July 28, 2016
Attention:
Mr. Joseph R. Atilano
Inquirer.net
Dear Mr. Atilano,
We have read your MusicMatters article <https://shar.es/1lVa4r> in Inquirer.net dated July 19, 2016 entitled “Why does ‘Taciturn’ by Gracenote sound so eerily similar to that of ‘Youth Without Youth’ by Metric?”.
In response to your article, we would like to point out the following facts for your review and hopefully answer the question you posted:
- The eerily similar sound between our song Taciturn and Metric’s “Youth without Youth” could actually be attributed to the “shuffle” beat/pattern you heard which is widely used in music regardless of genre. Musicians and those who are exposed to different genres of music know this. Let us enumerate to you some of the artists that have used this over the years:
- Gracenote ( TACITURN ) – 2016
- Borns ( Electric Love ) – 2015
- Metric ( Youth without youth ) – 2012
- Katy Perry ( I kissed a girl ) – 2008
- Rivermaya ( ALAB NG PUSO ) – 2002
- Gary glitter ( Rock and Roll also known as THE HEY SONG ) – 1972
https://youtu.be/Nras3c8r45k
(Links to youtube of these songs are included so that you would be able to check the similarity of the beats.)
After giving these songs a listen, we are sure you will also be able to identify the shuffle beat that we have pointed out. Now, does this mean that Katy Perry also “crossed the line” in writing “I Kissed a Girl” and lifted it from Rivermaya’s “Alab ng Puso Song”? Or could have Metric “crossed the line” in writing “Youth Without Youth” by lifting it from Gary Glitter’s song “Rock and Roll”? We hope not and we think not.
- Yes, it is a coincidence that “Youth Without Youth” sounds similar to “Taciturn”. We find it offensive when you say that we have “obviously tweaked” the former to produce the latter. You were not with us in the recording studio or during the production of this song to claim so confidently that we have done such thing. Let us point out the differences of the two songs:
- First of all, the slower tempo as you have mentioned in your article
- In contrast to what you have pointed out, the bass line is different because of the different progression between the two songs
- The keys used were different – E major for Taciturn, E minor for Youth Without Youth
- The mood was different – Major for Taciturn, Minor for Youth Without Youth
- Even before the dawn of youtube and social media when it was harder to access and hear different songs, there have been songs sounding similar to each other. That’s because there are only a limited number of notes in music that you can build up to produce patterns and arrangements.
- Songs could be similar because of the musical influence of the artists while creating a song. Gracenote recognizes that Metric is a great band but unfortunately, Metric’s music has not been our influence at least not for this album and specifically not for this song. Our producer, Mr. Ryan Sarmiento, is not familiar with Metric’s song Youth Without Youth so it will be impossible for him to “cross that fine line” when in the first place he is not aware of the ‘line’.
To end, we hope that you have understood that we did not cross the line in creating Taciturn. We are proud of what we have created and are glad that many people have appreciated it. We also thank you that our song has made you stop and take a listen. That is more than enough for us.
By the way, because of your article, we were inspired to create another song. Hope you could spare us some of your time and click the link to hear it:
Thank you very much and here’s to wishing more power to Filipino music!
Regards,
GRACENOTE
