Casey Dienel doesn’t just want Justin Bieber to say “Sorry”. She wants to admit he was wrong and he ripped off her song.
The Scituate native has filed a lawsuit against the pop star accusing him of ripping off the female vocal riff of her song “Ring the Bell”, which she wrote, recorded and released as White Hinterland in 2014. Also named in the suit is producer Skrillex, where, via Pitchfork, Dienel claims that Bieber’s “Sorry” steals “the specific and unique characteristics of the female vocal riff” of “Ring The Bell”.
Listen to both songs below.
In a Facebook post this week, Dienel outlined her lawsuit, and says she expects Bieber “and his team will launch a full attack against me. But, in the end, I was left with no other option. I believe I have an obligation to stand up for my music and art.” Negative comments towards Dienel are already flooding the Youtube video for “Ring the Bell”, and comments on her Facebook post are decidedly mixed.
Dienel, who creates atmospheric indie pop and released “Ring The Bell” via independent record label Dead Oceans, says she even privately reached out to Bieber about the riff, but was ignored. “Sorry” appears on Bieber’s 2015 album, Purpose, and spent three weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
“I offered Bieber’s team an opportunity to have a private dialogue about the infringement, but they refused to even acknowledge my claim, despite the obviousness of the sample,” she writes.