It’s a tale as old as time; an established and high profile artist utilizes the material of another artist (either intentionally or by mistake) and the internet explodes with immediate comparisons of the tracks. Songwriters and performers Kandi Burruss & Tiny received credit from Ed Sheeran for his massive single ‘Shape Of You’ when fans instantly recognized that it sounded eerily alike to the TLC smash ‘No Scrubs’ (that Burruss and Tiny co-wrote). In another high profile (and significantly messier) case, Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke were sued by the family of the legendary Marvin Gaye, saying that the duo directly stole the Gaye classic “Got To Give It Up” for their summer smash ‘Blurred Lines’, receiving $7.3 million dollars in damages. Now another conflict has arisen between two artists, one of which is a burgeoning LGBT artist, and the other the queen of modern day country music.
After a star-making performance at New Jersey’s Sea.Hear.Now festival, Remember Jones is riding a professional high. This week though, fans of his June 2021 track ‘Fat Jeans’ (an R&B tinged ode to “wanting to lay around all day” with a chorus saying in part “I put my Fat Jeans on”) was alarmingly similar to Carrie Underwood’s ‘Stretchy Pants’, another ode to comfortable couture, with a chorus that says in part “I’m about to expand this band of elasticity, I got my stretchy pants on” that was released last week. While the lyrical content can possibly be left up to interpretation regarding what truly is the same, it’s hard to ignore the blatant similarities regarding the videos. Both ‘Fat Jeans’ and ‘Stretchy Pants’ (which benefits The Store in Nashville)have ultra-kitschy & vibrantly hued animated videos that showcase both Jones and the characters in Underwood’s video struggling to get into their ‘Fat Jeans’/’Stretchy Pants’.
For his part, Remember Jones remains hopeful that there is room for both artists to have this confusion turn into something beneficial for both themselves, as well as others. Remember Jones exclusively told me “I love the universality of these concepts. especially as a queer artist, finding ways we can align ourselves as human beings and then making it art is a beautiful thing. Working my way up in this business isn’t easy – being seen and heard is an every day struggle beyond the work it takes to create the work. In the spirit of helping others and bringing people together, i would be happy to bring awareness to charities in the same way Carrie is. My hope is that we can work together – no one should be hurt by these things.”
Cover Photo Courtesy of Carrie Underwood/Remember Jones (Instagram)
There was no response from Carrie Underwood’s camp @ press time.
Follow Remember Jones on Instagram
Na she clearly stole from him. Just because these artists are more popular and think they can get away with anything is ridiculous. Honestly Remember Jones did it 10x better. He should sue Carrie underwood. She and other artist have no right to steal other peoples songs and reword or try and change the tune for the original song owner just so they can make themselves more money and more famous. Shame on them. I honestly hope Remember Jones does something about this.
Thank you for posting this!