HYBE Labels’ AI audio and sound technology subsidiary, Supertone Co., has unveiled its virtual girl group SYNDI8, comprising four members: Canary, Nest, Goyo, and Raven.
To mark their debut, SYNDI8 released their first single album, MVP, globally on June 27, featuring three tracks: the lead single ATOTA, and accompanying b-sides My Fantasy and True Color.
On their debut day, Korean artist B.YO called out HYBE for allegedly ghosting her after requesting designs for SYNDI8 and then copying her style.
She shared, “Supertone proposed a collaboration with me and then stopped contacting me,” and added, “But they completely changed their drawing style to a similar style to mine, and many people asked me if I had ever worked with them. So I wrote this because I felt very offended. If Superton hadn’t suggested it to me in the first place and came up with a work like that, I wouldn’t have been offended.”
She revealed receiving hate comments for speaking out, “After receiving excessively abusive DMs and mocking comments, I wrote this post because I was heartbroken and wondered why I had to listen to such comments when I was only complaining about personal harm.”
B.YO lastly called out the Supertone designer who allegedly copied her style, “The Supertone designer who contacted me directly posted a promotional article for a virtual girl group on his story today. I hope your virtual business goes well. From now on, I will focus more on personal work.”
HYBE and Supertone have remained silent on the accusations so far, leaving fans eager for an official response and hoping for due credit to be given if B.YO’s designs were indeed replicated.