Published
Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 19:55
- Producers Suniel Fox and Henry Strange claim the track is nearly identical to their 2015 record “Vibeking."
The Weeknd and Nicolas Jaar are being accused of plagiarism.
"Call Out My Name," a 2018 track off The Weeknd's My Dear Melancholy EP that samples Jaar's 2016 song "Killing Time," is "strikingly and/or substantially similar, if not identical," to a 2015 track called "Vibeking" by Suniel Fox and Henry Strange, according to a lawsuit filed by those producers.
The suit alleges "Call Out My Name" uses the same scale degrees as "Vibeking," adding that both works "are in a 6/8 meter that is less common in popular music." Moreover, both compositions are played at a similar tempo and use "features of electronica, ambience, pop, hip-hop, rock, and R&B to achieve a particular atmospheric and melancholic sound."
The Weeknd, Jaar and Frank Dukes, who produced Call Out My Name, are also accused of creating the record "without a license, authorization, or consent from Plaintiffs."
The entire legal complaint can be viewed at Pitchfork.
Neither artist named in the lawsuit has publicly reacted so far.