Plagiarism in KARA's New Song "Step"?

KARA’s new song, “Step”, was released on September 6 and is seizing all the music ranking charts. However, a video was posted online, questioning if a part of the song was plagiarized.

“Step”, is KARA’s first release in Korea in 10 months. Some netizens are suspicious of the originality of the song because “Step” sounds like “One of Us” by Joan Osborne. From 2:27~2:40, they claim, seems to have been from the Osborne’s song. The video that mixed the two songs and music videos has been going around the Internet.

Doubting originality is not a new accusation for KARA. Last year with the song Lupin, netizens have questioned if it was plagiarized but proven false. This time as well, “Step” is not a plagiarized song.

An expert on the subject said “In order for the declaration of plagiarism to successfully take place, there is a certain standard in how much the song sounds the same but ‘Step’ does not apply to those standards. Only the rhythm sounds alike but it cannot be considered for plagiarism.”