A US Band Reckons ‘Masked Singer Australia’ Straight-Up Ripped Off Their ‘Bad Guy’ Cover

Bad Guy cover Masked Singer Australia Halocene.

A band from the US is alleging that their cover of a Billie Eilish song was ripped off by Masked Singer Australia for a performance by Kate Ceberano.

[jwplayer r9SlIwU8]

Halocene, a YouTube covers band based from Phoenix, Arizona, uploaded a video suggesting that the version of Bad Guy performed by Ceberano in costume as the lion directly imitated several unique features of their take on the song.

In the video, members of the band Bradley and Addie Amick lay out a case that some vocal flourishes, back-up vocals, and drum grooves featured in the inexplicably Matrix-themed performance absent from the original are straight-up jacked from their version.

According to the Amicks, the video of their cover went up 22 weeks before the air date of the episode in question and that “someone with the music department with the show had to go over the intricate details of [their] recording”, citing “distinct chord changes, the guitar, the bass lines, vocals, ad-libs, drums, strings, male-featured choir, group vocals”, among other things, that are not in the original Billie Eilish track.

The pair also suggest that, if Masked Singer did indeed rip off their cover, they have also ripped off a portion of one of their original songs, as Bradley Amick incorporated a riff from an earlier track:

We basically borrowed our own ideas, and we interjected into this, so it was part cover, part mashup of our own song. We’re using our riffs and melodies from our original content in this song. The Masked Singer Australia is basically purposefully and willingly stolen our licensed recording of Bad Guy but they’ve inadvertently stolen from my original song, Why Wait?

The pair say they will not currently be pursuing legal action, as it is very, very expensive to do so.

You can have a listen to the side-by-side comparison below:

P.TV reached out to Ten for comment.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV