Pet Shop Boys accuse Drake of using ‘West End Girls’ without permission

The Pet Shop Boys have accused Drake of using their song ‘West End Girls’ on his new album ‘For All The Dogs’ without permission.

The new album was released on Friday, drawing the ire of the British duo later that day. On the song ‘All The Parties’, which also features Chief Keef, Drake can briefly be heard singing the chorus of the Pet Shop Boys’ 1984 hit.

“Surprising to hear Drake singing the chorus of ‘West End Girls’ in the track ‘All The Parties’ on his new album”, they wrote on X. “No credit given or permission requested”.

They were not the only people surprised to hear their work on ‘For All The Dogs’. Earlier on Friday, rapper Rye Rye responded to hearing a sample of her 2012 song ‘Shake It To The Ground’ appear on the 21 Savage-featuring track ‘Calling For You’.

This turn of events particularly exasperated her because it’s the second time Drake has used a sample from ‘Shake It To The Ground’ without her prior knowledge. Previously her vocals appeared on his 2022 track ‘Currents’.

She wrote on X: “Really Drake? My vocals again? And no credit? I really wanna be flattered but I feel like it’s trolling [at this point]. OMG… one of my fave artists doing this, I don’t know how to feel anymore. But thank you for reminding me that my fifteen year old vocals are still legendary”.

Drake has not responded to either artist. Possibly because he’s on hiatus now. Apparently.

Speaking on his SiriusXM show on Friday, mere hours after releasing his new album, he said that he was now planning to stop making music for at least a year as he focuses on his health, saying that he has “been having the craziest problems for years with my stomach”.

“I got some other things I need to do for some other people that I made promises to, but I probably won’t make music for a little bit”, he went on. “I need to get right, I have a lot of other things that I would love to focus on. So I’ma lock the door on the studio for a little bit, I don’t even know what a little bit is. Maybe a year or so, maybe a little longer”.