Pet Shop Boys (left) accuse Drake of stealing lyrics from “West End Girls.” (Getty)
Drake’s latest album. For all dogshas already caused a stir after synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys accused the star of using lyrics from their 1986 hit “West End Girls” without permission.
Award-winning Canadian rapper Drake released his eighth studio album on Friday (October 6), shortly before announcing a hiatus from music to focus on his health.
One of the tracks, “All the Party”, was immediately praised by the Pet Shop Boys, consisting of the duo Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, for incorporating lyrics from their 1986 hit “West End Girls”.
The lyrics “East End boys and West End girls, yeah/East End boys and West End girls, ayy” appear in the second verse of “All the Party”.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that day For all dogs was released, Pet Shop Boys criticized Drake for using lyrics without permission or attribution.
“It’s amazing to hear Drake sing the chorus of ‘West End Girls’ on ‘All the Party’ on his new album. No loans or permissions were requested,” the duo wrote.
Drake and his record labels OVO Sound and Republic Records have not publicly responded to Pet Shop Boys’ report.
That’s not the only complaint about Drake’s new album, which also features 21 Savage, Bad Bunny, J. Cole and Lil Yachty. Rapper Rye Rye also claimed that Drake used her vocals without permission in his song “Calling For You.”
“One of my favorite artists is doing this and I don’t know what to feel anymore,” she wrote.
Copyright has long been a controversial issue in the music industry. Last year, Beyoncé found herself embroiled in her own scandal after Kelis accused her of “stealing” for using her song “Milkshake” without permission. Renaissance track “Energy”. Beyoncé later removed her sample.
Meanwhile, Sam Smith and Normani recently won a legal battle after being sued for copyright infringement of their 2019 collaboration Dancing with a Stranger.
PinkNews has reached out to representatives for Drake and Pet Shop Boys for comment.
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