There has been numerous allegations of plagiarism committed by Indonesian artists over the years, but rapper Young Lex could potentially be the worst perpetrator in recent memory. The controversial rapper’s new music video (MV) has prompted harsh criticism from netizens due to its uncanny resemblance to Chinese singer/songwriter/producer Lay Zhang, who’s also a member of K-pop boyband EXO.
Young Lex, who’s no stranger to controversies in the past, released the music video for his latest single, Raja Terakhir (The Last King) yesterday to promote an upcoming Indonesian simulated life game (SLG) called Three Kingdoms: Hero Legendaris.
However, fans quickly pointed out many similarities between Raja Terakhir and Lay’s epic MV for his hit single Lit, which was released in June 2020 — from the visuals, styling, choreography, even down to some elements of the original song, which you can see below:
While the MV Raja Terakhir seemingly follows Lit beat by beat — down to the framing of the scenes — several of the most striking similarities include the computer-generated dragon, the solo dance break, and the dancing long-nailed woman dressed in black garb.
You can see a side-by-side comparison of both MVs below as seen in a video made by Lay’s China-based fanpage, which obviously shows how Young Lex’s video like a cheap knock off of the US$1.4 million OG MV.
A truly creative masterpiece should speak of the author’s originality. LayZhang has put his heart and soul into Lit MV, reflecting his unique pursuit of aesthetics, Chinese culture and fusion with pop music. Any form of plagiarism is not tolerable.
RESPECT ZHANG YIXING@layzhang pic.twitter.com/DFG92SCHwk— XingChannel张艺兴资讯台 (@XingChannel) March 8, 2021
Despite the glaring similarities, Young Lex didn’t include any credits to Lay or his agencies, Chromosome Entertainment and SM Entertainment, in the description section of his video on YouTube. Young Lex even wrote “K-pop fans with otak micin (MSG brains) would say that this is plagiarism,” in the video’s comment section in response to the accusation, though the comment has since been removed.
Both Lay and Young Lex have become trending topics in Indonesia since last night with the fans of the former and EXO from all over the world mass tweeting “Respect Zhang Yixing” to call on the Indonesian artist to apologize and take down his video. Though the fans have contacted SM Entertainment and Lay’s own agency Chromosome Entertainment to take action against Young Lex, neither has yet to respond publicly.
Twenty-eight-year-old Young Lex, real name Samuel Alexander Pieter, has been involved in numerous beefs with Indonesian K-pop fans in the past, with the most famous being when he made up a story of being attacked by people who accused him of making sexist remarks about BLACKPINK member Lisa, in which he even went as far as posting a photo of his face with fake bruises.
Born in Changsha, Lay — real name Zhang Yixing — started his career early in his teens when he participated in a Chinese talent show. He then moved to South Korea to undergo training under SM Entertainment as an idol, and made his debut in 2012 as a member of EXO-M, the Chinese subgroup of EXO. It must be noted that EXO has been performing as one unit after the departure of its three Chinese members.
The 29-year-old multi-hyphenate artist made his solo debut in 2016, and has been leading a successful solo career in China since 2017 even though he’s technically still a member of EXO. As a solo singer, Lay has released four studio albums and three EPs, with the latest being Producer. In an interview with Paper last year, Lay, who called his music as MPop or Mix Mandarin Pop, said that he wanted to “express and showcase Chinese culture to the world” in his album Lit through the mixture of genres such as hip hop, trap, and traditional music.
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