Yeasayer Are No Longer Suing The Weeknd For Copyright Infringement
Earlier this year, the members of the defunct Brooklyn indie band Yeasayer filed a lawsuit against Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd for copyright infringement. Yeasayer claimed that Kendrick and the Weeknd’s “Pray For Me,” a song from Kendrick’s 2018 Black Panther soundtrack, took elements from “Sunrise,” a song from Yeasayer’s 2007 debut album All Hour Cymbals. At the time, Yeasayer, who broke up at the end of 2019, claimed that “Pray For Me” imitated the “distinctive choral performance” — “comprised of male voices singing in their highest registers, with animated, pulsing vibrato” — from “Pray For Me.” But now Yeasayer have been convinced that the Weeknd didn’t steal anything from them.
Pitchfork reports that Yeasayer have dismissed their own lawsuit against the Weeknd, Frank Dukes, and UMe Recordings. In their legal documents, Yeasayer say that they have “confirmed to their satisfaction that no copyright infringement occurred.”
Yeasayer also filed that initial lawsuit against Kendrick Lamar, producer Doc McKinney, Interscope, Aftermath, and Top Dawg Entertainment. None of those parties are mentioned in the paperwork over Yeasayer dropping the lawsuit.