Justin Bieber might be “Sorry” in more ways than one soon.
The pop star has just been slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit by a musician who claims that the Biebs lifted the vocal riff in his hit song “Sorry” from one of her tunes.
In the suit, Casey Dienel — who performs under the name of White Hinterland — says that Bieber ripped off the “unique characteristics” of a female vocal riff from her 2014 song “Ring the Bell.”
Skrillex, a producer on “Sorry,” is also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, as are the song’s writers.
“To write, create, produce and record the song ‘Sorry,’ the Defendants knowingly and unlawfully copied original, protectable elements of the musical composition of ‘Ring the Bell’ and unlawfully sampled Plaintiff’s protectable sound recording of ‘Ring the Bell,'” the lawsuit reads, adding that a license to sample the track wasn’t obtained by the defendants.
Dienel says that the uses of the vocal riff in the two songs is “virtually identical.”
“Both songs begin by using the vocal riff, without accompanying drum rhythms, in an introductory manner before the rhythm takes over, and both songs return identically, over and over again, to the opening vocal riff like a refrain in a poem, unifying the entire song,” the suit reads.
She also claims that she asked Bieber to stop using the riff in December, to no avail.
Released in October 2015, “Sorry” has been a big hit for Bieber, topping the Billboard Hot 100. But as the suit notes, “Ring the Bell” is no slouch, amassing 800,000-plus streams and receiving attention from music publications including Rolling Stone and Spin.
A representative for Bieber has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The suit, filed in federal court in Tennessee on Wednesday, is asking for a declaration that “Sorry” infringes on “Ring the Bell,” along with unspecified damages.
Let's go back to the no host format, shall we, MTV? Miley Cyrus seemed to have two objectives Sunday night: to make mention of weed and sexual innuendo at every opportunity, and to eventually plug her free album at the end of the show. She also wore a ton of stupid stuff that left very little to be desired, for anyone who still desires at this point.
Overall, her efforts should not prove a particularly tough act to follow in 2016.
After receiving the award for Best Hip Hop Video -- and ironically following a shoutout to her preacher -- Minaj bashed Cyrus for mentioning her in a recent New York Times interview.
Cyrus did her best to play it off and transition to the next act, but it was awkward to say the least.
The Biebs performed "Where Are U Now?" followed by brand new single "What Do You Mean?" He then took to the air, flying on a harness at the performance's end. When lowered to the safety of the stage, Bieber broke into tears.
Perhaps the harness was too tight?
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Worst: Kanye West's Latest Rambling Rant
Kanye West is a terrific rapper and a terrible speaker. The predetermined honoree of the MTV VMAs Video Vanguard Award accepted his trophy from old show foe Taylor Swift, and then he got to preaching.
It was the best of efforts, it was the worst of efforts. MTV had a big task Sunday night, trying to keep its flagship awards show to a PG-13 level. For the most part, whoever was manning the "dump" button did a nice job covering up a ton of expletives -- but the cable channel was a bit asleep as the wheel with visual censorship.
Rebel Wilson wore a shirt with the word "Fuck" clear as day on it, and MTV got caught with its host sans shirt (or anything else on top), as Miley Cyrus suffered a nip slip at one point. Not that she cares.
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Best: Macklemore Takes It to the Streets
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis rarely give a milquetoast performance, and Sunday's ambitious exterior VMAs performance was no exception.
The duo gave daps to old-school hip-hop with a movement-filled mini set that included guest stars such as Kool Moe Dee. One that that wasn't so great? Macklemore's moped negotiating skills.
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Worst: Clock Management
Like seemingly every awards show, the MTV VMAs simply could not stick within their allotted time. Much of that can be attributed to Kanye West's aforementioned all-over-the-place award acceptance/2020 candidacy speech. That's what you get for giving that guy the one trophy that doesn't come with optional play-off music.
Though the show was somewhere around two-and-a-half hours, most folks in attendance would probably tell you that it felt even longer. Anyway, here's a picture of Demi Lovato and Iggy Azalea.
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Best: Miley Hearts Wayne Coyne
The unlikely lovefest between the 54-year-old Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and 22-year-old Cyrus continued at the VMAs.
Coyne, who produced the surprise album Cyrus dropped at the end of the show, assisted the pop singer with her performance by holding an air cannon between her thighs and firing as she stroked it. Coyne and Cyrus previously performed together at the Billboard Music Awards, and Cyrus appeared on the Flaming Lips' 2014 Beatles tribute album "With a Little Help From My Fwends."
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Justin Bieber bawled and Kanye West declared his future presidential candidacy on a weird night for pop music
Let's go back to the no host format, shall we, MTV? Miley Cyrus seemed to have two objectives Sunday night: to make mention of weed and sexual innuendo at every opportunity, and to eventually plug her free album at the end of the show. She also wore a ton of stupid stuff that left very little to be desired, for anyone who still desires at this point.
Overall, her efforts should not prove a particularly tough act to follow in 2016.
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