Pet Shop Boys say Drake’s team were “very apologetic” about unauthorised ‘West End Girls’ sample

nme.com:

Pet Shop Boys have shared that Drake‘s team were “very apologetic” about the rapper’s unauthorised sample of ‘West End Girls’ in one of his tracks.Last October, the UK pop duo claimed that the Canadian rapper sampled their 1985 hit without their knowledge or permission.On Drake’s track ‘All The Parties’ from latest album ‘For All The Dogs’, the artist sings: “East End boy and West End girls.”The lyrics and melody mirrored the Pet Shop Boys’ own track, in which they sing: “In a West End town, a dead end world/ The East End boys and West End girls.”“Surprising to hear Drake singing the chorus of ‘West End Girls’ in the track ‘All the Parties’ on his new album.

No credit given or permission requested,” the band wrote on Twitter after the release.Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe shed more light on the beef in an interview with NME, sharing that it has all been resolved. “It’s all sorted now, but I must say I thought it was a really nice bit in the record.

He sang it very well,” Tennant said.Now, they’ve elaborated further on how the saga unfolded. “I was driving in my car back from the supermarket, and my brother phoned me to say his son, my nephew who’s a Drake fan, said, ‘Oh, does Neil know ‘West End Girls’ is on Drake’s new album?” he shared in a new interview with Rolling Stone.“So I stopped the car and played it on Spotify.

We get a lot of requests, so I thought, maybe we agreed to this? But this, I thought we’d remember it,” he added.Tennant continued that he emailed their manager who confirmed they had not agreed to a sample.