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19 January 2019, 14:32
Ariana Grande and Princess Nokia's songs are being compared to Soulja Boy and it's all a bit confusing. '7 rings' is being compared to 'Pretty Boy Swag'.
This past week, Ariana Grande released '7 rings', the highly anticipated second single from her upcoming album, thank u, next. The singer dropped a lush Hannah Lux Davis directed music video for the song on Friday, which featured some of her closest and most talented pals.
Ariana Grande - 7 rings
The music video for '7 rings' has been viewed over 26 million times in a day and has received high praise from the singer's fans. Rapper Princess Nokia, was not among those who praised Ariana, however. Princess Nokia shared a now-deleted video to Twitter implying that '7 rings' was similar to her own song "Mine'.
TWITTER DIDNT I SAY IT OMGGGH I SWEARRR @princessnokia I KNEW IT OMGGGGGGG PLEASE pic.twitter.com/HPRH3o07Co
— Marz (@demetriusmatter) January 18, 2019
"Does that sound familiar to you? Because that sound really familiar to me," the rapper says in the video. "Ain't that the lil song I made about brown women and their hair?"
Ariana did not publicly respond to the accusation.
Soulja Boy Tell'em - Pretty Boy Swag
Ariana Grande's '7 rings' certainly employs trap elements, something that has earned the song comparisons to Soulja Boy and others.
so ariana ripped off princess nokia and princess nokia ripped off kali uchis but both ariana and princess nokia ripped off soulja boy ? pic.twitter.com/cCoJHR8P6P
— mackdonald’s sprite (@mackenxcheese) January 18, 2019
People have also made the point that the progression of the genre over the last decade has meant that music can sound similar or have similar elements without necessarily being plagiarised.
ariana grande-7 rings (2019)
— 🍬 𝖈𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖊 🍬 (@CandeCucci) January 18, 2019
princess nokia-mine (2016)
asap rocky-praise da lord(2018)
2 chainz-spend it (2011)
soulja boy-pretty boy swag(2010)
all sound similar, flow is kinda common and people are getting mad about copying when all the music we heard is never 100% original pic.twitter.com/qtRCiUacrq
Ariana has not addressed any of the comparisons but she did take time to thank her friends and encourage fans to support their art as well.
i wouldn’t have made this celebratory bop or feel ‘okay’ these days w/o my brilliant, gentle and funny friends who get me drunk, write songs w me & help me heal. i am tremendously grateful for u. 🖤 pls support them in their art: @TAYLAPARX @VictoriaMonet @NJOMZA @Kaydenceis 💍🌫
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) January 19, 2019