Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

by dangerouslush Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:28 am

Has anyone seen this video by Weather Girls, a Chinese/Tawainese idol group that promotes in Japan?

The intro video sounds almost EXACTLY like "Let's Step Up!" with a lot of similar choreography. What do you think?

Those Chinese promotions must have had more influence than we realized Wink

by **Renzel** Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:12 pm

A total rip off of Let's Step Up, from the music, to the outfits to even the visual effects of the video. I never thought a group can be so unoriginal as this.

by **PlayboyzAdam** Mon Mar 17, 2014 2:13 pm

On that video DrkSpphrGT was working pretty hard to defend Weather Girls. Playgirlz/Playboyz let's play a game of wear the other person's shoes. Say Pledis messed up big time and hired a MV director that totally ripped-off another artist's MV and then fans from the other artist comes hating on After School. How would you feel?

Also below is my reply to DrkSpphrGT's comments and what I though of this blatant rip-off of a MV.

AdamFJH wrote:+DrkSpphrGT LOL, the tap dance from After School's "Let's Step Up" and the tap dance from KBS 2TV’s ”Qualifications of Men" was choreographed by the same choreographer. So basically is it not After School that is copying ”Qualifications of Men" it is the choreographer copying himself. If that even makes any sense. As for some After School MV containing similar elements to other artist's works, I disagree when you said the drum beat in After School Bang is very similar to Gwen Stefani's Hollaback. As for the outfits, isn't it just a standard marching band outfit? If you were going to say After School was copying that then you might as well say After School was copying it from the Drumline movie which is actually where the entire concept for Bang and "Let's Do It" originated from. Kahi (After School's eternal leader) revealed she took the idea from Drumline years ago so these accusations about the costume & concept being copied from Italian singer Alex Guadino is false. It was copied from Drumline.

"kpop acts get many of their concepts from Western acts, so why are u judging Tpop/Cpop?" I totally agree that kpop acts get many of their concepts from Western acts. Our eternal leader Park Kahi has made it very clear that when After School was formed it took inspiration from Pussy Cat dolls(no After School is not a copy of Pussy Cat Dolls like some people think) and of course there's that copying of concept from Drumline case I've already mentioned. While After School has taken concepts from other artists/places they done so with acknowledgement, respect and added enough of them in their MV to call it theirs. What Weather Girls has done here is a blatant failed rip-off, it's not a matter of copying a concept or taking pieces and making it their own. I don't really care that Weather Girls copied After School. I'm only going to get annoy if someone starts claiming After School copied Weather Girls. While I agree with your idea that kpop acts get many of their concepts from Western acts, the other stuff that you've said about After School is either misleading or rubbish. Also Playgirlz/Playboyz what's happened here isn't the fault of Weather Girls, please direct your h8 at L Motion Production since they're the ones responsible for letting this happen.

Also guys, I just want to repeat one more thing,

"Playgirlz/Playboyz what's happened here isn't the fault of Weather Girls, please direct your h8 at L Motion Production since they're the ones responsible for letting this happen."

by dangerouslush Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:26 am

PlayboyzAdam wrote:"Playgirlz/Playboyz what's happened here isn't the fault of Weather Girls, please direct your h8 at L Motion Production since they're the ones responsible for letting this happen."

This is a very good point

by **Gokoulssj** Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:18 am

PlayboyzAdam wrote:On that video DrkSpphrGT was working pretty hard to defend Weather Girls. Playgirlz/Playboyz let's play a game of wear the other person's shoes. Say Pledis messed up big time and hired a MV director that totally ripped-off another artist's MV and then fans from the other artist comes hating on After School. How would you feel?

Also below is my reply to DrkSpphrGT's comments and what I though of this blatant rip-off of a MV.

