Dispatch, “Seven” vs “Time of Mask” sheet music analysis “Jungkook’s plagiarism controversy is nonsense”

Dispatch discussed the controversy surrounding Jungkook’s solo song “Seven” (2023), which has been accused of plagiarism by the original composer of Fin.K.L’s “Time of Mask” (1999).

In a phone call with Dispatch on August 22nd, composer Yang Joon Young claimed that although the keys may be different, the four-bar scale systems are the same between the two songs.

However, a closer examination revealed that the two songs differ in key, scale system and rhythm, rendering Yang Joon Young’s plagiarism claim based on four-bar scale systems invalid.

“Time of Mask” was composed in 1999 by Yang Joon Young, while “Seven” was a collaborative effort by Andrew Watt, Jon Bellion, Cirkut and others in 2023.

The comparison focused on specific parts of “Time of Mask” (chorus from 0:52 to 1:10) and “Seven” (bridge from 0:55 to 1:03), where Yang Joon Young claimed that the scale systems are the same.

The original keys of “Seven” and “Time of Mask” are different – “Seven” is Emaj (E major), while “Time of Mask” is B♭m (B minor), which means they have different scales. In other words, it is impossible to match the keys of these two songs into one.

Despite this, Dispatch presented an analysis where the keys were artificially adjusted to reflect Yang Joon Young’s claim, but even with this adjustment, the melodic sequences do not match.

In conclusion, Dispatch emphasized that there are significant differences between the two songs in terms of key, scale and melody, and that the plagiarism claim based on four-bar scale systems is not valid.

Source: Dispatch