After a successful run as an esteemed experimental indie group in the 2000s and 2010s, Yeasayer called in quits in 2019. Despite that, the Brooklyn band has been in the news lately thanks to a lawsuit they filed against The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar. They sued the artists over their Black Panther song “Pray For Me,” which they attested sampled and altered a “distinctive choral performance” from their 2007 song “Sunrise,” claiming the sample was “immediately recognizable.”
However, it appears they have decided to not push the issue any further: Pitchfork reports that documents filed in a New York federal court say the band “confirmed to their satisfaction that no copyright infringement occurred.”
The lawsuit was initially filed this past February by the band and their We Are Free, LLC, against The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, producers Doc McKinney and Frank Dukes, and the labels UMG, Interscope, Aftermath, and Top Dawg Entertainment.
The Weeknd previously denied the copyright claims in court documents, saying his song “does not capture any actual sounds” from Yeasayer’s track, adding, “Each and every allegation contained in the complaint not specifically admitted herein is denied. The sound recording of ‘Pray For Me’ does not capture any actual sounds from the sound record, ‘Sunrise.'”