AdamFJH wrote:+DrkSpphrGT LOL, the tap dance from After School's "Let's Step Up" and the tap dance from KBS 2TV’s ”Qualifications of Men" was choreographed by the same choreographer. So basically is it not After School that is copying ”Qualifications of Men" it is the choreographer copying himself. If that even makes any sense. As for some After School MV containing similar elements to other artist's works, I disagree when you said the drum beat in After School Bang is very similar to Gwen Stefani's Hollaback. As for the outfits, isn't it just a standard marching band outfit? If you were going to say After School was copying that then you might as well say After School was copying it from the Drumline movie which is actually where the entire concept for Bang and "Let's Do It" originated from. Kahi (After School's eternal leader) revealed she took the idea from Drumline years ago so these accusations about the costume & concept being copied from Italian singer Alex Guadino is false. It was copied from Drumline.

"kpop acts get many of their concepts from Western acts, so why are u judging Tpop/Cpop?" I totally agree that kpop acts get many of their concepts from Western acts. Our eternal leader Park Kahi has made it very clear that when After School was formed it took inspiration from Pussy Cat dolls(no After School is not a copy of Pussy Cat Dolls like some people think) and of course there's that copying of concept from Drumline case I've already mentioned. While After School has taken concepts from other artists/places they done so with acknowledgement, respect and added enough of them in their MV to call it theirs. What Weather Girls has done here is a blatant failed rip-off, it's not a matter of copying a concept or taking pieces and making it their own. I don't really care that Weather Girls copied After School. I'm only going to get annoy if someone starts claiming After School copied Weather Girls. While I agree with your idea that kpop acts get many of their concepts from Western acts, the other stuff that you've said about After School is either misleading or rubbish. Also Playgirlz/Playboyz what's happened here isn't the fault of Weather Girls, please direct your h8 at L Motion Production since they're the ones responsible for letting this happen.

Also guys, I just want to repeat one more thing,

"Playgirlz/Playboyz what's happened here isn't the fault of Weather Girls, please direct your h8 at L Motion Production since they're the ones responsible for letting this happen."

I completely agree, great job on putting DrkSpphrGT in there place.

Also, as I was watching the video my first thoughts were how I felt bad for the Weather Girls, as you stated above, it's L Motion Production that is responsible for the ripping off After School. I mean, its one thing to be inspired and also pay homage to another artist, but just ripping them off, especially knowing how popular AS is in Japan, its just damn right irresponsible.

by OKDR Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:10 pm

Well it does look and sound like a rip off. The song has been altered so maybe it is enough to not be considered plagiarism. I didn't know Weather Girls were producing music in Chinese too, I thought they were just limiting to J-Pop since they started being an idol group because a Japanese company showed interest in them.

Then two things I like to clarify:

It is always said AS was modeled after PCD because Pledis itself used that for Ah! (New Schoolgirl) promotions as a way to introduce their concept. However, the real inspiration was taken from a branch group of PCD called girlicious, the whole outfits were ripped off from one of their first single promotions, not PCD themselves.

The Weather Girls routine looks more like a cheer routine than actual tapdance. They're even placed into a basketball court.

Well, just remember that Son Dambi had a PV that ripped off a version of Alice in Wonderland, concretely one based in the second book, and that jeopardized her promotions for Queen B a lot.

by dangerouslush Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:31 pm

^I see your point, but being modeled after or inspired by the idea or concept of the Pussycat Dolls or Girlicious is very different than taking a specific song like "Let's Step Up!" and making a derivative version and performance. It's a little sketchy, I personally think but I won't hold it against Weather Girls

by **PlayboyzAdam** Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:37 am

OKDR wrote:Well, just remember that Son Dambi had a PV that ripped off a version of Alice in Wonderland, concretely one based in the second book, and that jeopardized her promotions for Queen B a lot.

I just want to clarify that Son Dambi's original Queen MV only ripped off a few scenes from Alice. Apart from those scenes the majority was Pledis' original. Also Pledis wasn't aware the scenes in question were plagiarized until the accusations occurred. Yes, Pledis did mess up but they also did act responsibly afterwards. After confirming with the MV production team, Pledis had the scenes in question deleted.

by OKDR Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:17 am

PlayboyzAdam wrote:
OKDR wrote:Well, just remember that Son Dambi had a PV that ripped off a version of Alice in Wonderland, concretely one based in the second book, and that jeopardized her promotions for Queen B a lot.

