Blurry Lines: The Biggest "Music Controversies"

By Elana Goodwin on September 25, 2014

Unless you weren’t on planet Earth for the last year, you’ve heard of Robin Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines.” Which means you may be aware of how “Lines” was embroiled in a big music controversy regarding possible plagiarism and copyright infringement.

(From left): Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, and T.I.
Photo Credit: Blurred Lines music video/Star Trak Entertainment

Thicke’s song, which features rapper T.I. and Pharrell Williams, who also produced the track, came out in late March 2013. The catchy but lyrically controversial tune was touted as being written by Thicke, Williams and Clifford Harris, Jr. (T.I.’s real name), with all of them sharing the credit for penning the chart topper.

In August 2013, however, the authenticity and originality of “Blurred Lines” got a little, well, blurry. The family of infamous singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye were making allegations that Thicke had ripped off Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up” while Bridgeport Music was making noise about it being too similar to Funkadelic’s “Sexy Ways.”

Before either could serve Thicke with a lawsuit, Thicke preemptively sued the Gaye family and Bridgeport Music about the copyright infringement accusations they were making concerning “Blurred Lines.”

The Gaye family’s lawsuit alleged that Thicke had stolen the “feel” and idea behind “Got to Give It Up” which was declared an invalid claim since individual ideas aren’t protected by copyright laws; rather, the actual voicing of that idea is what matters.

Earlier this year, Gaye’s children and Thicke’s music publisher, a company called EMI April which is owned by Sony/ATV reached a settlement, the specifics of which haven’t been released to the public. While settlement terms weren’t publicized, earlier this month, Thicke’s testimony from the April deposition of the lawsuit was made public.

In his deposition, Thicke was steadfast about his assertion that “Lines” wasn’t a rip off but his testimony revealed that he was “high on Vicodin and alcohol” when he showed up to the studio to write and record the single. When asked if he was there with Pharrell when the rhythm track was being created, Thicke said this:

“To be honest, that’s the only part where — I was high on Vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio. So my recollection is when we made the song, I thought I wanted — I — I wanted to be more involved than I actually was by the time, nine months later, it became a huge hit and I wanted credit. So I started kind of convincing myself that I was a little more part of it than I was and I — because I didn’t want him — I wanted some credit for this big hit. But the reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song.”

Thicke, however, is not the first (nor will he be the last) to be entangled in a “music controversy.” In fact, in the last several years, two other larger cases garnered media attention.

Photo Credit: Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga’s empowering anthem, “Born This Way,” was released in February 2011. It quickly became a favorite among women, minorities and the gay community. Shortly after the song came out, critics and fans both noted the similarity to Madonna’s 1989 track “Express Yourself.”

Gaga had referenced Madonna as an inspiration and influence of her music in the past but “Born This Way” soon had listeners wondering whether Gaga’s song was born or copied.

Madonna and Gaga prior to the “Born This Way/Express Yourself” controversy had shared a mutual respect for one another. But in an interview post-”Born This Way,” Madonna stated that when she heard the song on the radio she said “that sounds very familiar” and went on to say “it felt reductive.”

You can listen to a mashup of the two tracks below and judge for yourself whether Gaga may have allowed the Material Girl to express herself all over Gaga’s song.

Back in 2009, another musical controversy involving Kelly Clarkson and Beyoncé led to the question of “who copied who?” when Clarkson’s song “Already Gone” hit the air waves after Queen B’s “Halo” had.

Both Clarkson and Beyoncé worked with OneRepublic frontman and songwriter Ryan Tedder on their tracks. “Halo” was released in January 2009 as the fourth single from Beyoncé’s 2008 third studio album “I Am…Sasha Fierce.”

Shortly after working with Beyoncé, Tedder went on to write with Clarkson for her fourth studio album, “All I Ever Wanted.”

When Clarkson later heard “Halo,” which she knew had been co-written by Tedder, she noticed the similarities between the two songs and accused Tedder of using the same arrangement for both songs.

Clarkson was worried that listeners would assume she’d ripped off Beyoncé’s tune since it had been released first, and tried to get her label, RCA, to remove it from her album. When that wasn’t possible, Clarkson tried to at least convince her label not to release the song as a single; RCA went ahead with it anyway.

After Clarkson’s allegations were made public, Tedder responded to her claims, saying that the two songs were “entirely different” and that if he were going around selling the same track to the biggest names in the music industry, his career wouldn’t last very long. Tedder has worked as a songwriter and producer for numerous artists besides Clarkson and Beyoncé, including Adele, Demi Lovato, Jennifer Lopez, B.o.B and more.

So next time you hear a song on the radio that sounds like another song you’ve heard before, know that you may not be imagining those similarities. Because it’s completely possible (and highly probable) that somewhere along the way when that song was being created, the lines between originality and influence got blurred.

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