Did Beyoncé Rip Off a Hungarian Folk Singer?

Beyoncé, Jay Z and Timbaland are being sued by a Hungarian folk singer for allegedly ripping off vocals from one of her songs which she claims was used in Beyoncé’s “Drunk In Love.”

According to Monika Miczura Juhasz, the audio of her singing “Bajba, Bajba Pelem” was digitally altered and used for the song without her permission. She is requesting unspecified damages and wants her vocals removed from the song, which, good luck with that one, girl.

Here is Monika Miczura Juhasz’s song:

Compared to “Drunk In Love”:

Admittedly, the vocals sound similar. That being said, it also sounds like a lot of other melodic warbling I’ve heard before. Further, the song in question is a traditional Roma folk song that Juhasz says she learned from her grandmother. If this is a song that has been part of the culture for awhile, the question seems to be whether or not her version is particularly unique or if that’s just how the song is sung.

Any true Beyoncé fan can begrudgingly admit that at times she and her creative team have been, uh, liberal with their inspiration from other artists. Still, she’s generally a lot smarter about it. For example, Beyoncé is listed as a co-writer for a number of Destiny’s Child songs that some say she had minimal creative involvement with. So while that might be shady, it’s not really the same as the outright theft of another artist’s vocals.

I hope Juhasz has some deep pockets. “Drunk In Love” was one of the biggest hits off of what was arguably Bey’s best album. Combine that pedigree with the fact that it was just nominated for two Grammys and Jay Z just won a sampling lawsuit of his own, and something tells me Queen Bey won’t let this one go easily.