Groundhog Day Playlist: These Tracks Sound Oddly Alike
The big news of the day came when Punxsutawney Phil reportedly did, in fact, see his own shadow. For those who follow this outlandish tradition, it means we’re looking at a long winter season (preferrably filled with plenty of late-night parties and nonstop dancing).
Because of the holiday, we have the film Groundhog Day on the brain. In the 1993 classic, Bill Murray plays a meteorologist caught in a time loop; he must relive the same day over and over again. Sometimes, it feels like we’re caught up in the same situation, with so many of the same ideas—intentionally or not—getting recycled and regurgitated en masse (am I right, or am I right?). Without pointing fingers and assuming these are blatant acts of plagiarism, we saw today as a perfect opportunity to poke fun at those crazy coincidences.
TJR & VINAI “Bounce Generation” vs. DVBBS & VINAI “Raveology”
Both tunes were released on the same label and have Italian electro house duo VINAI attached to them. One possible explanation is they misnamed the file when they submitted it to the label.
Skrillex “All Is Fair in Love and Brostep” vs. Zomboy “Terror Squad”
This is one of those cases where you hear a tune and it sticks to your subconscious so well, you end up feeling inspired enough to just re-create the track from scratch. While most thought these two bass bros would beef from the allegations, all was squashed after a few tweets helped clear the air.
Alesso “Payday” vs. Jebu “Consequences”
While they do run in the same circles, it’s more than likely these two prog house names were just working off the same winning formula. We wouldn’t go as far as to say the Refune Records dude was looking off of Alesso’s exam paper, but the basslines do resemble each other enough to raise an eyebrow.
DJ Rolando “Jaguar” vs. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. Ummet Ozcan “Jaguar”
Maybe this boils down to a disagreement in proper etiquette when borrowing a sample. Since the big-room dudes didn’t even bother to cite the source, does keeping the track title the same suffice as crediting the OG producer?
DVBBS & Bourgeous “Tsunami” vs. Dimitri & Like Mike “Stampede”
It’s not fair to classify these two as blatant rip-offs, but both do use the same sounds in a slightly different arrangement. It was close enough for people to say something.
Pyero “Genesis” vs. Chuckie vs. Dzeko & Torres “Down to This”
Sometimes, it’s easier to blame the presets.
Pelari “Cango” vs. Sin “Razz Up”
This is one of those instances where both producers set out to cook up a different dish but were working with the same ingredients. The problem, though, isn’t the overlap in the sounds used, but the lack of creativity in their execution. Spice it up next time, guys.
Alvaro & Mercer ft. Lil Jon “Welcome to the Jungle” vs. Frontliner Sixma “Sublast”
Two very different genres, one super similar melody line. There’s an off chance this all happened coincidentally, but we’re not ruling out foul play here.
W&W “Thunder” vs. Shermanology “The Only Way” vs. Showtek & Justin Prime “Cannonball”
We have a three-way showdown on our hands. We get it: Big room was barely taking off, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. And riffing out of what has already proved worthy means low risk and high reward… until you get called out for unoriginality.
Tony Junior & DJ Ghost “Blow up the Speakers” vs. Robby East & Oliver Heldens “Panther”
It’s plausible both collabs were vibing off the same shit on the same day at the same time. And that’s why these drops kinda sound the same.
Dyro “Black Smoke” vs. Pegboard Nerds “Jr Gong” remix
We’ll let you decide who wore it best.
Martin Garrix & Jay Hardaway “Wizard” vs. Pocher & Clyde Trevor “This Is EDM”
While the builds give each of these bangers their own identities, the leads resemble one another so much it would be easy to believe this was a copy-and-paste job.
Kygo “Stole the Show” vs. every track Kygo has produced
This dude has the tropical house sound down, but the comment sections on almost any of his tracks all gripe about how he’s sinking into his own style. You don’t have to be a copycat to be called out for being uninventive.
