Rip-off of the day: Divine Brown, “Sunglasses” vs. Corey Hart, “Sunglasses At Night”

This is the first in a series of posts highlighting a sorry trend I’ve been hearing on the radio of late: new songs that blatantly rip off older (usually better) ones. I’m not talking about cover songs or sampling; I mean songs that steal whole chord progressions, chorus lyrics, and even backing tracks, sometimes in well-meaning, if poorly executed tribute, but usually in order to profit off listener familiarity with the older (usually better) songs.


This is the radio rip-off I dislike the least, “Sunglasses” by Divine Brown, which borrows from fellow Canadian Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses At Night”. Though it uses a sound-alike keyboard riff, it’s not really a rip-off in my opinion. It’s a decent song with a catchy chorus, and doesn’t capitalize on the famous original lyrics until the very end, where all good medleys and shout-outs belong. It’s more of a payoff than a hook in itself. Overall, the song strives to be recognized for its own merit, rather than just using the catchiness of the original songwriting to compensate for mediocrity.

For comparison’s sake, here’s the original in all its glory: