In the current era of electronic music, it’s almost impossible to find something that hasn’t been done. Take Elephante‘s “Age Of Innocence,” for instance. By all accounts, this is a well-executed piece of progressive house that demonstrates the potential merits of main stage EDM. Those are merits, however, that Zedd already demonstrated first.
You could lay the vocal track from “Age Of Innocence” over the instrumental track from “Clarity” or vice versa and yield an equally effective piece of music. No, seriously, try it. The key is the same, the changes are the same, and even many of the lyrical and sound design elements are uncannily similar.
So did Elephante rip off Zedd? Probably not. At the worst, the melodic progression probably came loose during his creative process after radio overplay lodged it there a few years back – and at best, he came to it 100% independently of anyone else and the similarities are a pure coincidence. Neither would surprise me very much, and both simply speak to the oversaturated nature of the contemporary electronic music landscape.
Either way, I’m neither a DJ nor a producer, so I’m relying on you to prove me right by mashing up Elephante‘s “Age Of Innocence” with “Clarity” and linking it in the comments section below.