Mac DeMarco has addressed the recent controversy that saw accusations of him “ripping off” US musician Mitski with his new record.
Just last month, it was revealed that Mac DeMarco was set to release his fourth studio album, Here Comes The Cowboy, dropping lead single, ‘Nobody’, in the process.
Now, that would be all well and good if it wasn’t for some similarities that fans began to take note of.
Back in August of 2018, American indie artist Mitski released her fifth studio album, Be The Cowboy. An absolutely stunning release, the record was named as one of the best of the year by publications around the world, gaining plenty of critical acclaim in the process for its main single, ‘Nobody’.
While fans accused DeMarco of “ripping off” Mitski’s album and songs, the latter took to Twitter to laugh off the similarities, writing “I’m 100% sure Mac & I just went fishing in the same part of the collective unconscious.”
“What’s wild is we have the same PR, so I LOVE my personal conspiracy theory that she heard the album+track titles but kept quiet thinking maybe some Mac fans will mistakenly find me.”
Check out Mitski’s ‘Nobody’:
Now, Mac DeMarco has taken part in a new interview for Huck Magazine, discussing the recent controversy, and how he had spoken to Mitski personally, stating that she is “chill with it”.
Love The Beatles?
Get the latest The Beatles news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“She had the same outlook,” DeMarco explained. “I was like, ‘It’s so crazy that it’s a similar title.’ I don’t show anybody my record ’til I hand it in. By that time, I just said: ‘This is the title; this will be the first single.’
“I didn’t know that one of her singles was ‘Nobody’ ’til two days ago,” he continued. “My manager told me and I thought, ‘Whoa, weird.’ Even if I had known, I don’t think I would’ve changed it.”
“I didn’t think people were gonna run with it that far. It’s ridiculous. It’s just music. Mitski’s song and my song sound eons different. Most of the people talking about it didn’t even listen to my song. With music today, [it seems] a lot of it isn’t about music.”
“I think a lot of people wanna dig the knife into me,” he continued. “Which is fine. It’s funny – there isn’t really a narrative with my new record. There’s no card to play. They found one, you know?”
“I’m not trying to troll Mitski. I didn’t know who Mitski was! I’m bad at keeping up with music. I only listen to The Beatles and video-game music from when I was a kid. Sorry.”
However, Mac DeMarco also notes that because of this controversy, he has now become a fan of Mitski’s Be The Cowboy, hoping to become friends with the musician in the process.
“It’s really cool and I think we might even cover one of the songs because it would be fun and we could try to make sense of the situation,” he noted. “She seems really cool. Maybe I get to have a new friend or someone I can see at a festival and go, ‘Wassup?!'”
Check out Mac DeMarco’s ‘Nobody’:
