Lenny Kravitz wasn’t the only alt-rock icon credited on Miguel‘s new album, Wildheart. The singer wrote a guitar riff for “leaves” that sounded like the Smashing Pumpkins‘ classic “1979”, as he discussed in an interview with the Associated Press. After realizing the songs were “reminiscent” of each other, he reached out to Billy Corgan and ended up giving him a songwriting credit.
Miguel said he was careful about the attribution given the recent lawsuit over Robin Thicke and Pharrell’s “Blurred Lines”, where they were accused of plagiarizing Marvin Gaye. “We’re all standing on the shoulders of giants,” he said. “There’s nothing that hasn’t been done … there’s going to be moments where you do things that are reminiscent of other things. And even if you’re not aware of them, I think it’s just best out of respect to reach out.”
Miguel also discussed the sample in an interview with news.com.au from earlier this month. He said he wrote the song’s guitar riff “in such a subconscious way” and only realized later that it was similar to “1979”. “I was a fan of them growing up, but I never bought their albums or saw them live,” he said. “It’s weird how some things just sink in.”
Read our new interview with Miguel.
“leaves”:
“1979”:
Watch Miguel play “Adorn” at a Warm Up event at MoMA PS1:
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