Singer Choi Yena has encountered controversy and obstacles simultaneously with her comeback, due to her new song titled 'Hate Rodrigo.'

On June 27th, Choi released her second single album 'HATE XX' and started her promotional activities with the title song 'Hate Rodrigo,' featuring Yuqi from (G)I-DLE.

'Hate Rodrigo,' for which Choi participated in writing and composing, expresses cute jealousy towards an object of admiration, Rodrigo, in a fun way saying "I hate everyone who is doing better than me!"

While Choi stated that her new song tried to portray cute jealousy towards her role model in an endearing way, using her unique charm, the public's response was not as positive.

The song has been criticized for not only using the name of the currently active Olivia Rodrigo in the title but also incorporating the negative term 'HATE' in front of it. Furthermore, the lyrics, which could be construed as profane, and multiple elements borrowed from Olivia Rodrigo's album concept, have also drawn negative reactions from the public.

Adding fuel to the fire, the music video was made private just two days after its release, deepening the controversy. There have been speculations that the video was taken down due to a request from Olivia Rodrigo's camp.

However, Choi's agency refuted these speculations on June 30th, stating that they discovered potential trademark, portrait, and copyright infringements in some scenes of the video, hence, they decided to take it offline for editing. They apologized for the confusion caused due to the sudden removal of the video without prior notice and assured that they would upload it as soon as the editing is complete.

The agency further clarified that the video was not taken down due to a request from Olivia Rodrigo's team, and they haven't received any such requests. They appealed for no further spread of unverified information to avoid causing misunderstandings among artists and fans.

Despite the explanation from Choi's agency, the controversy continued. Regardless, Choi started her promotions in earnest with her comeback stage performance of 'Hate Rodrigo' on KBS2's 'Music Bank' aired on June 30th, and followed it up by appearing on MBC's 'Show! Music Core' on the next day.

However, burdened by the controversy, the planned post-recording for 'Show! Music Core' was cancelled. Wei Entertainment, Choi's agency, explained that the post-recording was cancelled due to the artist's health concerns and requested understanding from the fans for the frequent schedule changes, stating they would do their best for the artist's recovery.

As Choi had also participated in writing and composing the controversial song 'Hate Rodrigo,' she cannot avoid responsibility for the controversy. It remains to be seen whether Choi will personally address this issue.

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