MGK + BMTH Face Plagiarism Accusations, But Paramore Nod Was Likely Baked In

It seems several listeners have accused Machine Gun Kelly and Bring Me the Horizon of plagiarizing their recent single together, "Maybe," from Paramore's influential "Misery Business," according to ThePRP on Wednesday (April 6).

However, what some might not realize is that "Maybe" is listed as an interpolation of the Paramore cut in its credits on Genius, suggesting the derivative was probably planned in advance officially, although this hasn't been confirmed. (Interpolating means the song used the original's melody by recreating it, rather than sampling the original recording.)

It's likely similar to what occurred with pop star Olivia Rodrigo's smash hit "Good 4 U," another number accused of cribbing from "Misery Business," but which now officially shares in songwriting with Paramore.

Songwriting is a business after all, and these are all huge performers on major labels with multiple moving parts behind the scenes. So it's doubtful MGK's interpolation was unplanned.

Kelly and BMTH premiered "Maybe" at Emo Nite L.A. on March 4. The song later dropped on March 16, and the music video emerged on March 25. Compare the two tracks below.

In a recent tweet, vocalist Philip Labonte of the metalcore band All That Remains suggested that he thought "Maybe" sounded a good deal like "Misery Business."

Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker have covered Paramore in the past, and you can watch the video for their actual cover of "Misery Business."

Machine Gun Kelly has been accused of stealing hooks from another band before — in the past, some said his song "Acting Like That" sounded a lot like "Shake It" by Metro Station. But per the NME, Metro Station said they were pleased that the songs shared similarities.