Hannah Wants has had a busy weekend - but not like she is normally used to. The British DJ is used to jetting around the world, playing clubs and festivals, but instead her life got hectic for a very different reason. A video emerged online comparing her upcoming single "Found The Ground" to Jay Orbison & Boddika's "Mercy (VIP)." Since then she has been accused of ripping off the "Mercy (VIP)." It took until today for her to deny the allegations.
DJ Patrick Nazemi got a copy of "Found The Ground" and played them side-by-side in a now deleted Facebook video and even over one another at the same time. It is quite easy to see how someone could accuse Wants of ripping off Orbison and Boddika.
This whole Hannah Wants-copying-Boddika thing really hits home when you watch this: https://t.co/JmYl3ZIs69 pic.twitter.com/u1QnWWNiQO
— adi (@adi_txt) September 11, 2016
Some have said this may not be entirely on Wants who works with Chris Lorenzo on her tracks, so he could have also been the one to produce the nearly identical track. She can't deny not knowing the song since there is footage of her playing it in 2014.
In a long Facebook post, Hannah Wants outlines her side of the argument as to why she believes there is nothing wrong with her track.
"'Found The Ground' was made around 9 months ago and it's no secret that the inspiration for the track was Joy O & Boddika - 'Mercy (VIP),'" she admits in the second paragraph.
"To anyone saying, writing and reporting that 'Mercy (VIP)' and 'Found The Ground' are 'identical'... Wow. Are there similarities? Yes. Are they 'identical?' Not at all," she continues further on. "I could sit here and list the differences bar by bar, sound by sound but I won't. Anyone with a set of working ears can pick apart the tracks."
She goes on to cite similarities in music over the ages and how subjective a discipline music is.
The Hannah Wants song "Found The Ground" is scheduled for release this Friday on Sept. 16 via Rinse. It is also included as part of her Fabriclive 89 mix, which will have extra importance since the club recently had its license revoked and has shut down.
There were links to "Found The Ground" on SoundCloud, but they were removed, which makes the label and artist look guilty.
Read Wants' full statement on Facebook below.
