In 2016, The Weeknd and Daft Punk joined forces on “Starboy,” the lead single off Abel Tesfaye’s album of the same name. Per TMZ, one artist is now claiming the hit song was a ripoff of her own music.
A Somalian singer, poet, and songwriter who goes by Yasminah is now suing both the Toronto crooner and the French production duo for at least $5 million. She alleges The Weeknd modeled his single off of her song “Hooyo." Take a listen to her track below.
Now here’s "Starboy."
The flow and tempo of the songs are very similar, but this still feels like a hard sell simply based on the two tracks comparable rhythms. It's also notable that "Hooyo" was released in 2009, seven years before “Starboy.”
Documents in the lawsuit claim blogs have written about the similarity between the two songs and that thousands of people agree with Yasminah, though it’s hard to find such posts doing so with a quick Google search online.
The two producers of "Hooyah" had also threatened lawsuits, but reportedly later settled for an undisclosed amount. The singer never got a cut of those settlements, which is why she’s pursuing her own lawsuit now.
Starboy was Abel's third studio album. Though it's been out since 2016, this summer The Weeknd teamed up with Marvel to release a comic inspired by the project.
Complex has reached out to the artists’ representatives for comment.
