Ariana Grande is being sued for copyright infringements along with more than a half-dozen other songwriters.
The lawsuit has been filed by hip hop artist Josh Stone, who performs as DOT, who claims that 26-year-old Ariana's 2019 Grammy-nominated single '7 Rings' was plagiarised from a song he recorded two years earlier.
The lawsuit filed in US District Court in New York, states that Ariana had copied his song 'You Need It, I Got It', with "highly regarded musicology experts" backing this assertion.
Stone's attorneys said in court papers: "Indeed any comparative analysis of the beat, lyrics, hook, rhythmic structure, metrical placement and narrative context, by musicology experts or everyday listeners alike, demonstrates clearly and convincingly that '7 Rings' copied 'I Got It'"
Ariana was nominated for five Grammys at the awards show on January 26, including two for '7 Rings' but her representatives have not immediately responded to the lawsuit.
The Billboard topping hit single gives songwriting credit to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein because it borrows from their classic 'My Favorite Things,' from the 1959 film The Sound of Music.
The single spent eight weeks at No. 1 after it was released in February of last year.
Stone says in his lawsuit that he recorded 'I Got It' in New York in January 2017 and that summer pitched the song to executives with Universal Music Group, including Thomas Brown, who has worked with Ariana on all five of her albums.
According to the lawsuit Brown showed interest in the song and told Stone he was "exploring opportunities" for the two men to work together.
In addition to monetary damages, Stone seeks to bar Ariana from performing '7 Rings' in the future and deliver up all copies of the song for destruction.
Ariana, who appeared on Broadway and in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious as a teenager before becoming a top-selling pop star, was expected to perform at the upcoming Grammy Awards.
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