Expo Song Wrong?

Less than a month before it opens for business, the Shanghai World Expo has been hit hard in the PR department by claims that its theme song, “Right Here Waiting for You,” was plagiarized.

The Chinese-language song is credited to Miao Sen, a famous composer who graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The song itself won the right to be the theme for the Expo in an open competition held in 2004.

In the past few weeks, the finished promo video, which features stars like Jackie Chan and Andy Lau singing the song, has been prominently shown all over China.

Many have noted its similarity to a song from 1996 by Japanese pop singer Mayo Okamoto. The Expo’s organizers officially announced April 17 that they would stop using the song for the time being.

When Miao’s song was chosen as the theme, he signed an agreement with the Expo for its use. The agreement included a claim that the song was an original work. An investigation is under way.

In the days since the matter was brought up, music fans have uploaded both songs online to show the similarities, which are pretty stark.

Not only are the melody and structure almost exactly the same, but both songs start with a chorus, which is unusual for a standard pop song.

Another famous Chinese composer, Yan Yu Tian, was asked to comment on the issue and after listening to both songs concluded that they were “97 percent alike.”