Carly Rae Jepsen, the new breakout artist and singer of the hit song “Call Me Maybe” who’s facing a lawsuit by AZA of the Album AZA Highspeed and the song that’s the focus of the complaint called “Hunky Santa,” may have to deal with a timing issue in her dispute.
First, let’s get this out of the way, AZA’s a very talented singer and a lovely woman. Second, it seems like she may be upset that her catchy song “Hunky Santa” didn’t catch fire and become a runaway hit. Third, as the news travels through social media, it looks like AZA’s getting noticed, but not winning the argument. This is important because the court will take into account (or should) social media exposure, which is not going in AZA’s way.
But the biggest problem yet to be resolved is the timing problem. The video for Hunky Santa was released on December 23rd 2011. The single called “Call Me Maybe” was, according to Wikipedia, “released on on September 20, 2011, through 604 Records, but did not get noticed until Justin Bieber tweeted about it via his massive-following Twitter account. By contrast, “Hunky Santa” was placed on MySpace on March 11th 2010.
The comparison aside for the moment – as it does not go well for AZA – it’s clear that Hunky Santa was released before Call Me Maybe, but it wasn’t widely distributed. Did Carly Rae Jepsen hear Hunky Santa and then worked to improve on it? There’s no evidence of that at all.
Women singing songs of longing for a man is nothing new. It’s also not surprising that these songs may seem to have a similar tone and feeling. But I can’t say that’s the case for “Hunky Santa” vs. “Call Me Maybe.” “Call Me Maybe” has an upbeat musical theme that focuses on the use of what sounds like fast violins. “Hunky Santa” has none of that and is written in such a way as to be an “update” of a Christmas theme.
But that said, one thing’s for sure: AZA’s getting her 15 minutes of fame. It’s something she’s long sought after, hanging out in the Beverly Hills culture, trying to catch fire and take off.
Stay tuned.