If you’ve heard the 2018 single Eastside from the debut album of Benny Blanco, you’ll be familiar with its summery beats and catchy vocals. It’s a great listen – but does it sound a bit too familiar?

Speaking to TMZ songwriters Konstantine Lois and Shane Williams of American XO claim that Eastside, co-written by Ed Sheeran and featuring Halsey, Khalid and Nathan Perez, is a ‘carbon copy’ of their song Loveless from 2015. Losi and Williams told TMZ that they found similar “note dyads, note intervals, similar tempos and an all-around familiar beat” in Eastside and Loveless.

The team behind Eastside are now being sued by the American XO songwriters for copyright infringement, in a battle which levels the blame not just at co-writer Sheeran but at everyone involved in the song’s production, from record labels to featured artists Khalid and Halsey.

Sheeran has run into trouble with copyright infringements with multiple other songs of his – perhaps most famously, he was sued for $100 million  in 2018 over similarities between Thinking Out Loud and Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On. The Lego House singer’s previous problems with copyright litigation has been highlighted by Sam Chokri. Chokri, who is building a copyright court case against Sheeran for allegedly lifting parts of the chorus from his song Oh Why in the runaway hit Shape of You, has collected a list of songs he claims Sheeran has allegedly borrowed from. 

You can listen to Loveless and Eastside here: