High-voiced British crooner Sam Smith has agreed to pay royalties to Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne for Smith’s hit single “Stay With Me.” First released back in April, the third single off of Smith’s album In The Lonely Hour reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, the song does bear more than a passing resemblance to a Tom Petty tune—specifically, “I Won’t Back Down,” off of 1989’s Full Moon Fever. As a result, Petty and Lynne will now receive a writing credit for the track, which is up for Best Pop Performance and Record of the Year at next month’s Grammy awards.
You can listen to the Smith track below, and decide for yourself if you think he shamelessly ripped off Petty. (Hint: He shamelessly ripped off Petty.) Smith is presumably very excited to share his next all-new original tune, tentatively titled “Tree Fallin’,” from his forthcoming album Total Lunar Illness.