French singer accuses Miley Cyrus of plagiarism
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
French disco diva Amanda Lear (left) has publicly accused American singer Miley Cyrus of plagiarism.
PHOTO: AFP
- French singer Amanda Lear accused Miley Cyrus of plagiarising her 1978 song "The Sphinx" in Cyrus's new track "Redlights" from the album Bass Persuades.
- Lear expressed being flattered but stated her record label and publishers seek official acknowledgment of the plagiarism.
- Lear clarified she never threatened legal action and highlighted her prolific career and historical music connections, including ties to the Rolling Stones.
AI generated
PARIS – French disco diva Amanda Lear publicly accused American singer Miley Cyrus on Sept 21 of plagiarising one of her songs from the 1970s.
Lear, a model-turned-singer who was a muse to surrealist painter Salvador Dali and a lover of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, took Cyrus to task over apparent similarities between her song The Sphinx and the American’s new track Redlights.
Cyrus released her 10th album, Bass Persuades, on Sept 18, a 10-track dance pop opus, including the ballad Redlights, which invites comparisons to the slower, gravelly voiced song by Lear from 1978.
“Thank you, Miley, for copying my song ‘The Sphinx’! I’m flattered!” Lear wrote on social media on Sept 19 with the hashtags “ripoff” and “copycat”.
“I’ve never been litigious, but my record label, Universal, and the publishers of the track, for which I wrote the lyrics, want acknowledgement of the plagiarism,” Amanda Lear told AFP on Sept 21.
“I simply pointed out the situation by thanking Miley Cyrus and adding that I was flattered. I never threatened a lawsuit or retaliation,” she added.
Lear is a prolific composer and singer who has produced more than 20 albums.
The Rolling Stones are believed to have written a song about her, Miss Amanda Jones, dating to her time as a prominent figure during the Swinging Sixties in London. AFP