"Mirrors" composer rejects Richard Feelgood and Donald Trump
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Jon Jackson, "Writer Behind Trump's Rally Music Wants to Distance Himself From QAnon", Newsweek 9/20/2022:
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday appeared at an Ohio rally for J.D. Vance, a Republican nominee for Senate. Afterward, Trump received much attention for what many people have claimed was a QAnon element to his appearance.
When Trump took to the stage, people in attendance felt they recognized his entrance music. Many in the crowd raised a one-finger salute as a reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory. They did so because the song they heard sounded nearly identical to QAnon's unofficial theme song, "Wwg1wga," which stands for the QAnon slogan, "Where we go one, we go all." (Although the index finger salute is used by QAnon, some people have claimed its use is also a reference to the "America First" slogan.)
Aides for Trump have denied to multiple media outlets that the song played last weekend was "Wwg1wga." Instead, they identified the tune that the former president used at the rally as a royalty-free track called "Mirrors," written by composer Will Van De Crommert.
However, Van De Crommert wrote to Newsweek that he did not authorize the use of "Mirrors" for Trump. He also emphasized he wasn't happy about his music being associated with QAnon.
"I do not support Donald Trump, and I do not support or espouse the beliefs of QAnon," Van De Crommert said.
That "Mirrors" was mistaken for "Wwg1wga" is understandable. When De Crommert's song is played to the music-identifying service Shazam, the result given back is "Wwg1wga," which is credited to an artist who goes by Richard Feelgood.
"Richard Feelgood's claim on the song 'Mirrors' (retitled 'Wwg1wga') is patently false. The recordings of 'Wwg1wga' and 'Mirrors' are identical, and the master was unlawfully retitled, repackaged, and redistributed to streaming platforms by Richard Feelgood," Van De Crommert said.
He added, "I am not Richard Feelgood, I do not represent Richard Feelgood, and Richard Feelgood is not a pseudonym that I have ever or will ever employ."
See "Q song?", 9/19/2022, for details of the exact correspondence between the two tracks, and "More Q-song copying", 9/20/2022, for a similar analysis of another apparent case of plagiarism.
I note that Silver Cloud 5 has been removed from Youtube Music and from Amazon Music, though for the moment it still seems to exist on Spotify.
A quick check of its tracks via Shazam suggests that all of them are exact copies of earlier work by other artists, included at least one and perhaps two others by Van De Crommert.
AntC said,
September 22, 2022 @ 3:10 am
When De Crommert's song is played to the music-identifying service Shazam, the result given back is "Wwg1wga," which is credited to an artist who goes by Richard Feelgood.
Yes, that was my experience when I tried following up myl's initial identification. Google 'Search for a song' (which is probably not as savvy as Shazam) found only the Feelgood versions. And I was just snowed by the number of sites that carried them — to the extent they probably crowded out any other matches.
Thank you Mark for pursuing this: you must have a million more worthy calls on your time.
So crypto-T****ists follow their master in touting cheap knockoffs.
KeithB said,
September 22, 2022 @ 7:52 am
I can also believe that Trump would use royalty-free music.
rpsms said,
September 22, 2022 @ 3:11 pm
"Royalty free" is not a synonym for "free." It is still unclear if they paid a license (similar to stock photo fees and his "I did not authorize" statement seems weak enough to suggest they paid via a stock music site?