When Stereogum posts a story about Deadmau5, it’s usually due to some bizarre situation he has actively gotten himself into. This post, instead, is about a bizarre situation that Deadmau5 just so happens to be tangentially involved in. A lot of people probably first heard the murine DJ back in 2011 via “Raise Your Weapon,” his first Billboard-charting song, which featured vocals from Greta Svabo Bech. Lately, whenever Deadmau5 has perfromed “Raise Your Weapon” live, he’s had fellow Canadian and singer Lights do Bech’s part. That’s not an unusual thing to do, but the way it’s played out led to some misunderstandings.

Earlier this week, Bech posted a TikTok explaining her side of the story:

I get tagged in lots of posts from Deadmau5 shows. In the videos, it is my voice, but another singer is miming. If she’s not miming, her voice is so low in the mix you can only hear me. Seeing these videos made me realize, as a singer, my voice and my identity are intertwined. It’s one thing not giving credit, but when someone else is actively taking credit for your voice, it’s like they’re taking a part of your body and saying it’s theirs. It’s intentional. It feels like an assault on my identity and my livelihood as a singer. And it’s also deceiving the audience… With all the conversations about AI, and the death of the artist and creativity, this feels much worse because it’s my voice and I’m a human being. So I’m putting this out there to be a voice in my own conversation. Because what kind of role model am I to my new daughter if I can’t use my own voice and stand up for myself?

In the comments of the video, Bech added that she’s never been offered to tour with Deadmau5. A couple of days later, Lights issued a response, chalking up the apparent “miming” to a mistake on the production team’s part. She said:

I’ve been singing “Raise Your Weapon” with Deadmau5 on and off for the last number of years. It’s not my song — it’s just been an add-on to the songs that I do have with him on the shows that I do come out to, because it’s a great singable moment. For the last few shows, though, you can actually just hear the original track playing over my performance. I actually didn’t know that no one could hear my voice in the speakers until I got on stage. I can hear my voice in my in-ear monitors, and I’m singing the first verse, giving them my all. First break comes down, I’m like, “How’s everybody doing tonight?” and it’s crickets. I’m like, this thing on?…

Long story short, it sucked for me to be singing my ass off and no one could hear me. And it’s sucked for Greta to see that and get the wrong impression about me. I would have obviously preferred for it to be an instrumental like it had been in the past…

I’m not shitting on the production team or the Deadmau5 camp. They’re great people. They work their asses off. They’ve always treated me great. It’s just there were a few things that were important to me and the original vocalist, Greta, that were overlooked because everybody is busy thinking about a bunch of things that have to do with a massive production like this. There were no egregious conspiracies to erase identity or malicious intent. Shit happens. I chatted with Greta and we’re good. In the words of the great Paul McCartney, it’s just fucking music and we’re all gonna die.

For what it’s worth, nobody sang live when Deadmau5 performed “Raise Your Weapon” at the 2012 Grammys. Watch both Bech and Lights’ videos below.

@gretasvabo Today is my birthday. And it’s also the day I reclaim my voice, and take part in a conversation that has been happening online without me. This false crediting of my voice to someone else has to stop. If you want to respect the integrity and authenticity of the record, respect the Artists who made it. @deadmau5 When I asked to sing live at these shows – this was not the response I was expecting. A big thank you to those of you who have called this out, and who are fighting my corner. And to those who have tagged me in these shows, and are fans of “raise your weapon” – I’m sorry I haven’t said anything sooner. But I thank you, love to you all. Xx #raiseyourweapon #gretasvabobech #miming #edm #womeninmusic #deadmau5 #dancemusic #ultramusic #livemusic #shutupandsing ♬ original sound – greta svabo

@lights

TLDR: i asked each night for the og vox to come out, asked each night if theyd hear me out there. By the last night i wasnt even in the mix. Sucks to be raked over the coals for something that was out of my control.

♬ original sound – Lights