Demi Lovato performs at TD Garden on July 20, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo : Getty Images/Mike Lawrie)
Demi Lovato has found herself in legal trouble after indie band Sleigh Bells slapped her with a copyright infringement lawsuit on Monday, Aug. 22.
The complaint, filed in a California federal court by bandmembers Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller, claims that the Lovato's 2015 hit "Stars" was copied from their 2010 track "Infinity Guitars," which was part of their debut album "Treats."
The indie rock band have named the songstress UMG Recordings and producers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub in the lawsuit, which alleges that both songs are so similar that they "transcend the realm of coincidence."
"A comparison of the two songs reveals that, at the very least, the combination of the hand claps and bass drum, structured as 3 quarter beats and a rest, with the bass drum providing a counter-rhythm to the hand claps, is at least substantially similar in both works, the lawsuit states, according to E! News. "This infringing material repeats throughout the Defendants' song."
Miller and Krauss have previously accused Lovato of copyright infringement on Twitter not long after "Stars" was released as a bonus track on her LP "Confident" in November. The band also accused Lovato of using elements from another one of their songs titled "Riot Rhythm."
However, the singer's reps denied the allegations in an interview with Rolling Stone, adding that the "Let It Go" hitmaker was not even involved in the production and only wrote the top line of the song.
Sleigh Bells' debut album "Treats" released to widespread critical acclaim and featured on the top 10 lists of several publications. The album made it as far as No. 39 on the Billboard 200 chart.
"Infinity Guitars" was the second single of the album and ended up on Rolling Stone's best songs of the year list and was also used by Samsung in one of their advertisements.
Listen to both songs for comparison below:
