In under a week, Beyonce's "Countdown" has amassed over 1.6 million streams on the 'net, but one of those viewers is calling Bey' out on charges of plagiarism. Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker claims that Beyoncé has crossed the line, from referencing to copying.
"This is plagiarism ... This is stealing," De Keersmaeker says in a statement translated from Dutch to English. "What's rude about it is that they don't even bother about hiding it. They seem to think they could do it because it's a famous work."
A video displaying the similarities hit YouTube the same day as "Countdown" and has over 255,000 views and growing.
Despite the charges, De Keersmaeker isn't all mad about the video. "Beyonce is not the worst copycat, she sings and dances very well, and she has good taste!"
Queen B has borrowed from the past. She drew inspiration from Italian pop singer Lorella Cuccarini for her performance of "Run the World (Girls)" at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards.
Beyonce's BBMA Performance: 'I Never Worked So Hard in My Life'
"My makeup artist showed me the performance of Lorella Cuccarini a year ago, and it inspired me so much," Beyonce told AOL. "I then met with the talented people who worked on it. The technology and concept were so genius. Thank God for YouTube or I would have never been exposed to something so inspiring. I never worked so hard on anything in my life as that performance for the Billboard Awards."
Most recently, Bey' pays tribute to New Edition's "If It Isn't Love" in the video snippet for "Love on Top." One of Bey's Hot 100 No. 1s, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)," is even said to be influenced by a Bob Fosse performance called "Mexican Breakfast."
Bey' claims to have been inspired by these ideas, and certainly never admits to stealing. What do you think: inspiration or theft?
No comments:
Post a Comment