Superstar producer/DJ Zedd is under fire for allegedly ripping off a tune from another (lesser-known) EDM producer named ABSRDST for his hit song 'Stay' feat. Alessia Cara.
The claim is that 'Stay' bears a close resemblance to ABSRDST's track 'Skin Contest' ft. JSTJR, which came out in 2014, about three years prior to the release of 'Stay.'
In a video on Twitter, ABSRDST put the songs in a side-by-side comparison showing the similarities between the hook instrumentals, alternating between one track and the other with the vocals layered on top. Listen below and decide for yourself:
ABSRDST said that he wasn't going to originally post the complaint because he "didn't want to rustle any edm feathers," but Zedd's recent video showing off his $16 million mansion "put [him] in a bad mood."
He followed up by pointing out that Zedd once lodged a similar complaint on Instagram against One Direction for using the same lyrics and progression as his song 'True Colors' in their track 'Drag Me Down.'
ABSRDST continued his Tweet thread reflecting on what could have been if his song had gained more notoriety instead of Zedd's:
"I could probably have bought a house for my mom who lives in subsidized housing w a writing credit," he wrote, and took a dig at Zedd's new mansion. "i'd honestly by 16 of my friends $1 million houses instead of buying myself 1 $16 house."
'Stay' was a massive success for Zedd with a 2x Platinum certification, top 10 Billboard chart placement, a full remix EP, and more than 350 million combined views on YouTube.
This isn't the first time Zedd has been accused of stealing from others. In 2017, a visual artist named Amari (@Neptuneprince on Twitter) had a video of dancing hot dogs (inspired by the Snapchat filter) go viral, which was later used as a background in at least one of Zedd's live performances, with no credit or permission given to the original artist. After an unsatisfactory DM reply from Zedd (who offered nothing more than a "but it's free promotion" type of response), Amari pressed the issue and eventually received payment from Zedd's team.
What do you think? Is this just a freaky coincidence, or did Zedd really rip off a relatively unknown artist for his own benefit?
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