On June 27, YENA dropped her second single album 'HATE XX' with the title track 'Hate Rodrigo' featuring YUQI of girl group (G)I_DLE.
The use of the word 'hate' next to the last name of American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo initially caused some concern among Olivia Rodrigo's fans.
YENA, the song's co-composer and lyricist, previously explained what inspired the song.
Contrary to the literal meaning, YENA revealed that she actually loves Olivia Rodrigo, and only meant to imply jealousy over her success.
She clarified that the word 'hate Olivia Rodrigo' was used to convey a sense of envy rather than actual hatred.
Despite her explanation, YENA was criticized for going for the word 'hate', using the real name of another singer who is currently active in the industry as well as almost duplicating some scenes in Olivia Rodrigo's music videos.
Numerous TikTok videos featuring the song with a hashtag '#hate_rodrigo' had been deleted as well.
Some started speculating the reason for this was because Olivia Rodrigo's team specifically requested YouTube and TikTok to take them down.
"We later discovered that the music video had violated copyrights in a couple of scenes. That's why we made it private; we weren't asked to take them down. The video is being redone in the editing process right now. Once we're done re-editing the video, we'll upload it again."
"We strongly ask that you refrain from spreading rumors going forward so that unconfirmed reports don't lead to miscommunications between artists and fans.", they added.
(SBS Star)