Shortly after One Direction’s latest single “Steal My Girl” was released, allegations have risen that the song sounds very similar to New Found Glory’s “It’s Not Your Fault.”
Chris Gilbert, the guitarist for the rock band, took to Twitter to post that he noticed some similarities between the two tracks.
Props to the @onedirection “steal my girl” single for reworking the “it’s not your fault” piano part into a top 40 single. Let me get a cut
— Chad Gilbert (@XChadballX) September 29, 2014
Paramore’s Hayley Williams quickly agreed as she wrote on Twitter that the melodies does resemble the 2006 single. “Beginning of the new 1D song couldn’t sound any more like the beginning of New Found Glory’s ‘It’s Not Your Fault’.”
The singer, who has been dating Gilbert since 2008, continued to write, “I realise that I’m gonna get hate from a very large fanbase for that, but really, it has more to do with whoever pitched or co-wrote the song.”
Gilbert later clarified that his original tweet wasn’t intended to be taken too seriously: “Wow did not realize this was gonna be a story. It’s not a story. My original tweet was a joke anyway. Music influences music. No one cares.” Although, it didn’t take long before devoted Directioners attacked Gilbert for his comments.
.@onedirection Your fans spew the most racist/homophobic/sexist hate I have ever seen on the Internet… You have a platform to change that. — Chad Gilbert (@XChadballX) September 30, 2014
This isn’t the first time One Direction’s been accused of plagiarizing other hits. Their 2012 single “Live While We’re Young” and 2013’s “Best Song Ever” were both said to have sounded close to Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” and The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” respectively. Harry Styles even admitted that the similarities involving the former 2012 hit were “kind of on purpose.”
To add another to the list, other’s have been pointing out that “Steal My Girl” may have been inspired by Journey’s 1985 arena rock hit “Faithfully.”
Listen to the tracks below and decide for yourself:
While they may or may not sound alike, one of the track’s songwriters have addressed the rumors that 1D’s newest single is plagiarized. “When we sat down and played the piano lick, nobody had any references in their head about what they wanted to write or anything,” Julian Bunetta explained. “At the end of the day, the lyric and the melody have nothing to do with any other song that I have ever heard. Sometimes there’s only so many things you can do with a piano at that tempo.”
He continued saying that sometimes “great minds think alike” and that “sometimes people are going to write on the same inspirational wave lengths and come up with things that are similar and it wasn’t anyone’s intention to do that at all.”
