The "Cultural Patent" of Pop: Questioning the Structural Similarities Between NewJeans and Dua Lipa’s Hallucinate
Have you encountered the "Droste effect"? It is a visual phenomenon displaying a recursive loop within itself; whilst the pattern originates in a single tile, it eventually consumes the entire picture. A similar contagion now appears to influence the music industry, where boundaries are routinely dissolved to mix chords seamlessly. Passive consumers often follow the "vaguely familiar" frames and personas adopted by commercial artists. If we accept an artist's commercially tailored persona as their truest concept, we risk falling into this very recursive loop—bringing to mind a generation of youth trapped in endless, uncritical admiration.
Putting aside the mere similarity of musical notes, the homogenisation of cultural products has become a significant subject of contemporary discussion. In patent law, the All Elements Rule dictates that infringement occurs only if every single element of a claim is present—a principle frequently referred to in business contexts as the "All-In-One Principle". To see how this applies universally, we must analyse business structures both vertically, like manufacturing and distribution, and horizontally, such as cross-industry convergence. We can also apply the Doctrine of Equivalents when analysing the overall impact and function of a creative work's literary and visual elements.
Yet, certain observers argue that repetitive creative frameworks simply reuse these foundational materials after some time passes and public scrutiny fades. Highly commercialised cultural works sometimes display a tendency to overlook these structural rules for economic expediency.
Examining the creative spectrum of HYBE’s NewJeans through this lens feels akin to witnessing a compelling case study of this recursive loop. Whilst cultural commentators often trace NewJeans' nostalgic aesthetic back to a 1990s Mexican pop group, looking at the project through the lens of a "cultural patent" reveals a far more direct point of reference. When looking past the superficial marketing, their visual and sonic framework presents striking structural parallelisms to Dua Lipa's "Hallucinate" music video, which entered the cultural landscape on March 27, 2020. Deconstructing their universe component by component raises valid questions about whether key parts of their artistic identity were systematically modelled, piece by piece, after that solitary track.
The structural overlap includes the following highly similar elements:
- Flowers featuring expressive faces and rainbow-coloured petals.
- Animated rabbits caught mid-dance.
- A distinct, rainbow-coloured stage design.
- A heroine character reminiscent of Supergirl.
- An undeniable resemblance in overall character design.
Those who rely heavily on such derivative formulas may eventually face the limits of their own creative strategies. A sense of weariness sets in among critics who wonder how much longer the industry will rely on hyper-derivative engineering, utilising calculated stratagems and familiar aesthetics primarily to capture the public's attention.
The political fallout of a culture celebrating mass ignorance can be massive in its engulfing presence, yet trivial in its structural consequences. Through democratic freedoms, individuals often comfort themselves—relying on communised products and socialistic algorithms rather than taking responsibility for true creative freedom. Consequently, cultural critics argue that we must resolutely examine these closed data ecosystems that seem to operate outside established social compacts; this mechanism challenges fundamental societal rules in a manner that invites deep systemic critique. It may begin in ignorance, but it can ultimately settle into a profound obstinacy: an unyielding faith in one's own infallibility. Furthermore, one cannot help but observe that those who unconditionally defend these highly derivative structures may themselves be acting as uncritical defenders.