Key Takeaways
- Drake is facing a lawsuit over the chorus of his hit song 'Janice STFU'.
- The songwriter claims the hook is 'literally identical' to his demo.
- Drake’s representatives deny the allegations, saying the songwriter manipulated metadata.
Drake is now facing legal action over the chorus of his hit song 'Janice STFU', which is accused of being 'literally identical' to a demo sent to him by songwriter Aviel Calev Hirschfield in 2026.
According to the lawsuit, filed by Gregory Korn and Jonathan Steinsapir of Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir, the chorus of 'Janice STFU' is 'literally identical' to the demo Hirschfield wrote in December 2025 and January 2026.
Hirschfield claims he wrote the demo over an audio bed provided by producer duo Michael “Finatik” Mulé and Isaac “Zac” De Boni, known as FNZ, who are also credited as co-writers on the song.
The lawsuit states that Hirschfield sent his finished demo to FNZ and other producers who worked with Drake, but never received a response. He first heard 'Janice STFU' when it was released on streaming platforms.
Hirschfield says the song’s hook is 'literally identical' to both the melody and lyrics from his demo, which features the lines: 'Reach me, baby/ Call my phone and say you need me, baby/ I’m so green, you gotta teach me, baby/ From Vancouver, you a BC, baby/ Pull up Maybach, beep beep, baby/ And my shit came with the heat seats, baby/ Swear my label gotta free me, baby/ Blow on me just like some green tea, baby.'
Since the song’s release, Hirschfield has requested co-writer credit and publishing splits for 'Janice STFU'. However, Drake’s lawyers are maintaining that Drake wrote the chorus on his own.
The lawsuit alleges that Drake and his representatives are 'shamelessly' refusing to acknowledge Hirschfield’s authorship, even after he provided them with his stems and metadata.
Drake’s representatives are instead taking the position that Hirschfield — a massive fan of Drake who has co-written a hit song with him in the past and has aspirations of working with him in the future — has manipulated the metadata in his recording files to make it appear (falsely) that the copyrighted work preceded 'Janice STFU'.
