Someone pointed out to me that 'Puma' and 'Know Now' have both the same lyricist (Jo Yoon Kyung):
Anyways, I personally don't think the songs sound similar at all (maybe because I haven't heard Puma enough) but people are making a big fuzz without doing the bare research and I know how people love accusing NCT of plagiarism at any given opportunity.
If anyone has more info and I forgot anything, please share below.