Shiina Ringo, young plagiarizer extraordinaire!
 

so I was listening to the demos the other day and I realized that the some of the lyrics in her English songs are a little too good. Since I already knew about the Stone Temple Pilots lyrics in A New Way To Fly, I decided to google some of the other songs and found that-

Both Rinne Highlight and Lay Down are mostly made up of Susanna Hoffs' No Kind of Love and My Side of The Bed (this was already known to some but not me!)
How Are You borrows lyrics from Mariah Carey's Forever.

oh and turns out untitled track 10 on demo tape 3 is actually a cover of Echobelly's Today Tomorrow Sometime Never.

What really surprises me is that Rinne Highlight was released commercially on two separate occasions (and by the company that doesn't want you to share sketches of Ringo because it's copyright infringement). I know that many young artists start by umm... borrowing generously?... from their favorite artists but most don't release it as singles. It also makes me wonder if her early Japanese lyrics are all hers?

Thats interesting, and I didn't know that (tho its not so surprising seeing as the Gips vid "borrows heavily" as well.)

I wouldn't hold it against her, or call her a plagiarizer. ...but then again my fav band is Oasis, and some say their whole career has been just that.
(and Rinne Highlight was a B-side to a single.)

/goes back to listening to Bang a go....i mean, Cigarettes & Alcohol

and whats with these tabloid thread titles lately? "Plagiarizer extraordinaire!" "Shiina Ringo a pornstar!"

Yep, interesting topic, I didn't know that as well. Thanks for the info :)

oh I don't really think she's a plagiarizer- I just wanted an attention grabbing subject line :P

I really do feel like it's ok if young teen artists sound a little too much like their favorite artist at first. It's not as cute when they're making money off of it which is why the fact Rinne Highlight was released disappoints me. She could have easily written new original lyrics to go with that snazzy tune.

EDIT:

Even The Beatles would write a song based off another song. Even and especially after they were famous. Sometimes when you come upon something, even if you originally nicked the idea, you just know it works and there's no convincing yourself to change it.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I'll have to listen to the Suzanna Hoff song when I get home.

Unconditional Love is a cover too. I've known that Rinne Highlight is a cover for ages, so I guess the respective artists have been credited. What's wrong with releasing a cover as a b-side to a single when you credit those who are to be, and don't claim you've written it?

Rinne Highlight is not a cover... it has a completely different melody but the lyrics are the same as No Kind of Love- check out the original on youtube. I can't read Japanese but as far as I know Shiina Ringo is credited for writing this song.

EMI owns most of what you've mentioned, not the artists. I'm sure everything is signed and or payed for.

Well now there's some research!

EMF: getting to the bottom (of the barrel!)

It's a lie though. I just know how this industry works :P.