Doja Cat sent a string of voice messages to Australian guitarist Plini to apologize after using a snippet of his song in her recent performance at the MTV European Music Awards.
The rapper/singer performed her hit “Say So” at the awards ceremony, with viewers quick to point out that she’d used part of Plini’s 2016 tune “Handmade Cities.”
Plini, full name Plini Roessler-Holgate, then issued a statement, writing that: “The lack of prior communication about it or proper credit upon release is disappointing but not particularly surprising in a sector of the industry that is usually more interested in clout than creativity (it’s being sorted now, but would have been cooler a million views ago).”
In an interview with MusicRadar, Plini went on to reveal that Doja herself had later been in touch with him to apologize for the misunderstanding.
“I made a comment on Twitter, not really accusing anyone of anything but just because I thought it was funny… and then it turned into this whole thing. I suppose the fans really did all the work, they had all the outrage on my behalf. I was just sitting back wondering what the f### was happening and finding it hilarious,” he said.
Apparently, the musical director of Doja’s MTV EMA performance had been inspired by Plini’s tune, but the singer herself was unaware of the issue until Plini’s post on Twitter.
“The best part of all this is that I woke up one day with a string of voice messages from her in my DMs, saying sorry and that she wished she’d known about all of this and wished they could have credited me properly, and also praising my song and thanking me for being nice about it,” he concluded.
“I thought about that and realized it was the number one strangest thing that’s happened to me in my career. One of the biggest pop stars is messaging me an apology because someone kinda ripped my music for her live performance. Life is so f###### weird. As far as I’m concerned it’s a great story.”