Today In Alleged Plagiarism: Does “All About That Bass” Rip Off A 2006 K-Pop Song?

Today In Alleged Plagiarism: Does "All About That Bass" Rip Off A 2006 K-Pop Song?

Today In Alleged Plagiarism: Does “All About That Bass” Rip Off A 2006 K-Pop Song?

Today In Alleged Plagiarism: Does "All About That Bass" Rip Off A 2006 K-Pop Song?

Plagiarism accusations run wild in the world of music — just this month we’ve seen a high-profile one of Tame Impala. Usually, they don’t result in anything, but it is fun to listen to what songs supposedly copied whom. The latest on trial is Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass,” the brassy number that’s shot up to the top of the charts and is currently sitting at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Trainor and songwriter Kevin Kadish, who was nominated for a Grammy for his engineering on Jason Mraz’s sophomore album. It’s been pointed out via some videos on Youtube that the song sounds a lot like a 2006 song from South Korean group Koyote called “Gippeummodeu,” in English “Happy Mode.” The song was written by Korean songwriter Joo Young Hoon, who said in a tweet that he was contacting a lawyer. The rabbit hole even goes a little deeper: both songs sound a like a 1989 Phish song called “Contact.” Watch videos comparing all of them below.

“All About That Bass” vs. “Happy Mode,” side-by-side

“All About That Bass” vs. “Happy Mode,” at the same time

“Contact” vs. “All About That Bass” vs. “Happy Mode”

What do you think? If anything, the second version makes for a pretty good remix.

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