Viral Bangsamoro pop singer Shaira is once again under scrutiny as social media users have accused her of “plagiarizing” two other songs from Indonesian artists.
This latest issue came after the recent removal of her parody track, “Selos”, from official music streaming platforms due to a copyright claim from its original singer.
Shaira’s record label, AHS Productions had voluntarily removed the song from all music streaming services after confirming that the melody in the song was derived from a 2008 track titled “Trouble is a Friend” by Australian singer-songwriter and actress Lenka.
Following the said dispute, online users circulated videos comparing Shaira’s songs “Forever Single (Walang Jowa)” and “Pakboy” to tracks by Indonesian artists Papinka and Siti Badriah, respectively.
They pointed out striking similarities in melodies between Shaira’s songs and those released by the Indonesian artists years earlier.
Shaira’s songs were released in 2023, while Papinka’s “Masih Mencintainya” and Siti Badriah’s “Lagi Syantik” were released in 2013 and 2018, respectively.
Netizens flocked to Papinka’s latest posts on Instagram to call the artist’s attention to Shaira’s alleged plagiarism.
In response to inquiries from users, Papinka’s music agency, Ascada Musik, stated that their system would detect any similarity and assured that there would be no commercial benefit from it. They also mentioned that the issue is “being processed”.
As of writing, Siti Badriah’s camp has not issued a statement regarding the allegations.
Nevertheless, the two songs are currently not available on Spotify, nor on AHS Production’s YouTube channel. However, instrumental versions of Forever Single (Walang Jowa) and a parody version titled “Papinka Parody” by another singer, MC AG, remain on YouTube.
Meanwhile, “Selos” still exists on some platforms as a karaoke version, alongside a short live performance clip.
