Sleigh Bells Sue Demi Lovato
When Demi Lovato’s album Confident came out last year, Sleigh Bells accused the pop singer of sampling their songs “Infinity Guitars” and “Riot Rhythm” on the bonus track “Stars.” The band tweeted, “Demi Lovato flattered you guys sampled Infinity Guitars & Riot Rhythm for ‘Stars’ but we were not contacted. Gotta clear those.” Now, as The Hollywood Reporter reports, the duo’s Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss are suing Lovato, UMG Recordings, and producers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub, alleging that the song contains material from “Infinity Guitars.”
“A comparison of the two songs reveals that, at the very least, the combination of the hand claps and bass drum, structured as 3 quarter beats and a rest, with the bass drum providing a counter-rhythm to the hand claps, is at least substantially similar in both works,” the complaint reads. “This infringing material repeats throughout the Defendants’ song.” It also notes that “signal decay and other sonic signatures in each of the songs are comprised of and contain virtually identical content, and analyses of the two songs reveal that they are, at least in part, substantially similar, virtually identical, or identical.”
Back in November, producers Falk and Yacoub issued a statement: “We did not use any samples in Demi Lovato’s song Stars. Demi was also not involved with the production. She only wrote top line.” They have not yet responded to the lawsuit.
You can view the full complaint here. Compare the two tracks below.