The members of NewJeans and their label partners have been sued in the U.S. over purported similarities between their hit 2024 track “How Sweet” and an outside demo submitted during the songwriting process.
The Thursday (May 7) lawsuit, obtained and first reported by Billboard, lodges copyright infringement claims against NewJeans’ label ADOR, its parent company HYBE and performers Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Hyein and Danielle. The five women were part of NewJeans beginning in 2022, though Danielle recently departed amid a contract dispute between the powerhouse K-pop girl group and ADOR.
NewJeans released “How Sweet” in May 2024 on an EP of the same name. The song went on to peak at No. 15 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 7 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. Four songwriters are now alleging that the track copied key elements from their demo “One of a Kind.”
According to the lawsuit, songwriter Audrey Armacost was sent an instrumental track by her publisher in January 2024 and invited to submit topline lyrics and melody for consideration by NewJeans. Armacost convened with three other writers — Aidan Rodriguez, Adam Gokcebay and Michael Campanelli — and together, they say they wrote and recorded “One of a Kind” over that instrumental.
The four writers say they sent “One of a Kind” along to NewJeans, but were told it was not selected. Yet when “How Sweet” was released four months later, the lawsuit claims the song’s first verse was “quantitatively and qualitatively similar” to the first verse in “One of a Kind.”
“Both works are in 4/4 meter and the key of B flat minor,” reads the legal complaint. “And both works contain a topline that includes an approximately eight-bar, 31-note melodic sequence consisting of four series.”
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Armacost, Rodriguez, Gokcebay and Campanelli allege HYBE, ADOR, the NewJeans members, and a host of other collaborators and distributors violated their rights by failing to license the “One of a Kind” demo. Through the lawsuit, the four songwriters are seeking a cut of the royalties from the “great commercial success” of “How Sweet.”
“Plaintiffs, as joint authors and co-owners of the composition of ‘How Sweet,’ are entitled to their pro rata share of the profits that defendants have each gained from the exploitation of ‘How Sweet,’” the complaint reads.
A lawyer for the four writers, Trevor Barrett, said in a Friday (May 8) statement to Billboard, “Adam, Aidan, Audrey and Michael are accomplished songwriters who were deeply disappointed to discover this blatant copying of their original song, ‘One of a Kind,’ in New Jeans’ ‘How Sweet.’ They look forward to having their rights acknowledged and vindicated via this lawsuit.”
Reps from HYBE did not immediately return a request for comment on the claims.
The new lawsuit comes in the midst of an ongoing reconciliation between some members of NewJeans and ADOR following a protracted legal battle of their own.
In 2024, all five original NewJeans members attempted to sever ties with the HYBE subsidiary and go independent under the new moniker NJZ following the controversial firing of their mentor, former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin. This led to a lawsuit, and ADOR ultimately prevailed when a a South Korean court ruled in October that the women must remain under an exclusive contract until 2029.
In the wake of that ruling, Hanni, Haerin and Hyein all decided to return to ADOR and resume working with the label. Danielle will not be part of NewJeans’ future; ADOR announced in December that they label had dropped her from the group and alleged that a member of her family bears “significant responsibility for causing this dispute.” Minji is still negotiating a possible return, and The Korea Herald reported this week that discussions are moving in a “positive direction.”
