Another Ed Sheeran collaborator testifies in Shape Of You song-theft case

completemusicupdate.com:

Another co-writer of the Ed Sheeran hit ‘Shape Of You’ took to the witness stand in the high court in London yesterday as the song-theft case against Sheeran and his musical collaborators continues.

Producer Steve Mac – real name Steven McCutcheon – said the writing of ‘Shape Of You’ was very rapid and very collaborative.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators – including McCutcheon – are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.

But Sheeran et al deny having ever heard of ‘Oh Why’ before writing ‘Shape Of You’, and counter that the elements shared by the two songs are pretty commonplace in pop music.In a written statement – and in court yesterday – McCutcheon recalled how quickly ‘Shape Of You’ had come together.

That was, he said, mainly because Sheeran is an “extraordinary” songwriter who can craft and finish songs super fast, so much so he can “write 26 songs in a week”.But, according to Sky News, the lawyer repping Chokri and O’Donoghue – Andrew Sutcliffe – suggested that ‘Shape Of You’ was actually written super fast because Sheeran arrived at the studio with the key elements already in his mind, having nabbed them from ‘Oh Why’.But McCutcheon disputed that theory.