If once is an accident and twice is a coincidence, then what's a third time? Stella Lefty's plagiarism controversies have now hit round three this year, and this time it involves an award-winning country classic from Blake Shelton.
The song at the center of the controversy is "Why Wouldn't We," Lefty's single released earlier this year that also appears on her debut album "Long Way Home," which dropped last month. Since the song went live, fans have pointed out several similarities to Shelton's 2017 release "I'll Name The Dogs" — not just in melodic structure, but in theme as well, with both songs tackling the same subject: how couples should fairly split everyday responsibilities as their relationship moves to the next stage. "I'll Name The Dogs" went on to win Song of the Year at the Nashville Songwriter Awards the following year.
Songwriting credits for "Why Wouldn't We" list Lefty herself, Emily Weisband, Grady Block, and Steph Jones, while "I'll Name The Dogs" credits Matt Dragstrem, Ben Hayslip, and Josh Thompson. So far, neither Lefty nor Shelton has publicly addressed the similarities.
This marks the third time this year Lefty has faced similar accusations. The first came when her hit single "Boston" was compared to Noah Kahan's "Stick Season," which resulted in Kahan later being added to the songwriting credits due to the overlap between the two tracks. At the time, Lefty explained, "I wasn't thinking about Noah Kahan at all when I wrote this song. My mind was completely blank when I wrote it." She also added, "I don't want to step on anyone's territory, so if it sounds similar, it sounds similar — it's not a big deal."
The second controversy involved another track from her debut album, "Summer You Were Mine," which drew comparisons to The Chicks' 1998 song "There's Your Trouble." When the song was first released, original writers Tia Sillers and Mark Selby were not credited — their names were only added to the songwriting credits afterward.
In other words, this is now the second time Lefty has followed the same playbook of getting caught first and adding credits later. But this time she's up against an industry award-winning Blake Shelton track, and how this will play out remains to be seen.
Following the release of her debut album, Lefty also announced an 18-date North American headline tour, kicking off in Detroit on January 8 and wrapping up in Chicago on February 20.
