SEOUL – K-pop singer Yena’s cheeky attempt to express her reverence for American pop star Olivia Rodrigo seems to have fallen flat, with the music video for her new song, Hate Rodrigo, being edited after sparking backlash.
Yena, 23, formerly of now-defunct girl group Iz*One, released her new single on June 27, along with a music video.
The song was highly anticipated, especially as it features her collaboration with her best friend Yuqi from girl group (G)I-dle.
However, the music video on YouTube was made private after two days and was later updated with significant edits.
Notably, many shots that included posters of Rodrigo on the walls were either cropped or removed altogether. A scene with Rodrigo’s Sour (2021) vinyl album was also snipped from the original.
The song’s lyrics, which were partly written by Yena, speak of the playful jealousy the singer has towards Rodrigo, 20, whom Yena professed looking up to.
The lyrics in the edited video still make references to Rodrigo.
Yena’s agency, Yue Hua Entertainment, did not give an explanation about its decision to pull the video initially, and there was online speculation that it was removed at Rodrigo’s request.
The agency released a statement last Friday, saying: “We discovered possible violations of trademark rights, portrait rights and copyright in the music video and removed it from the public domain.”
It added that it did not receive any requests from Rodrigo’s management.
The agency did not comment on the other controversies regarding the song’s title and concept, which had come under fire for riding on Rodrigo’s massive popularity and for placing the word “hate” in front of someone’s name.
Despite the snowballing hostility, Yena continued promotional activities for the song while remaining silent on the controversy, only opening herself up to further backlash. Her Instagram posts have been flooded with comments from both haters and fans.
Last Saturday, she cancelled her shoot for MBC’s long-running music programme Show! Music Core (2005 to present) due to ill health. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
