As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been interested to see how AlphaBAT fare in the K-Pop world. They have an absolutely ridiculous concept, in that each member has a Greek letter name (and then there’s C:ode and J:eta that are not Greek at all) that cover letters B to J (I’m trying very hard not to make a blowjob joke). The group is still overall so irrelevant they don’t even have their own Wikipedia page. What flops.
Their last comeback, “Tanttara” caught some attention since it was miles more mature than “AB City” – which was too confused whether it wanted to be cute or hip-hop. “Tanttara” was mature, had an interesting sound and dance, but still, wasn’t anything too unique. I’ve lost interest in the group overall since I’m having a hard time finding anything special about them anymore. Their concept is too ridiculous for me (similar to how AOA’s concept was too ridiculous until they kicked out the half-angel, and decided they’re not angels anymore), and their music is really not anything amazing. I realized the only reason they caught my attention in the first place was because G:Amma looks like a less cute Jinyoung, who we all know is the cutest boy ever.
Turns out AlphaBAT is trying to cash in on that, and are going to be following the trend of ripping off B1A4 AKA the most original group in K-Pop with their newest single.
While the teasers obviously play into their tacky alphabet concept, the first thing I thought of when I saw these photos are the flawless “What’s Happening” album covers and teaser photos. Look at the all white backgrounds filled with dorky symbols and various English words.
If you look hard enough at the photo featuring the ‘rap-line’ with the four members, you can even see a misspelt ‘What’s Up?’ written on the wall, just as B1A4’s CD had one on the cover.
Considering there’s two teasers, there’s speculation that the group is going to split into subunits. This seems to be an ongoing trend in K-Pop so I wouldn’t be surprised.
The new single is going to be called “Alpha School,” so it’s likely they’re returning to the “AB City” type concept, and will continue to attempt to appeal to 5 year old by singing the alphabet. While I could forgive that prior to ripping off “What’s Happening,” this is a sacred unique concept that only B1A4 can pull off, so this is obviously unacceptable. I’ll obviously listen to the FlopaBAT single, so I can judge how ridiculous it is, but this is literally too much.
I’ll probably end up making a list of all the B1A4 ripoffs that have happened in K-Pop this year for my end of the year post. I literally cannot believe how blatant this is. Thank god for copyright laws…oh, I forget, they essentially don’t exist in South Korea. At least we can revel in the fact that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?
What's Happening in K-Pop 