SONGS THAT CAN JUST GO AWAY, part X

"Fight for You" by Jason Derulo

Look, I know Toto is getting a piece of this song, but seriously, how the hell is this not plagiarism? What do they call this musical style where you're outright stealing the hook from another song and recomposing them as if they were your words all along? Is this the next phase of sampling? Listen to the song if you haven't heard it. You won't have to for long before it hits and you realize the sheer wrongness of it all. Jason Derulo has done this at least one other time with "Don't Wanna Go Home" in which he "samples" the lyrics of "Banana Boat" by Harry Belafonte. For the sake of argument, I will refer to this style as "splicing".

I wouldn't call it stealing but would still be leery of it if the title of this composition at least mentioned the spliced song like: "Fight for You (feat. lyrics from "Africa")" by Jason Derulo since "featuring" seems to be the current in-thing to do with music these days too because apparently no one is capable of holding their own anymore without the assistance of an established artist. And while this style is not brandy new, I find it sends a bad message especially from let's say, a school's point of view where in English class you are taught to not only name your sources but also to not plagiarize the work of others. Both rules are violated here. I posted the official video link for the Jason Derulo song and nowhere is it mentioned that lyrics from Toto's "Africa" have been spliced into it (nor for the other three examples linked). What kind of message does that send to schoolchildren who are told plagiarism is wrong only to have it done in popular music? Songs get covered all the time for better or for worse, but these songs aren't covers. These songs basically say that you can use the art of another and pass it off as your own. Even though the original artists are getting paid, it is still a theft of sorts. I even consider cover songs to be a form of theft simply because the titles don't reflect the original performers. "'Roll Over Beethoven' by Chuck Berry as performed by The Beatles" would be an appropriate way to present the song but instead it's displayed dishonestly and I call it dishonest because how many times in your life have you been surprised to learn a song you liked was actually a cover song (though this one is even more surprising I think)? You may or may not have liked the original upon hearing it, but for me at least, it felt like a betrayal by the artist I liked. It's also a cheat since the covers were originally hits and are thus more likely to get airplay rather than the artist achieving this on their own merits.

Simply put, splicing is dishonest and since it is clearly a thing and no longer subject to dismissal, it should be presented honestly so as not to create the impression that it is acceptable to assimilate the works of others into your own and then passing it off as one's own entirely. The flattery is certainly not sincere.