Better question: does Justin Bieber even know who Toto is? Probably not.
It’s no secret that the music industry echoes the same practices of Hollywood and their approach to making movies. Think about it. Almost every new movie that comes out, is a reboot or a sequel. Musicians have been taking inspiration from others for decades, sometimes asking permission to cover a song. But there have been other moments in history, where artists will take ‘samples’ of popular songs to use in their own creations.
It’s called Music Sampling. Samples can comprise of elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sounds, or entire bars of music, and can be layered, equalized, sped up or slowed down, repitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated. You’ll hear this practice used a lot in dance music – Producer Kygo being one of the biggest culprits. But every once in awhile, songs can be copied without really realizing it.
I think Justin Bieber may have unknowingly copied a 1998 Toto song… listen to the comparison between the two below!
Justin Bieber’s Anyone (2021) versus Toto’s Going Home (1998):
Audio Player
So is this a sample? Did Justin’s team ask for permission? Or was this all one big coincidence?! The verdict is up to you on this one.
As you can probably imagine, no – Justin isn’t the only person who is guilty of this. The entirety of pop music is notoriously known to sound very similar. Cue Axis of Awesome for a perfect example of this.
Is Anything Even Original ANYMORE!? Guess not…
