You might be confused as to why this viral song has suddenly been obliterated from our playlists.
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Crowned as Bangsamoro Pop (B-pop) Queen, rising star Shaira took the internet by storm after releasing her single ‘Selos,’ climbing its way to the top of Spotify’s Viral 50. This modern-day B-pop representative song has entered a league of its own, hooking listeners all over the country.
Moments after celebrating the view from the peak, the song has met some flak. One snap and ‘Selos’ has been wiped from all digital streaming platforms. Fans were distraught by this sudden disappearance, speculating on what could have led to the deletion of the song.
One could say that the song has made friends with trouble.
The Sticky Situation
The situation came to light after X user @allchartsPH posted about the song being removed from all streaming platforms. Australian singer-songwriter Lenka has apparently taken legal action for completely incorporating the melody of her 2008 hit song ‘Trouble Is A Friend’ into Shaira’s ‘Selos.’
Shaira's "Selos" has been taken down from digital streaming platforms. pic.twitter.com/JUbsLUb6WV
— allchartsPH 🇵🇭 (@allchartsPH) March 19, 2024
Although ‘Selos’ was tagged by the artist as a parody of ‘Trouble Is A Friend,’ the song was distributed to music download stores with claims of sampling Lenka’s song. With Lenka confirming the speculations of the copyright claim via Instagram comments, Shaira’s agency, AHS Productions, has voluntarily removed the song from streaming platforms.
Interpolation vs. Sampling
There are several licenses and clearances to be issued by the law in order to wield an already existing beat, not to mention copying the entirety of its sound. In the Philippines, instances of stolen patents are protected by Republic Act 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.
While AHS Productions first classified ‘Selos’ as a cover sampling Lenka’s ‘Trouble Is A Friend,’ what Shaira actually did was an interpolation.
Sampling happens when a musician directly takes a snippet of another artist’s song and incorporates it into their music. According to Medium, sampling essentially mirrors the process of copying and pasting the sonic creation process. An example of this would be Ex Batallion’s (ExB) hit song ‘Hayaan Mo Sila,’ which sampled Diamond Style’s ‘One Kiss,’ where Ex Battalion had to pay P200,000 to get the song back on streaming sites.
Interpolation, on the other hand, recreates and reinterprets already existing elements note-for-note, such as melodies, lyrics, or rhythms, from one song and incorporates them into a new composition. One recent example of this instance is gins&melodies and Hev Abi’s ‘Babaero,’ which interpolated Randy Santiago’s song of the same title.
Like ‘Babaero,’ Shaira’s ‘Selos’ was interpolated from Lenka’s ‘Trouble Is A Friend,’ reinterpreting its once haunting tunes into a bouncier rhythm that suits the B-pop genre better. The flak comes from the fact that the song was commercially distributed without proper and legal permission from the original creators.
Online Commotion
AHS Productions immediately took accountability and released an official statement relaying their apology and actions to be taken next.
“On behalf of our artist, Shaira, AHS Productions would like to convey our heartfelt apologies to all those who have enjoyed listening to ‘Selos’ as it is now unavailable [on] all online streaming platforms,” Shaira’s agency said.
Currently, AHS Productions is in talks with Lenka’s team to secure a cover license. Shaira’s team hopes to re-release ‘Selos’ as an official cover once approved, with a promise of original music soon, and we are tuning in!
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