Different But The Same

I was recently scrolling through Instagram when I came across a couple of reels from GarthBeauregard that used Dua Lipa as an example of how some of her hit songs "borrowed" from some classic tunes. There is that, sounds familiar but not sure where it came from moments, in her music. Well, he went in on it. Here are the examples:

"Break my Heart" (2020) seems similar to INXS - "Need You Tonight" (1987)

"Prisoner" (2020) seems similar to KISS - "I Was Made For Loving You" (1979) & Oliva Newton-John's "Physical" (1981)

"Love Again" (2020) seems similar to White Town's "Your Woman" (1997) or Al Bowlly w/Lew Stone and his Monsegigneur Band's "My Woman" (1932)

"Levitating" (2020) seems similar to Artikal Sound System's "Live Your Life" (2017) and Miguel Bose's "Don Diablo" (1979)

"Training Season" (2024) seems similar to Farm Animals, Shaun Frank & Dragonette - Tokyo Nights (2018)

"Houdini" (2024) seems similar to No Doubt's "It's My Life" (2003) which is a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life" from 1984

There are some replay samples, interpolations and heavy influences in play here.

This isn't to pick on Dua. Seems like a really great person. I once mistakenly thought she was a record rep one year at a WKTUtopia show at Jones Beach. We were up on the side of the stage watching Sting & Shaggy perform. She was dancing. I asked a collegue who she was and he clued me in. Anyway, the fact is that it never hurts to have familiar hooks, done in a different sounding manner to grab an audience's attention.

Everyone seems to be doing it lately. Most now are taking a lot of dance tracks from the late 90's to early 2000's. Songs like "I'm Good" by David Guetta & Bebe Rexha freely take from Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" and there are thousands of others. The reason it's done? That's easy, the original songs have hooks that just sound great so why not incorporate those hooks into something "new". They are familiar and give an instant recognizable feeling to a new song. They are attention grabbing.

When I did A&R, I would always look for those 1 listen songs. Songs that instantly grab your attention, good or bad, because they are memorable. There is so much clutter out there that to get noticed you really need to do that with one listen. This is especially true if you don't have millions to spend on getting your music noticed via promotion. So utilizing earworms from songs decades old is a good way to approach that. Just don't forget to get permission to use it in your song or you risk lawsuits and losing your publishing.

So do you plan on breathing new life into some classic hooks and riffs? Keep us posted.