Yena says MV changes not because of Olivia Rodrigo

Singer Yena [CHO YONG-JUN]

The music video for Yena’s "Hate Rodrigo" was taken down due to concerns that it may infringe copyrights, and was not due to a request from Olivia Rodrigo's agency, according to the Korean artist's agency.

“[Yue Hua Entertainment] made the music video unavailable after finding copyright, portrait and trademark right infringements in certain scenes on Thursday. We apologize for the delay in finding the issue and making it public. We will upload the video as soon as we finish editing them,” Yena’s agency Yue Hua Entertainment said Friday afternoon in a statement.

“It is not true that we have made the music video unavailable following Olivia Rodrigo’s request,” the agency added, claiming that no such requests were made by Rodrigo and her agency.

The music video for Yena’s latest song, “Hate Rodrigo,” was removed from the official YouTube channels just two days after its release on Thursday afternoon.

Fans and local media suspected the removal was directly due to a request from Rodrigo, who is heavily implicated and mentioned in both the song and the music video.

The music video was re-uploaded on Friday afternoon, with all photos of the American singer-songwriter removed.

The song's title, "Hate Rodrigo," and its concept created controversy even before its release as Yena seemingly refers to Rodrigo. Yena is also dressed up as a teenage pop star in her music video, and drives the same vehicle that the American singer drove on her 2021 debut single "drivers license."

Yena said during Tuesday's press showcase that "Hate Rodrigo" "depicts the jealousy toward [her] wannabe and role model, in an unhateful Yena way," and added that it "uses contradicting words to amplify the love and yearning toward that person."

Rodrigo on Friday will drop "Vampire," the lead single for her upcoming second full-length album "Guts," which will be released on Sept. 8.

To find out more about Yena, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]