Kavinsky says Gaga rip-off his song

[River 125,255]

5 hours ago, Bronco said:

I think live recordings must also have different rules re copyright etc.

Cuz I've checked - Gaga isn't given credits on the MDNA tour album in Express Yourself despite Madonna actually singing part of Born This Way

 

5 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

That may be true, but I still stand by that I don’t even think it’s a sample or interpolation. I also think the BTW sample is kind of loaded because if Gaga sued, it’d create a whole legal and media shitstorm abt EY vs. BTW and whether BTW was meaningfully derivative of EY.

I believe the leaked documents actually showed that Madonna was secretly credited in BTW and approved the sample/interpolation.

So Gaga's story about the email was somewhat true.

The whole thing was a marketing gone wrong from both parties and interscope.. Madonna just signed with them and they had to bring her into the spotlight somehow.

[Bronco 21,801]

3 minutes ago, River said:

 

I believe the leaked documents actually showed that Madonna was secretly credited in BTW and approved the sample/interpolation.

So Gaga's story about the email was somewhat true.

The whole thing was a marketing gone wrong from both parties and interscope.. Madonna just signed with them and they had to bring her into the spotlight somehow.

Makes sense.

I always thought it was something Madonna never took that seriously given that her type of humour leans into that sarcastic/bitchy style of humour. And Gaga being in the frame of mind she was in at that time took it harder than likely intended. 

[River 125,255]

if someone wants to end the debate, use this

https://www.universalproductionmusic.com/en-us/tools/similarity-search

[Nine Inch Heels 852]

On 5/15/2026 at 2:07 PM, Anderson123 said:

Well that's awkward. I don't think Gaga would simply rip off someone without giving credit or paying them so there's something off with that. Maybe the record label and Gaga's team did that with whoever owns Nightcall (another record label) and didn't let him know or something. I'd like to know what Trent Reznor says because Closer is clearly used on Killah too and he has to approve that.

Trent simply wouldn’t care and would be all for it, he’s historically been into remixing/sampling and inviting others to do it with his work. Old Town Road wasn’t cleared to sample his song initially, and when he found out, he couldn’t be bothered and actually digged it. He got a country music award out of it. He’s just cool like that lmao 

The way it was presented to me originally is I got a call from my management saying, ‘We got a call from a panicked manager saying they had used the sample of something off Ghosts,'” Reznor recalls. “‘They should have cleared it, but it didn’t get cleared. It’s picking up some steam on the viral Spotify charts. What do you think about that?’ And I said, ‘Look, I’m fine with it. I get how stuff goes. They’re not saying they didn’t sample it. Just work it out, but don’t be a roadblock to this.’ I hadn’t heard it yet. Then a few weeks later, I was like, ‘Holy ****.'”

Reznor calls “Old Town Road” “undeniably hooky,” but once it exploded, he took a back seat to the phenomenon. “The reason I haven’t stepped in to comment anything about it is, I don’t feel it’s my place to play any kind of social critic to that,” he says. “It was a material that was used in a significant way and it turned into something that became something else, and those guys should be the ones the spotlight is on…. They asked if I wanted to do a cameo in the video, and it was flattering, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I don’t feel like it’s my place to shine a light on me for that. I say that with complete respect.”

edit:

here’s a pic of him laughing at this photoshopped image of him an atticus acknowledging old town road 

https://imgur.com/188GugG

 

 

Edited May 17 by Nine Inch Heels

[Guillaume Hamon 6,883]

55 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

All of those I think are more overt than this

That's where we disagree. To me the others would be more reworked than Nightcall that's more directly evoking it. 

[joannethenight 5,923]

17 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

What video is that on?

https://www.instagram.com/reels/C9VWTvZJxyW/

[MountainMonster 2,339]

1 hour ago, joannethenight said:

https://www.instagram.com/reels/C9VWTvZJxyW/

Worse than being Rick Rolled. 

[HotLikeMexico 6,277]

11 hours ago, TheARTPOPball said:

Because its not a habit of hers

Gaga has been plagued with rip off claims her entire career.

[MOT 3,548]

I am a complete non-expert when it comes to the technicalities on this issue, both musically and legally. However, my non-technical ear tells me that these two songs sound very similar, albeit I wouldn't be surprised if their sound turned out to be very generic too.

Separately, I would point out that all we are talking about here is a one-liner post on social media. It carries virtualy no weight.

[TheARTPOPball 1,349]

3 hours ago, HotLikeMexico said:

Gaga has been plagued with rip off claims her entire career.

She hasn’t been known to continuously mis-credit work she has clearly borrowed and has always gave her flowers to her inspirations despite bitter attitudes from them. 

[jacs vs looser 5,087]

UPDATE: Kavinsky is now credited as a writer alongside Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel

Source: Apple Music 

[nATAH 55,321]

On 5/17/2026 at 9:57 PM, HotLikeMexico said:

Gaga has been plagued with rip off claims her entire career.

that's not the same though and none of those claims have been successful because gaga has never failed to credit a sample when needed

[pynkri 405]

53 minutes ago, jacs vs looser said:

UPDATE: Kavinsky is now credited as a writer alongside Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel

Source: Apple Music 

+ Trent Reznor on Killah.

Edited May 20 by pynkri

[River 125,255]

56 minutes ago, jacs vs looser said:

UPDATE: Kavinsky is now credited as a writer alongside Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel

Source: Apple Music 

we lost the battle, but we will win the war 

[Guillaume Hamon 6,883]

1 hour ago, jacs vs looser said:

UPDATE: Kavinsky is now credited as a writer alongside Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel

Source: Apple Music 

Honestly the more Gaga, or rather her team, gives credits the less her artistry will be ( unfairly ) presented as mere recycling so... 

Good move. She's been reduced to comparisons too often already. Her influences here were so obvious that every music critic did notice them anyway just like many listeners btw...

The credits had to follow but too bad it took a polemic. Now it looks like they tried to see if they could hide it and did things fairly once they had to.