Leona Lewis Accused of Plagiarism on ‘Collide’

British soul singer Leona Lewis only issued her new single 'Collide' to UK radio on Friday and already the mid-tempo but dancey love song is fraught with issues. Lewis is being accused of plagiarizing the instrumental club song 'Penguin' by DJ Avicii with 'Collide.'

According to the UK paper The Sun, Ministry of Sound Records is claiming that Lewis is blatantly ripping off the song with 'Collide.' The label's operators have asked that execs at Simon Cowell's Syco, to which Lewis is signed, to yank the track from radio. They want to ban the song from being officially released, as well.

A Ministry of Sound representative was not subtle when reportedly telling The Sun that "Leona Lewis has stolen our record." He continued, "'Collide' is identical to Avicii’s track. We've been working on this release for a year, then this week we heard Leona's track. Obviously Avicii is pretty upset about this. A legal letter was sent to Simon Cowell and our lawyers have said they will take the appropriate action over the song. Surely if Leona knew how similar her track is to DJ Avicii's song she wouldn't have decided to press ahead with the release?"

But not so fast. Turns out, bosses at Syco aren't buying these claims and are eschewing the complaint, apparently saying the accusations of plagiarism are baseless and false, simply because DJ Avicii is properly credited on Lewis' song. That source stated that 'there is zero legal case to answer. Avicii is already credited as a songwriter on Leona's song. It's a case of sour grapes (jealousy) from Ministry of Sound."

Lots of mudslinging is going on here and we'll have to see how this one shakes out in the courts, if it gets that far. We wonder if this rash of negative press regarding the song will affect Lewis as she begins promo efforts on her next release, which many are heralding as a comeback album.

We took a listen to both songs and sure there is similarity there, but if Avicii is properly credited as Syco execs days he is, he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.

Listen to Leona Lewis 'Collide'

Listen to DJ Avicci 'Penguin.'