Watch Skrillex Prove He And Justin Bieber Didn't Steal 'Sorry'

30 May 2016 / Greg Moskovitch

Skrillex and Justin Bieber have responded to claims they stole parts of their mega-hit collaboration 'Sorry', after Casey Dienel, who performs under the moniker White Hinterland, claimed last week that the pair cribbed the song's hook from one of her tracks.

"As many of you that follow my career and work have already recognized, Justin Bieber's song 'Sorry' copies the vocal riff prominently featured in my song 'Ring the Bell,'" Dienel wrote in a lengthy Facebook missive last week.

"The writers, producers, and performers of 'Sorry' did not obtain a license for this exploitation of my work, nor did they obtain or seek my permission. Yesterday afternoon, I filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement against Justin Bieber and the other responsible parties."

According to Dienel's post, her lawyers issued Bieber a letter regarding the alleged infringement shortly after the release of 'Sorry', which hit Number 1 in several countries, but "Bieber's team again chose to ignore me".

"I offered Bieber's team an opportunity to have a private dialogue about the infringement, but they refused to even acknowledge my claim, despite the obviousness of the sample." However, according to Skrillex, who co-produced the track, the sample isn't so obvious.

In fact, it's not even a sample. Whilst the 'Sorry' hook does indeed sound similar to the opening of White Hinterland's 'Ring the Bell', Skrillex has taken to Twitter to demonstrate how the hook heard in 'Sorry' was actually made.

#wedontsteal @Skrillex @bloodpop #sorry :) https://t.co/57rNU274Up

— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) May 28, 2016

According to the video, it's actually a sample of the vocalist who sang the original acapella for 'Sorry'. Whilst her vocals were ultimately supplanted by Bieber's, Skrillex sampled a few of her notes, which he then pitch-shifted to make the hook.

It's a pretty convincing defence, especially since the opening of 'Ring the Bell' does seem to be missing a note heard in the 'Sorry' hook. Bieber himself has since tweeted a defence, writing simple "We don't steal" and linking to Skrillex's video.

It will be interesting to see how Dienel's suit goes down considering the new evidence. It's hardly the first music plagiarism lawsuit in recent memory, with the industry still living in the wake of the infamous 'Blurred Lines' trial.

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Filed: Local News