I just want to clarify that Son Dambi's original Queen MV only ripped off a few scenes from Alice. Apart from those scenes the majority was Pledis' original. Also Pledis wasn't aware the scenes in question were plagiarized until the accusations occurred. Yes, Pledis did mess up but they also did act responsibly afterwards. After confirming with the MV production team, Pledis had the scenes in question deleted.

Yes and that is why I was mentioning here after the whole discussion about why the girls aren't the ones responsible for this but the company and whoever decided to rip off the whole concept.

Back in the day Pledis stated they weren't aware of that movie version of Alice, but even with that, it did jeopardize Dambi's promotions for Queen B.

by OKDR Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:23 am

dangerouslush wrote:^I see your point, but being modeled after or inspired by the idea or concept of the Pussycat Dolls or Girlicious is very different than taking a specific song like "Let's Step Up!" and making a derivative version and performance. It's a little sketchy, I personally think but I won't hold it against Weather Girls

I was just clarifying a point that was discussed a message or two above mine, quoting all the times AS has been accused of ripping off concepts. That regarding the whole PCD thing, people always forget it wasn't the actual group but a branch one that they formed in a TV reality, it is often forgotten because Pledis themselves used the word PCD instead. And they aren't the only Asian group that were modeled after PCD branch, but AS did took Girlicious where others like JANEL did take the "mother" group PCD.

The song has been altered, however, you can easily tell that it is Step Up! music in there. I am not sure how many notes you need to have sounding exactly the same and parts so it can be called plagiarism, but indeed it is a rip off of the whole music and concept. Although that doesn't fully look as tap dance, just steps for cheer routine.

by **PlayboyzAdam** Wed Mar 19, 2014 3:59 pm

OKDR wrote:Yes and that is why I was mentioning here after the whole discussion about why the girls aren't the ones responsible for this but the company and whoever decided to rip off the whole concept.

Back in the day Pledis stated they weren't aware of that movie version of Alice, but even with that, it did jeopardize Dambi's promotions for Queen B.

Alice was an American mini series not a movie.

OKDR wrote:The song has been altered, however, you can easily tell that it is Step Up! music in there. I am not sure how many notes you need to have sounding exactly the same and parts so it can be called plagiarism, but indeed it is a rip off of the whole music and concept. Although that doesn't fully look as tap dance, just steps for cheer routine.

In Australia all you need to do is copy about 10 notes from another song and you can get sued. Men At Work was sued by the copyright owners of the Kookaburra song because Men At Work used about 10 notes from the Kookaburra song in the flute riff of their Down Under
song. As ridiculous as this sounds, Men At Work use the Kookaburra song without permission to make money. This is a clear case of plagiarism and Men At Work admitted to taking those notes from Kookaburra and were fined(not sure how much but it's believe to be a 6 figure sum). In Men At Work's defence they had no intention of plagiarism, they didn't ask for permission to use Kookaburra in Down Under because it was an unconscious reference to a classic Aussie song.

Here's a comparison of the notes from Down Under and the ones from the Kookaburra song

LOL, when you listen to the entire Land Down Under song this court case sounds laughably ridiculous.

As for whether what Weather Girls have here is called plagiarism or not the answer is YES!!! The definition of plagiarism is "the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own". I don't really care that Weather Girls copied After School, I think there are more important issues concerning this fandom that has higher priority but Playgirlz/Playboyz have the rights to be very annoyed and to direct their disgust/h8 at L Motion Production. Taking any part of someone else's property without permission is disrespectful if not unlawful and given the extent of how much Weather girls copied from After School, I think After School has been very disrespected. LOL, I just realised I have a lot of h8 for a lot of entertainment companies and now L Motion Production is added to that list.

by OKDR Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:17 am

Well I watched the miniseries in a whole, so I forgot it wasn't a movie, here we often get miniseries aired all together the same day.

In Spain there's a total ammount of notes, but I honestly don't know how many do you need to be considered plagiarism.

This is not the first time I've seen companies take from AS or other Asian acts, but the worst cases were in some part of Latin America, now I don't really remember if they were from Puerto Rico or another country nearby, but there was a group who took the whole Breathe from Miss A and then another song. There was another one taking the whole In The Night Sky from AS RED.

Those PV's were on youtube, if I have time I can try looking for those links as I posted those myself on tumblr.

by **PlayboyzAdam** Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:34 pm

OKDR wrote:There was another one taking the whole In The Night Sky from AS RED.

Those PV's were on youtube, if I have time I can try looking for those links as I posted those myself on tumblr.

OK, thanks. I'm quite curious about what other companies out there I can add to my h8 list.

Here's a rip-off of Shampoo MV

by Redboi675 Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:28 am

The Let's Step Up rip-off is shockingly awful. I don't get why they went so far to copy the styling and sound of Let's Step Up.... They could have done something more original. Their dancing was awful also (thank God for editing).

The Shampoo rip-off was only of the video so it's 'ok' in my books but I really don't see why they had to find/build a set that looks exactly like the Shampoo video.... Surely they could have used any dance room.

Just found this Orange Caramel 'Aing' rip-off by Indonesian group called Sweet Cake.... They're so shameless Rolling Eyes

by **PlayboyzAdam** Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:31 am

Redboi675 wrote:Just found this Orange Caramel 'Aing' rip-off by Indonesian group called Sweet Cake.... They're so shameless

Wait....Sweet Cake is a real band? For real? When I first saw that I thought it was just a fan made cover. It's so horribly done I'm still having trouble believing it.

by **Gokoulssj** Fri Mar 21, 2014 7:02 am

Redboi675 wrote:Just found this Orange Caramel 'Aing' rip-off by Indonesian group called Sweet Cake.... They're so shameless

Wow really? A real group? They need a lot more dance practice, because they are so out of sync. I'm surprised they just didn't rip-off all of OC choreography.

by PrinceX Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:53 am

These losers....
Can't even make their own thoughts and create their own ideas.

Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?" Bluth-eyeroll

by **PlayboyzAdam** Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:17 pm

DrkSpphrGT wrote:
+AdamFJH
I didn't bother reading through ur whole comment (only skimmed) cuz its pointless to continue. If u think its a blatant rip-off then good for you, u keep to that. If it really is a rip off and easily provable Pledis should have no problems suing, they aren't so small of a company that they cant. CJes Ent. was a very small Korean company yet they sued SM Ent and Avex which are huge companies in Korea and Japan, so that's not a good excuse to use. But anyways, like I said, u stick to what u think and I'll stick to what I think. Btw, u may claim that ur not talking from a biased view point but when u re-read what u write, its very biased!

@DrkSpphrGT, Youtube is being a pain in the backside right now and not showing the reply I sent you so I though I'll post it here. I'll try to keep it very simple. You have no proof After School blatantly rips-off other artists with no acknowledgement and no respect. You trying to defend Weather Girls by slandering After School with accusations that they blatantly rip-off other artists doesn't help as it just annoy some of us Playgirlz/Playboyz more. There are better ways to defend Weather Girls which won't incur the h8 of Playgirlz/Playboyz, I suggest you use these method if you care about Weather Girls.
CJes Entertainment was initially set up because the Korean music industry closed their door on Jaejoong, Junsu and Yoochun(ex-TVXQ members now known as JYJ) for standing up against SM Entertainment. The reason why CJes Entertainment can sue SM Entertainment and Avex Entertainment because JYJ had a Korean legal contract with SM Entertainment and JYJ had a Japanese legal contract with Avex. Because of those contracts JYJ was protected by both Korean and Japanese law. Pledis has no such protection against companies in China ripping-off their work yet. If Pledis had released Let's Step Up in China via YueHua Entertainment(Chinese company Pledis signed with last year) then maybe Chinese copyright law can protect Pledis(although I have no confidence in Chinese judicial system).
If you are so confident that my claims are bias lets see you prove they are not valid. Like I've said instead of claiming what I said is bias, how about you find evidence to disprove my claims.

by **Renzel** Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:33 pm

Hello! Please put [DISCUSSION] before your topic title! Thanks! (:

by Sponsored content

Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"

Re: Did This C-Pop Group Rip Off After School's "Let's Step Up?"