A copyright lawsuit was filed against pop superstar Ariana Grande on Thursday. The hip-hop artist who sued her claims that her song “7 Rings” was a rip-off of his 2017 track.
Josh Stone — who goes by the stage name DOT — created and recorded the song “You Need I Got It” around three years ago. In his lawsuit, the artist alleged that he approached music industry executives to produce his song. One of those he approached was Tommy Brown, one of Grande’s extensive collaborators.
Stone claims that Brown lifted key elements of his song for Grande’s 2019 hit “7 Rings” which included the repetitive lyric: “I Want It, I Got It. I Want It, I Got It.” On the other hand, Stone’s song sings the refrain: “You Need It, I Got It. You Want It, I Got It.”
The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in New York by Stone’s lawyer Tamir Young. The attorney alleges that two experts have been approached to analyze the chorus of each song and found a substantial similarity in their rhythm and notes.
“Literally, every single one of the 39 respective notes of ‘7 Rings’ is identical with the 39 notes of ‘I Got It’ from a metrical placement perspective,” the suit wrote according to Variety. “Said another way, the rhythm and placement of the notes and lyrics are identical.”
“7 Rings” has already earned over USD10 million in revenue according to court documents. Grande is one of the artists set to perform at next week’s Grammy Awards. The songstress is vying for five awards, two of which are for “7 Rings.”
