Earlier this week, Doja Cat performed at the MTV Europe Music Awards, where she delivered a heavy metal-indebted rendition of her 2019 hit ‘Say So’.
The attention-grabbing performance found its way to Australian guitarist Plini Roessler-Holgate, who releases music mononymously as Plini, as the ripping guitar solo around the 2:50 mark incorporates one of the songwriter’s compositions. The solo, which closely resembles a section from Roessler-Holgate’s 2016 song ‘Handmade Cities’, was performed without permission.
As the performance began to circulate, the songwriter tweeted “Someone tell [Doja Cat] that if she digs the arrangement of this at 2:50 onwards, then she would love my song ‘Handmade Cities’.”
someone tell @DojaCat that if she digs the arrangement of this at 2:50 onwards, then she would love my song "handmade cities" ?https://t.co/jkAKCFSVf7
— Plini (@plinirh) November 9, 2020
In an Instagram post yesterday (11th November), Roessler-Holgate elaborated on the situation – saying he was impressed by the performance but would have liked some communication from Doja’s team or acknowledgement of his contribution.
“in case you missed it, @dojacat ‘s recent performance of “say so” for MTV borrowed a few elements from my song ‘handmade cities’ for its new live arrangement. i think it’s an awesome performance… and more than anything, find it absolutely hilarious that something i wrote 4 years ago in my bedroom would find its way here,” Roessler-Holgate wrote.
“the lack of prior communication about it or proper credit upon release is disappointing but not particularly surprising in a sector of the industry that is usually more interested in clout than creativity. (it’s being sorted now, but would have been cooler a million views ago).”
You can compare both versions in the guitarist’s Instagram post below. If you’re into what you hear, Plini has a new album called Impulse Voices arriving later this month – it’s available for pre-order here.
