Stella Lefty is facing allegations of plagiarism once again – this time concerning similarities between her song ‘Misery’ and The Greatest Showman track ‘A Million Dreams’.
Comments comparing the two started appearing in the comments of the ‘Misery’ YouTube video about a month ago, and the comparison drew wider attention on social media over the weekend – likely off the back of her repeatedly making headlines for similar plagiarism allegations, prompting some to dub her “Stella Thefty”.
At present, chatter about the striking similarities remains limited to social media, and there’s been no reported legal claim over the similarities. ‘Misery’ is credited to Lefty, Madi Yanofsky and Phil Cook, while ‘A Million Dreams’ was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, with Rob Mathes credited as arranger.
At the time of writing, nobody involved has responded, although listeners have made it clear how they feel about the likeness of the tracks. “This is just the sequel, Billionaire Dreams,” one YouTube user commented under her video, while another underneath The Greatest Showman song read: “Congrats to Pasek and Paul on their upcoming Stella Lefty writing credits.”
It comes only shortly after the internet seized upon similarities between Blake Shelton’s 2017 track ‘I’ll Name The Dogs’ and her recent single ‘Why Wouldn’t We’.
Since it arrived last month, many have gone on to highlight some common ground with Shelton’s track, not limited to the melodies, but also each song’s lyrical take on splitting domestic responsibilities in a relationship.
Lefty has faced multiple accusations of plagiarism in the past too, with her hit song ‘Boston’ facing some backlash over its similarities to Noah Kahan’s ‘Stick Season’. Kahan has got songwriting credit on the song, and Lefty has spoken about the comparisons too.
“When I was writing this song, I wasn’t thinking about Noah Kahan. I was literally thinking about nothing at all,” she said at the time. “I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes, so I’m like, if this sounds like that, whatever, all good,” she said.
Since her debut album was released last month, Lefty has also announced an 18-date North American headline tour, which begins in Detroit on January 8 and runs until a Chicago date on February 20. Find any remaining tickets here.
