Teen influencer Danielle Cohn is being accused of trying to pass her cover of Ashanti’s “Foolish” off as her own, original work.
Cohn posted a TikTok video featuring herself dancing and singing along to the track in question and encouraging her 18 million followers to stream it. “Make a TikTok to my new song,” the 16-year-old wrote in the caption of the video, which has since been viewed over 3.5 million times since being posted last week.
The cover uses the original chorus and additional lyrics from Ahsanti’s hit record, causing backlash for the teen, as people began claiming that the track was stolen and unoriginal.
Users are apologizing to Ashanti in the comments section of the video and urging Cohn to “turn this off” because “the original is better.”
The long train of pushback continued, with others writing: “It’s the plagiarism for me,” “Ashanti not finna play with you, lawsuit’s on its way,” and “Girl you just embarassed yourself.”
One user even said the audio sounded like a “KidzBop remake.”
Cohn’s mother, Jen Archambault, came forward to defend her daughter, saying that Ashanti’s “Foolish” was, in fact, properly cleared and licensed with the stamp of approval from the artist’s team.
“The past week I have seen my poor daughter get dragged and ripped to pieces. We got a license and went the right way and Ashanti and her team will get their royalties,” Archambault wrote on Wednesday.
“I am sicken at the amount of crap these people on the internet put her through. She out her living her dream and to have adults and kids attack her this bad. Danielle you looked beautiful in your music video, your voice is amazing and I am even more proud of the way you have handle the amount of hate you have gotten!” she continued.
Archambault included in her post a video by a TikToker who studied music business management. The TikToker attempts to bring clarity to the situation by explaining a bit about licensing and royalties when it comes to covers within the music industry.
“A lot of people are dragging this young lady about her song, saying that it’s her song,” the TikToker states. “When it comes to recording someone else’s song, namely a cover, what you do is you get a license to use the writing and the arrangement for that song.”
She continues in defense of Cohn. “Believe me, Ashanti and everybody on her team are gonna get their cut for their song, but this is her song. It’s her voice, it’s her arrangement… and it doesn’t mean that Ashanti doesn’t get credit for the original arrangement, it just means that this song belongs to this young lady,” she says.
According to Complex, Ashanti and her team have yet to publicly address the controversy. It further reports that Cohn’s credits for her cover’s writing and composition on streaming services still do not name the original writers and producers of Ashanti’s track.
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H/T Complex