It's hard to say in this day and age. Justin Bieber's been on a "Music Mondays" kick, releasing new singles every Monday for the last few months, to varying degrees of love/hate (depending on how much of a Belieber you truly are). His latest release, "Roller Coaster," is apparently produced by Rodney Jerkins (who has done two tracks with Bieber already, and has a catalog that includes hits with Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Brandy, Destiny's Child and many other acts), and features a chord progression that sounds a lot like Eric Prydz' 2008 smash "Pjanoo." Check them out side-by-side:
Sounds familiar, right? Now in looking for any kind of production credits or sample acknowledgements, we can't find any; such is the case in the 2013 Internets age, where Wikipedia is the new album booklet and releases debut on iTunes with little-to-no proper information. Aside from Rodney Jerkins grooving to this "rollerskating groove" on Instagram, we don't have much in the way of official info. Who knows - did they get permission from Prydz? Are we just listening too hard? Who knows. No word from Prydz on the Internets either way as of yet. We'll keep you posted if there's any update on this situation.
EDIT Eric had a conversation with someone on Twitter that kind of settles this argument:
I'm no defender of Bieber, but saying "Roller Coaster" is a ripoff of @ericprydz's "Pjanoo" is a stretch.
— Topsider (@BryceM88) November 26, 2013
@BryceM88 a very very long one too.
— Eric Prydz (@ericprydz) November 26, 2013
@ericprydz definitely. i think your response settles the issue.
— Topsider (@BryceM88) November 26, 2013
EDIT It looks like Rodney Jerkins isn't the producer for this, but Julkeyz is.
(ThisSongSlaps / MTV)
