19 March 14 - 20, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Only Mimics in the Building Selena Gomez is the latest star accused of plagiarizing independent artists. BY CARLY MAY GRAVLEY G rand Prairie native Selena Go- mez is in hot water for alleg- edly plagiarizing the work of Palestinian-Australian film- maker and photographer Sarah Bahbah in her “Love On” music video. Bahbah is a well-established artist with a million Instagram followers. She’s known for her work on the platform, which in- cludes peach-tinted photographs with po- etic subtitles that resemble movie stills. So it would be no surprise if Gomez (or at least someone on her team) had found a well of inspiration amid Bahbah’s work. But in- stead of a collaboration, Bahbah says she got ripped off. “What I’m about to share happens so of- ten to women of color in this industry,” Bah- bah said in an Instagram video last week, addressing the comparisons between her work and Gomez’s video. Bahbah’s video points out similarities be- tween Gomez’s video and two of her short films “I ___ You” and “Untangled” in side- by-side comparisons. Gomez’s team used the same location, including multiple scenes set in rooms used by Bahbah, as well as simi- lar styling and composition. One particularly damning example is a shot of Gomez lounging on a couch in a pose similar to one depicted in a painting above her. Bahbah’s film not only includes that very concept, but the scene in question is shot in the same room against the same wall as Gomez’s version. Bahbah’s short films were released in 2022 and 2023, and Gomez’s “Love On” was released at the end of February. According to Bahbah, this isn’t the first time Gomez has done this. In 2018, Bahbah alleged that Gomez had copied her distinct style in her “Back to You” music video. Ba- bah told her followers who wanted more in- formation on that incident to simply Google it, as it was highly publicized at the time. The comments on Bahbah’s video are cur- rently turned off. She cited “hateful” responses from Gomez’s fans as the reason for this. Bahbah is far from the first artist to accuse celebrities of plagiarizing their work. She’s not even the only one speaking out this week. Fall Out Boy is facing similar accusations from Los Angeles-based independent re- cording artist Dave & I, who took to TikTok to call out the band’s “So Much for Star- dust” music video for allegedly copying vi- suals from their own video, “Don’t Be So Obvious.” Like Bahbah, Dave & I provided side-by- side comparisons of identically styled and framed shots. Dave & I’s video has scenes of flamboyant cowboys with hats and jackets dripping in fringe, dancing in a saloon, peer- ing down pinhole lenses and singing with their silhouetted profiles against a spotlight. Fall Out Boy’s video, released nine months af- ter Dave & I’s, also contains these visuals, and the similarities are admittedly striking. Dave & I believes that due to crossover between his network and Fall Out Boy’s, it is possible the band’s team had seen his video prior to creating theirs. “We are aware of relationships between the executive producers of Fall Out Boy’s video and top creative decision makers on my videos, some of which include previous working relationships,” he tells the Observer. “We feel they would have likely seen the video through social media as it was circu- lated by everyone who was working on it. It’s tough. Anyone can watch a YouTube video, copy it and claim they never saw it.” But artists calling out plagiarism don’t al- ways have such specific evidence. Last year, an independent artist named Majeska accused Megan Thee Stallion of “stealing her idea,” pointing out that the video for her song “Please, Wait Saving” and Megan Thee Stallion’s video for “Cobra” had both artists in glass boxes surrounded by people taking photos. “It’s my video,” Majeska repeats through- out the TikTok, while often clutching her face in shock. “It’s my whole idea.” Majeska did not receive the sympathy that Bahbah and Dave & I have, and many accused her of trying to manufacture out- rage for publicity. Commenters were also quick to point out that although she did use this concept before Megan Thee Stallion did, she was far from the first to do it. Christina Aguilera was stuck in a box for her “Fighter” music video in 2002. The 1975 did it in 2016 with their music video for “The Sound,” which also found them in a box surrounded by critics. Photographer Vincent Peters put Gisele Bundchen in a box for a photoshoot back in 1999. The list goes on. It’s a trope at this point. “Gatekeeping glass boxes is CRAZY,” read one comment. “My girl can never catch a break,” wrote another commenter, referring to Megan Thee Stallion. “Literally everyone does the glass box thing.” Olivia Rodrigo seems to be a lightning rod for bad-faith plagiarism allegations. Courtney Love famously accused her of rip- ping off the cover of Hole’s Live Through This, with zero regard for the fact that Love’s image is an obvious homage to Brian De Pal- ma’s Carrie, which was released in 1976. Love wasn’t the first to invoke the image of a prom queen in distress, and she’s certainly not entitled to being the last. Rodrigo was also accused of ripping off a music video by independent artist Noelle Sucks (that’s her stage name, not our opin- ion), who claimed that Rodrigo’s perfor- mance on Saturday Night Live was identical to her music video for “Your Mom Calls Me,” both of which depict a tea party that results in a food fight and a cake being stabbed. Rodrigo’s defenders claimed that, by her own logic, Noelle Sucks owes Melanie Mar- tinez an apology, as similar concepts were featured in her “Pity Party” music video. Tea parties, just like glass boxes, are an age- old trope. Going back even further, the 1966 Czech New Wave film Daisies has a scene with characters throwing food and stab- bing cake as a backlash to women’s rigid place in their society. Aside from the tea party element, it’s a closer match to Rodri- go’s performance than the other works mentioned. Detractors of Bahbah and Dave & I might make similar arguments as those made by defenders of Megan Thee Stallion and Rodrigo. Dave & I doesn’t own the idea of cowboys, they might claim, nor does Bahbah own the location where her videos were shot. What’s wrong with being in- spired by other people? Where do we draw the line between inspiration or parallel thinking and all-out plagiarism? You could make the case that plagiarism is like obscenity: You know it when you see it. Artists who obsess over every detail of their work are surely capable of recognizing those details anywhere. Bahbah mentioned that she had been honing her signature style and aesthetic for years before Gomez alleg- edly copied it. The pitfall of this reasoning is that there will always be people who aren’t self-aware enough to realize that they didn’t invent tea parties. According to Dave & I, the devil is in the details. “Obviously, nobody owns the imagery of cowboys or rhinestones,” he says. “But when a multitude of hyper-specific decisions are being replicated, it begins to raise eyebrows. For example, the peephole shot with a rhinestone cowboy in a white suit with gold embellishment on the other side. This is a highly specific idea.” While some say that Gomez and Fall Out Boy may simply be taking inspiration from these independent artists, the practice of creating “inspired by” art can raise ethical questions about the imbalance of power that comes with those acts of inspiration. It’s incredibly common for filmmakers to draw inspiration from artists who came be- fore. Quentin Tarantino’s style is rooted heavily in homage; his earlier works often lift visuals directly from the works of Sergio Leone and Akira Kurosawa. In turn, Taran- tino has inspired countless filmmakers who came after him. It’s become such a stereo- type at this point that film schools are crawl- ing with his devotees. If you’re an up-and-comer who’s taking cues from well-known artists, people con- suming your work will recognize it as an homage. If it’s the other way around, in the case of major celebrities being “inspired” by lesser-known artists without giving credit, the audience has no frame of reference for where these ideas came from. What are celebrities to do in this situa- tion? “This is something we intend to discuss with a legal expert,” Dave & I says. “I think credit would be a great place to start.” Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images Selena Gomez is under fire for allegedly plagiarizing artist Sarah Bahbah. ▼ Music
