Portishead Is Upset That The Weeknd Sampled Their Song Without Permission

The news here should be “yay for new Weeknd”; instead, it’s “yay for new Weeknd…except for the part where he sampled a song without another artist’s permission.” After Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. the Weeknd, revealed another sensual, bruised track from his sophomore album, Kiss Land, Portishead guitarist Geoff Barrow tweeted:

When someone asks to sample you and you refuse they should have the respect as a fellow artist to not use it.

This is unfortunate if true, though I understand Tesfaye’s temptation; every song should sample Portishead’s ice-cold trip-hop, with consent, of course. Still, I guess the rumors are true: Tesfaye thinks Loverboy is singing about him when they say, “Everybody’s working for the weekend.”

(via Getty Image) (Via Consequence of Sound)

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