Why Does Halsey’s “Hold Me Down” Sound Exactly Like Son Lux’s “Easy”
It was Tuesday evening and I had my playlist on shuffle while I was doing homework when Halsey’s track, “Hold Me Down” came on. But I hadn’t know that when I started listening to it. About a month ago, I had taken Son Lux’s “Easy” off of my playlist to make room for new songs and I was surprised to hear it come up on my current playlist. So, I was shocked when I clicked on my phone to see that it wasn’t “Easy” at all. I wondered if I was the only one that had noticed the impeccable similarities. I googled it and found that Son Lux had addressed it in a Tweet.
Many of the responses to Son Lux’s tweet called out Halsey for ‘stealing’ Son Lux’s tune because they were so similar that they were identical but Halsey states that she sampled the beginning of “Easy” and used it to make her own song.
Sampling is when an artist or producer takes a portion or ‘sample’ of a song and uses it in a different song. Sampling is not uncommon in the music industry and it happens more often than we notice in remixes and covers. In an article by NOLO, it is legal to sample the music if you “are using the sampled music at home”, “are using the sample for a live show” or if “an average listener would not notice the difference between your end product and the sample”. The last point got me somewhat skeptical because it was obvious that a lot of people had heard the similarities.
However, Son Lux didn’t seem to mind. It is unclear whether Halsey had asked Son Lux for permission to sample his music but Son Lux definitely seemed impressed at what she had done with it.
The ‘Fair Use’ rights state that if you “did not take a substantial amount of the original work”, “you transformed the material in some way”, and “if you did not cause significant financial harm to the copyright owner”, it is legal. But none of this really matters because Son Lux never sued Halsey for sampling his music, contrary to what his fans thought would happen. He respected Halsey’s work and even defended her when she was accused of ‘stealing’ his song.
At first, I did not really know how to react to this because I was a bit confused and shocked by how similar they sounded. I think I should have been mad but to be honest, I love both of these songs so much that I think what Halsey did was quite smart. By taking the beginning and the bass line from “Easy”, she was able to add her own lyrics to the song. I’m sure that other fans will agree with me that these two songs have their own unique characteristics despite the sampled sections.
You can listen to both songs and see the similarities and differences for yourself by checking out this remix by Rising Edge of the two songs.
Citations:
Stim, Richard. “When You Need Permission to Sample Others’ Music.” www.nolo.com, NOLO, www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/permission-sampled-music-sample-clearance-30165.html.
