Did Ed Sheeran, 31, receive “inspiration” from his colleagues when writing the hit “Shape of You”? However, lawyers for Sami Shoukry and Ross O’Donoghue claimed that the hook line “Oh I, oh I, oh I” was copied from their single “Oh Why” released two years ago. It’s about a lot of money: “Shape of You” was the number one song on streaming service Spotify last December, which racked up three billion views. The song climbed to number one on their respective charts in 34 countries and won numerous awards.

Sheeran wants to hit him in 90 minutes. A case of genius inspiration – if the affirmation is true. To dispel all doubts Sheeran agreed in court, according to the BBC Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” and Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” to illustrate how common the melody arc in question is in popular music: “If you put them all in the same key, they sound the same,” Sheeran says. He claimed that he didn’t even know the prosecutors’ song until he composed it himself in October 2016.

“A little close to the bone”

Since Shukri and O’Donoghue sued the £20m, royalties have been “frozen”. It wasn’t flattering for Sheeran, as audio tapes were played in court from the studio recording session for “Shape of You,” where he is said to have been “a little close to the bone” in “Oh I.” Sheeran did not deny the statement, but said he meant “No Diggity” on Blackstreet. When asked if his huge salesman’s closing sentence, which is in the sharp little C, bore any resemblance to the Shukri song, he admitted: “Basically yes. It’s based on the small pentatonic scale.”

Sheeran: The blow originated from “to the third.”

And the plaintiffs’ attorney, Andrew Sutcliffe, asked Sheeran if he had “really had the phrase in his head” after hearing Shukri’s song, which the singer rejected. He had “disappeared” in 2016 and hardly noticed the new releases on the British music scene. He finally wrote an “Oh Me” hook with co-authors Steve Mac and Johnny McDaid: “We all jumped back and forth in circles,” according to a BBC court reporter: “This is what happened.”

Even before the current plagiarism proceedings, Sheeran had given the authors of another song, “No Scrubs,” with its translation TLC (“Tender Loving Care”) shares in “Shape of You.”