NewJeans sued over 'How Sweet' claim

A new lawsuit just dropped into the middle of the NewJeans-HYBE mess — and this one is about the music itself. Four songwriters say NewJeans’ 2024 single “How Sweet” copied key parts of an unreleased demo they wrote for the group’s camp, then released the song without clearing or crediting them. That matters because this is not fan-war plagiarism discourse on social media. It is a U.S. copyright case, filed on May 7, naming ADOR, HYBE, and the members themselves. ### What is the claim, exactly? The plaintiffs are Audrey Armacost, Aidan Rodriguez, Adam Gokcebay, and Michael Campanelli. Their story is pretty specific: Armacost says she got an instrumental in January 2024 from her publisher and was invited to create a topline melody and lyrics for a possible NewJeans release. The four writers say they finished a demo called “One of a Kind,” submitted it, and were later told it was not chosen. (billboard.com) ### So why do they think “How Sweet” crossed the line? They are not saying the whole song is identical. The complaint zeroes in on the first verse and the topline melody — basically the vocal melody that sits on top of the instrumental. The filing says both songs are in 4/4 time, both are in B-flat minor, and both contain an approximately eight-bar melodic sequence made up of 31 notes across four phrases. The suit describes that overlap as both “quantitatively and qualitatively” similar. (billboard.com) ### Why does the demo-submission detail matter so much? Because access is half the fight in a lot of music cases. If two songs sound alike but the defendant plausibly never heard the earlier one, the case gets harder. Here, the writers are saying the demo was submitted directly into the same creative pipeline that later produced “How Sweet.” Basically, they are trying to show both access and similarity, not just one or the other. (billboard.com) ### Who got sued? Not just the companies. The complaint names ADOR, parent company HYBE, and the five NewJeans members — Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Hyein, and Danielle — along with other collaborators and distributors. That does not mean every named party wrote the allegedly infringing melody. But it does show the plaintiffs are casting a wide net around everyone who allegedly profited from the release. (billboard.com) ### What are they asking for? Money, for one thing. Billboard’s report says the writers want damages and a share of royalties tied to “How Sweet.” In plain English, they are saying: if our melody helped make this song, then we should be paid and credited like contributors, not treated like rejected applicants whose work vanished into the process. (billboard.com) ### Is this automatically a big problem for NewJeans? Not automatically. Music lawsuits get filed all the time, and filing a complaint is not the same as proving substantial similarity in court. The catch is that this case comes with a cleaner narrative than a lot of fan-made plagiarism claims. There is a named demo, a claimed submission path, and a specific melodic sequence the plaintiffs say was copied. That makes it easier to understand — and potentially harder to wave away. (billboard.com) ### Why does the timing matter? Because NewJeans and ADOR were already tangled in a much bigger legal and corporate breakdown involving contracts, management control, and the group’s future. So this suit lands in an environment where every new filing adds pressure — on revenue splits, on public trust, and on who actually controls the group’s catalog and business decisions. Even if this case settles quietly, it adds one more point of legal exposure around a song that was commercially significant. “How Sweet” reached No. 15 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 7 on the Global Excl. (billboard.com) U.S. chart. ### Bottom line? This is the kind of lawsuit that can stay narrow or get expensive fast. If the court sees the overlap as generic pop similarity, the case may fade. But if the plaintiffs can show their demo moved through the NewJeans production chain and reappeared in “How Sweet,” then this stops being internet comparison culture and becomes a real fight over authorship, royalties, and credit. (billboard.com)