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In what is slowly turning into spate of borrowed creativity this month, Taiwanese singer Yufeng Xiao’s track “Paper Kite” has come under criticism for its startling similarity to Japanese band B’z own “Mouichido Kisu Shitakatta” or “I wanted to kiss you one more time”.

Whether or not you’re familiar with either artist, we highly recommend turning your speakers up and taking a listen to these tracks after the jump. You won’t believe your ears.

Released at the end of March this year, the video for Yufeng’s track looks completely different to any of the Japanese rock duo’s offerings to date. But when you’re following an act whose credentials include 46 consecutive no. 1 singles, people are bound to notice if your work — whether intentionally or not — borrows a few bars of music.

First, let’s listen to B’z’s 1991 track.

And now for the Taiwanese artist’s

Admittedly, it is the similarities between the two tracks’ intros that stands out the most, but there are a couple of other points throughout the track that have a whiff of B’z own work. Suffice it to say, B’z fans were not impressed. So much so that some clever YouTubers even put together a cheeky version of  “Mouichido Kisu Shitakatta”, this time “featuring Yufeng Xiao”, which you can check out here.

The comments made online by Japanese netizens have been somewhat acidic to say the least:

“Oops…”

“It’s identical!”

“Haha, it’s clear that someone involved had heard [B’z] song…”

“This is the worst.”

“Is this a joke!?”

“This is so bad it’s laughable.”

Of course, there may be just the tiniest hint of nationalism behind some of these comments, but even we have to admit that it’s hard listen to “Paper Kite” without feeling a pang of deja vu. In our humble opinion, though, with a few tweaks to the intro, this new track would have gone by completely unnoticed by the hoards of angry B’z fans.
[ Read in Japanese ]