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This Is Our Time – Expo 2020 anthem

This Is Our Time – Expo 2020 anthem

by Joe Bennett | Oct 4, 2021 | fm, Forensic Musicology, musicology, Popular Music, Songwriting

As you might imagine, most of the work of a forensic musicologist takes place behind necessarily closed doors due to commercial sensitivities. Once in a while a project I’m working on makes it to a courtroom, and if the media writes about it, my involvement is...
Olivia Rodrigo: song similarities

Olivia Rodrigo: song similarities

by Will Bennett | Sep 22, 2021 | Copyright, Forensic Musicology, musicology, Plagiarism, Popular Music, Songwriting

[JB note: I’m pleased to welcome my friend and colleague Will Bennett as a guest blogger. Will (no relation) is a PhD musicology researcher at Harvard, and also a valued member of the JBMS consultancy team. I asked him a couple of weeks ago what he thought of...
Have you been hearing Bohemian Rhapsody ‘wrong’ all these years? [answer: probably]

Have you been hearing Bohemian Rhapsody ‘wrong’ all these years? [answer: probably]

by Joe Bennett | Jul 24, 2021 | Forensic Musicology, musicology, Popular Music, Research, Songwriting

You know that feeling when a song's intro seems to trip up your ear, so that when the band comes in it sounds like the timing's out? There are a few rock classics that play with our rhythmic ears in this way. When I first heard Led Zeppelin's Rock And Roll I thought...
Writ Parade: Why American songwriters are suing each other

Writ Parade: Why American songwriters are suing each other

by admin | Jun 4, 2021 | Copyright, Forensic Musicology, Plagiarism, Popular Music, Songwriting

The case against Childish Gambino is the latest in a run of copyright claims  Article + interview with Joe Bennett. Words: Tom Wainwright. Originally published in The Economist, 15 May 2021. “You motherfuckers owe me!” raps Donald Glover, better known as...
Eurovision 2021 live musicology blog

Eurovision 2021 live musicology blog

by Joe Bennett | May 22, 2021 | berklee, Eurovision, Forensic Musicology, music production, musicology, Popular Music, Songwriting

[update: the next day] So, the predictions were mostly reasonably close, although I missed Switzerland completely. Italy won (I predicted 4th), I got France right at 2nd place, and Iceland came 4th (predicted as 3rd). My predicted winner (Malta) actually came in at...
Eurovision 2021 live musicology blog

Eurovision 2021 – the Americans are coming!

by Joe Bennett | May 22, 2021 | berklee, Eurovision, Popular Music, Songwriting

[looking for the live-blog and song commentary?] It’s Eurovision-eve! Yes, the live musicology blog is back after it, and the contest itself, has been absent for a year. We didn’t waste time though: Netflix asked us to analyse all 259 finalists 2010-2019...
Did Childish Gambino plagiarize in “This Is America”? [answer: no]

Did Childish Gambino plagiarize in “This Is America”? [answer: no]

by Joe Bennett | May 19, 2021 | Copyright, Forensic Musicology, musicology, Plagiarism, Popular Music, Songwriting

Betteridge’s law famously states that “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no”. And so, in the spirit of good blogging and the avoidance of cheap clickbait, I have answered my own question in the title of this post....
Eurovision Song Contest research

Eurovision Song Contest research

by Joe Bennett | Jun 30, 2020 | Eurovision, Popular Music, Songwriting

Regular readers will know that I have been live-blogging the Eurovision Song Contest final since 2011. Every year I sit down in front of the TV, metronome and guitar in hand, and write live musical analysis of the songs in real time, then attempt to predict the winner...
Irving Berlin: Nine Rules for Writing Popular Songs

Irving Berlin: Nine Rules for Writing Popular Songs

by Joe Bennett | Jan 23, 2020 | musicology, Songwriting

Article and interview by Frank Ward O’Malley (1875-1932)Originally published in ‘The American Magazine’, Volume 90, October 1920Transcribed by Joe Bennett from the Google Books version, January 2020 Irving Berlin c.1920 JB comment: This semester, I’m very pleased to...
Anatomy of the Hit: Bruno Mars and Cardi B ‘Please Me’

Anatomy of the Hit: Bruno Mars and Cardi B ‘Please Me’

by Joe Bennett | Aug 20, 2019 | musicology, Popular Music, Songwriting, tidal

[JB note: This article was originally commissioned by TIDAL, and is part of a series – see links below. Parental advisory: adult themes in the lyrics.] Ariana Grande – 7 rings Mabel – Don’t Call Me Up Billie Eilish – Bad Guy Taylor Swift...
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Recent Posts

  • Did Ed Sheeran copy from ‘Let’s Get It On’? [answer: no]
  • Creative processes in Stock, Aitken and Waterman’s ‘I Should Be So Lucky’
  • Did Mariah Carey plagiarise “All I Want For Christmas Is You”? (answer: no) 
  • Eurovision live musicology blog 2022
  • Eurovision live blog 2022 – get ready!

Recent Comments

  • The blurred lines between inspiration and infringement – Ilarose's blog on Did Robin Thicke steal ‘Blurred Lines’ from Marvin Gaye?
  • The Anno Domini Rag – the story of a song – Terence-Blacker on Irving Berlin: Nine Rules for Writing Popular Songs
  • Eurovision Song Contest: Decades of musical information – ♫ Down to a Note ♪ on Eurovision Song Contest research
  • And Copyright For All… | destroyerofharmony on Creative processes in Stock, Aitken and Waterman’s ‘I Should Be So Lucky’
  • Eurovision Song Contest research – Joe Bennett on Eurovision 2015 live blogging

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