A group of songwriters from the United States has filed a lawsuit against NewJeans, their agency ADOR and parent company HYBE, accusing them of plagiarising the song "How Sweet".

According to Billboard, the lawsuit was registered on May 7, 2026, in a US federal court. The defendants are all five members of the group — Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein — as well as ADOR and HYBE. The plaintiffs are seeking to be recognised as co-writers of the track and to receive a share of the royalties.

The complaint was filed by four composers and songwriters: Audrey Armacost, Aidan Rodriguez, Adam Gokcebay and Michael Campanelli.

In January 2024, Armacost received from her publisher an instrumental track (the musical foundation of a song without melody or lyrics) along with an invitation to submit a "topline" — that is, to write a melody and lyrics to be placed over the instrumental track — for possible use by NewJeans. The four writers jointly created a demo recording of a song titled "One of a Kind" and sent it to the NewJeans side.

They were told that their work had not been selected.

However, four months later, in May 2024, NewJeans released "How Sweet", and the writers claim that the first verse of this song is "quantitatively and qualitatively similar" to their demo.

Watch the music video for "How Sweet" on YouTube

The plaintiffs cite specific musical similarities: both works are in 4/4 time, in the key of B-flat minor, and contain a melodic sequence of 31 notes over eight bars. The plaintiffs' lawyer stated: "Adam, Aidan, Audrey and Michael are established songwriters who experienced deep disappointment upon discovering such clear copying of their original song "One of a Kind" in NewJeans' song "How Sweet".

On May 9, 2026, ADOR issued an official denial. In a statement distributed through South Korean media, the agency said:

"After we verified this matter with BANA, who were responsible for writing and producing the song, they confirmed that there are no facts of plagiarism. Accordingly, ADOR and the members of NewJeans intend to respond to the lawsuit in accordance with BANA's position."

The agency called the allegations groundless.

HYBE has not yet commented on the situation.

BANA (Beasts And Natives Alike) is the production team that was directly responsible for creating the official NewJeans track "How Sweet".

The song reached No. 7 on the Billboard Global Excl. US chart and No. 15 on the Billboard Global 200 chart. As of the time of writing, the official music video on YouTube has 75 million views and 1.1 million likes.

The lawsuit has been filed simultaneously against ADOR, HYBE and all five NewJeans members personally. The plaintiffs are seeking not only a finding of plagiarism but also co-writer status for the song, which would imply individual liability for the artists.

The plaintiffs' lawyer stressed that he hopes for recognition and affirmation of their rights through this lawsuit.

This appears to be the first time that foreigners have brought a music plagiarism lawsuit against Korean performers. Until now, we have only seen such disputes within Korea.

An earlier case is known from 2024 involving the British jazz-funk band Shakatak, which also came forward against NewJeans. They accused NewJeans of plagiarism, claiming that the track "Bubble Gum" copied their 1981 song "Easier Said Than Done". At the time, ADOR completely rejected the allegations, citing an independent review by copyright experts. The agency stressed that the songs differ in chord structure, overall feel and even tempo, and that the melody from the Shakatak track is a common pop cliché that cannot be subject to unique copyright protection. To date, there is no reliable information that the dispute has moved into the legal arena. The situation unfolded as pre-litigation correspondence.

This time, according to Billboard, we are dealing with a registered lawsuit.

All of this is unfolding against the backdrop of the barely settled scandal surrounding NewJeans and the effective breakup of the group. Danielle, who is also a defendant, is no longer a member of NewJeans and is no longer under the agency's umbrella.

All about the HYBE, NewJeans, and ADOR conflict

Interestingly, both plagiarism cases date from the period when ADOR was headed by Min Hee Jin, whose dispute with HYBE led to the suspension of the group's activities after they came to her defence following her controversial dismissal. Nevertheless, neither Min Hee Jin nor, apparently, her BANA partners are among the parties against whom the US songwriters have filed suit. All five girls, around 20 years of age, are.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6