It was announced this week that the Canadian pop sensation, The Weeknd, has been in a court battle since the beginning of the year. It has been reported that the singer has ‘copied’ a track by British-born trio, Sonic Religion, on his multi-million selling album Starboy. The ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’ songwriter has supposedly stolen a key part of the track ‘I Need To Love’ which was one of three songs sold to a record label by the band back in 2004. The tracks rights were eventually returned back to the band after failing to land a sale by the record label. The track ‘A Lonely Night’ is one of 18 tracks from the singer’s double platinum selling album ‘Starboy’ which has sold over 3 million copies since it’s release in 2016.
Stating in an interview with the BBC, Brian Clover of Sonic Religion stated that “We had the song on hold for a few things like Pop Idol but it never got used so then a label took the song on to flog it but never got sold. So, we got it back… they released the rights back to us.” Claiming that an in-house writer who also worked on the tracks for Starboy seemed to be the link between the band and the Grammy-nominated star.
It has been suggested that Mr Clover first noticed the similarities whilst out shopping on the high-street when he overheard the singers track played in a store. Unsurprisingly, The Weeknd’s legal team have denied all claims of copy with the track and further to this his management team have denied Mr Clover writing to them with an amicable arrangement to resolve the matter. “It’s frustrating because it’s always been our dream to have our names on an album by an artist” claims Mr Clover describing the court case as a ‘David and Goliath’ battle.
It has been suggested by The Sun that the UK law firm, Russells, is representing The Weeknd in the court case but this been denied by the firm and has not been commented on since.
He discovered the gem when he was 12 years old and still has it now, claiming it to be why he fell in love with music. He likes to play disc golf when he's not writing about music. He is a one-of-a-kind individual who is always the first to bust out his air guitar on the dance-floor.
- Jay Kurdy, “Wishes, Dreams & Reality” – New Music - November 15, 2024
- Netflix’s Sabrina Carpenter Festive Special To Bring Holiday Magic - November 14, 2024
- Is M.I.A. Really Pregnant In Her New Music Video? - November 13, 2024