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Writers of TLC’s No Scrubs given credits on Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You

By | Published on Thursday 23 March 2017

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran’s new album ‘÷‘ has been out for a full four weeks now, so surely it’s about time that some good old fashioned plagiarism lawsuits were on the table. Come on songwriters, some of you must be of the opinion that Mr Ed has ripped off one of your tunes for his chart topping new album? What about you guys – Kandi, Tameka and Kev – have you heard ‘Shape Of You’ and how much it sounds like your song ‘No Scrubs’?

Oh, perhaps you have. The writers of TLC’s 1999 hit have seemingly been awarded songwriting credits on Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’, one of the ‘÷‘ tracks given a single release back in January. Songwriters Kandi Burruss, Tameka Cottle and producer Kevin Briggs are now listed as co-writers of the song on the database of US collecting society ASCAP. It’s not yet clear exactly what circumstances have led to that listing, although similarities between the two songs have been noted ever since Sheeran’s track was released.

As previously reported, Sheeran was sued twice by songwriters who accused him of ripping off their work on his second album ‘x’. The writers of Matt Cardle track ‘Amazing’ – Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard – claimed that he borrowed from their song for his hit ‘Photograph’. Meanwhile, the estate of songwriter Ed Townsend claim that Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ borrowed from Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’, which Townsend co-wrote.

Both cases are still pending.



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