Ariana Grande accused of stealing concept for music video: valid?

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Last week, Ariana Grande released the fourth single from her 2014 album, My Everything. The song is called One Last Time and is a catchy forgettable little tune about wanting to get an ex back. The video, directed by 29 year-old Max Landis (The son of director John Landis), features Ariana running through a montage of post-apocalyptic scenes on the earth’s last day. Spoiler: she ends up kissing a guy at the end as the sky lights up with pink fires, which are presumably from meteors which wipe out humanity. It’s a decent concept for a video and it kept me watching. The problem is, there’s already a music video featuring a woman running through scenes of post-apocalyptic chaos until the end, when she kisses a guy before the sky lights up with pink meteors which blow up the earth. That video is 2014’s You Are The One, by the Australian group SAFIA. SAFIA issued a statement on Facebook calling out Ariana’s video.

This might just be coincidence but to us it looks like either the people at Ariana Grande’s label or the film maker have seen our clip for ‘You Are The One’ & reworked the concept a little bit and then straight up stolen and copied some bits…(ESPECIALLY THE END!)

Wouldn’t be the first time uncreative talentless f*cks from big labels and/or big film firms steal ideas from small independent creatives who are trying really hard to make something different for a change…

[From Facebook via Contact Music]

SAFIA also posted a side-by-side of the end of Ariana’s video and their video. It was similar to these two screenshots from the videos.
arianagrandesafia

In response to this, director Max Landis got equally pissy on Twitter. He accused SAFIA of stealing their video too (From Injured Ninja, this video is from 2011) and claimed that it was just a trope he was using. Here are some of his tweets on this and he’s written so much more on Twitter if you’re interested.

Landis also tweeted “Everyone in the biz said “stay quiet, let it blow over” f*k that. i respect Ariana way too much to let her get called a thief.” For the record, Landis was getting called a thief not Ariana, and his argument is basically “you stole it too,” and “tropes are open to everyone.” That’s weak. Ariana’s video is at least derivative of SAFIA’s, especially the ending. At least SAFIA’s video has a different ending than Injured Ninja’s.

I don’t care too much how this turns out, but I do think that Landis’ response was telling. Instead of admitting inspiration or apologizing he’s getting defensive and accusatory.

Here are the two videos:

Ariana Grande: One Last Time

SAFIA: You Are The One

The 57th Annual Grammy Awards arrivals

GRAMMY Awards 2015

photo credit: WENN.com

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34 Responses to “Ariana Grande accused of stealing concept for music video: valid?”

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  1. Kitten says:

    I don’t know why anyone would be fighting for credit when the whole concept and video itself was budget as hell.

    They did a good job of only showing Ariana’s left side though-well done.

  2. JESUS says:

    This reminds of the fray’s “never say never”. Basically the same concept, same idea, as you describe it, but i havent watched neither of these videos and im not feeling like it, and i watched “never say never” a long time ago.

  3. taterho says:

    There isn’t enough Bruce Willis and Steve Buscemi saving our as* in either video.

  4. Lucy2 says:

    I guess no one ever taught Landis that two wrongs don’t make a right? The “hey you stole it too!” argument is incredibly weak.

  5. Layla says:

    Has her head been blown up as a joke for that last photo or it that for real?

  6. epiphany says:

    She’ll never use this video anyway – we can see the right side of her face!!!!!!

  7. doofus says:

    yet another low-talent product of nepotism gets defensive when he’s called out on his inability to be creative with his own ideas and/or measure up to Daddy’s level.

    (see also: Will Smith’s kids, the Willis kids, etc.)

  8. Sam says:

    She didn’t come up with the video idea, so she has nothing to do with it being stolen. He, on the other hand…. There is a difference between a trope, paying homage and just outright stealing something. You can use a trope without basically copying the video shot by shot. It just reminds me of Vanilla Ice arguing “buh buh buh buh da bum bum, buh buh buh buh da bum bum” vs “buh buh buh buh da bum bum, BAH buh buh buh buh da bum bum…” You’re not convincing anyone of anything. You flat out ripped off another video.

    • doofus says:

      lmao at Vanilla Ice. I SO remember that.

      he was like “it’s totally different!” you added ONE BASS NOTE, dummy.

    • Mintessence (the original Minty) says:

      Yeah, Vanilla Ice was completely guilty. His excuse was a joke. Madonna, however, was far far worse. Besides the obvious copying of Marilyn Monroe in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” with her Material Girl video, Madonna’s Cherish video ripped off Brigitte Bardot in a scene from “And God Created Woman”. Her video for This Used To Be My Playground copied Boy George’s To Be Reborn video. Her Love Profusion video ripped off Billie Piper’s Honey To The Bee video.

