When the song was first released and shared around the internet, the credits attributed Michael Mind Project for production, unlike SHINee’s version which credited the lyrics to Misfit and composition & arrangement to Mikko Tamminem, Risto Asikainen and Will Simms.

With this discovery, Shawols immediately began posting angry comments on the video and message boards in English, branding Sean Kingston as a “total failure,” “SHINee copier,” “f***ing s***,” and even “burglar” and “blackdog,” spamming the comments section with plagiarism accusations and hate threats. One fan even remarked, “Bye bye Sean Kingston, when SM finds you ^^ are you ready or not~ you ready or not~ to die ;D“.

This incendiary reaction itself also received backlash from fellow netizens who responded, “Calm down and stop jumping to conclusions,” “k-pop fans can be so embarrassing sometimes,” and, ”Shawols, please don’t make SHINee look bad by arguing or flaming. Be respectful, just say you prefer SHINee… that’s it.“ Another commented, ”I personally don’t give a f*** who sings it better … Maybe Shinee and Sean made some kind of deal like the whole *Run Devil Run thing.”

Sure enough, Michael Mind Project posted the following message, explaining that both versions of “Ready or Not” were cut from an original Finnish track titled “Girls,” and that both Michael Mind Project and SM Entertainment produced the track with legal rights. Here’s the post below:

The same day, Eero Tolppanen (who does the licensing for Elements Music) posted on the Facebook Wall of Elements Music, which is the Finnish record company that owns the rights for “Girls,” the original song:

“Eero Tolppanen: Going Big! Michael Mind Project feat. Sean Kingston – “Ready or Not” to be the official mascot song of the FIFA Women’s World Cup! Song written by Elements Music writers Mikko Tamminen and Risto Asikainen together with Will Simms (Universal). Hit incoming!”

So in short, with Michael Mind Project & Element Music’s official posts, Sean Kingston’s “Ready or Not” is a legally sold adaptation of “Girls.” Considering the way that this controversy played out and how some fans jumped the gun before hearing the whole story, we hope that kpop fans in general will be more considerate and mature instead of immediately pointing their fingers and jumping to conclusions in the future.

Sean Kingston launched his musical career back in 2007 and is behind hit tracks including “Fire Burning” (which was, ironically, cast under the kpop spotlight last year when U-KISS‘ “Bang Bang Bang” was claimed to be a plagiarized version of “Fire Burning”), “Eenie Meenie” (with Justin Bieber) and “Beautiful Girls.”