      Continuing on: Madonna’s video for Hollywood blatantly copied the work of photographer Guy Bourdin, whose estate sued her and she had to pay up. The Power Of Goodbye copied the chess scene from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). For her 4 minutes video, she copied some elements from September’s Until I Die video. I suppose she thought it would be easier to plagiarize from obscure, lesser-known entertainers. And who can forget Madonna’s Express Yourself video, which copied Fritz Lang’s silent film, “Metropolis”? Plus, the chorus of that song ripped off The Staples Singers’ Respect Yourself. She had the nerve to complain about Gaga’s Born This Way.

      I think you could get away with calling your work an “homage” one time. But if you’re doing it over and over throughout your career then you are a plagiarist, an unoriginal hack. Ariana may not be responsible for this and was just following the director. We’ll see what she does on future projects.

      Madonna can’t use the same excuse, since she’s notorious for being a control freak and supposedly making the final decision. What is apparent is that established stars get away with this thievery because they are protected by their record company (as Madonna was). So long as they are making big money for their corporate bosses, they have a great team of lawyers to defend them when they’re sued for copyright infringement.

      • Mintessence (the original Minty) says:

        Just wanted to add: if the entertainer/artist was ripped off, they would find it a challenge to sue a powerful, established star who has some of the best lawyers. As Ginger mentioned below, they might not have the funds to take it to court. Even if they have proof of thievery and the funds to bring a lawsuit, what often happens (as I’ve seen with Madonna) is the defendant either settles out-of-court with a payout or agrees in court to an undisclosed amount, with some kind of gag order on the details of the case, thereby minimizing any bad publicity.

  9. Amelia says:

    Ariana’s in the clear on this one I reckon, unless she has massive input into what goes on in her videos.
    Landis sounds like a total douchecanoe.

  10. jenn12 says:

    Ugh, dude, just say you stole it and be done. Ariana just stands around offering her left side to people, so the sooner she’s gone, the better.

  11. Ginger says:

    OMG! His (Max not Ariana as she is the performer and likely had no clue the video idea was stolen) is the oldest copyright usurping excuse in the book. My friends are talented performers and straight up had their act stolen by some other folks who ended up on a major nighttime TV show and performed their act and made it seem like it was “original” material. When I asked my friends if they were going to do something about it (because I was furious for them) they sadly told me they couldn’t afford to even if they wanted to do something about it. As a photographer I’ve seen a lot of folks have their images stolen and used by companies or others with a lot of money. There’s no way to fight it unless you take it to the media or the Internet like SAFIA has done. They probably can’t afford to take it to court either.

  12. Otaku fairy says:

    The concept and theme of the videos are something anyone could have come up with, but the videos are definitely similar, and his argument is weak.

    As for the song, I guess One last Time is an ok/decent pop song, and so is Love me Harder, but they’re not the best songs off her new album. I’m kind of bummed that she’s not making singles and music videos out of the songs I liked the best- my favorites were Be My Baby, Break your Heart Right Back, You don’t know me, and especially the ballads: My Everything, Just a Little Bit of Your heart, and Best Mistake. I like those better than the typical dance-y pop songs she’s been putting out and would really like to see one of her ballads become popular. They show her talent more too.

  13. kri says:

    Ariana Loooks as confused and tantrum-y as North at her dad’s fashion show. Also-SAFIA, YESSS! “Uncreative talentless f8cks” is a fabulous way to describe AG & her team.

  14. nicegirl says:

    She kinda looks like Maggie Q to me in the header pic.

  15. adrien says:

    Off topic. Is he Jonathan Landis’ brother? Sniff*

  16. Sarah says:

    A few years ago, Max was on the Nerdist podcast, and he was seriously a talking stereotype for a narsasistic, spoiled, self absorbed human. The host was trying to be polite, but you could tell he was really turned off by his guest.
    A few weeks before, Chris Hardwick, and Jonah Ray, ( 2 of the hosts), had told a story on the podcast, about seeing a young Hollywood type, at San Diego Comic Con, trying unsuccessfully to get into a party, and he was throwing a hissy fit, complete with, “do you know who I am!” They STRONGLY implied that it was Max Landis.

  17. melain says:

    Rich daddy’s boys have been repackaging the original work of others and claiming it as their own since the beginning of time. The only thing fresh in this conversation is Amelia’s use of douche coupled with the word canoe. Good one.

  18. Jayna says:

    Bored out of my mind watching them. I’m suing both.

  19. Tiffany says:

    Since it is a slow day, did anyone watch the Stevie Wonder special last night. She duo with Babyface and did not annoy me. In fact, almost everyone was great, except Beyonce. Just no.

    I wonder who will be the artist next year. I would love for it to be Gladys Knight, Tina Turner or Aretha Franklin.

  20. S says:

    The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Landis family. His dad basically got away with murder on the Twilight Zone set.

  21. I Choose Me says:

    I’m loving SAFIA’s song. That’s what I’m taking away from this whole clusterwhoops.

  22. tealily says:

    Oh right, the popular “girl kisses guy and the sky lights up pink with meteors” trope. I think we’re all pretty familiar with that one.