‘It feels like an assault’: Woman says Deadmau5 singer stole her vocals

A singer is going viral on TikTok after accusing Deadmau5 of stealing her vocals during live performances.

Singer songwriter Greta Svabo Bech (@gretasvabo) sang the vocals for Deadmau5’s 2011 song “Raise Your Weapon,” which was nominated for best dance recording at the 2012 Grammy Awards. In a recent TikTok, though, Bech accused other female artists touring with Deadmau5 of lip syncing, or “miming,” the lyrics while her voice plays. 

“It’s one thing not giving credit, but when someone else is actively taking credit for your voice, it’s like they’re taking a part of your body and saying it’s theirs,” Bech said. “It feels like an assault on my identity and my livelihood as a singer.” As of Friday, Bech’s video calling out the Canadian electronic music producer had amassed more than 628,500 views.

What caused Bech to speak out against Deadmau5?

In her video, Bech said that she’s been “tagged in a lot of posts” from Deadmau5 shows. But given ongoing conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) “and the death of the artist and creativity,” she decided to confront the artist.

“In the videos, it is my voice but another singer is miming,” Bech said. “If she’s not miming, her voice is so low in the mix you can only hear me.”

Bech said that seeing repeated videos of Deadmau5’s performances made her realize that, as a singer, her “voice and identity are intertwined.” 

She also accused Deadmau5 of “deceiving” their audience.

What was the response?

While Bech didn’t say her name explicitly, her video included a clip of Lights apparently miming to the song.

As a result, Lights responded to Bech’s video and attempted to clear the air. She also said that she’s since spoken to Bech and that the two are “good.”

In her response, Lights chalked up the voice issue to an apparent mistake on the artists’ production teams part. She said that she’s been singing “Raise Your Weapon” with Deadmau5 for years during live shows and didn’t realize until recently that no one could hear her own voice. 

“For the last few shows, though, you can actually just hear the original track playing over my performance,” she said. “I actually didn’t know that no one could hear my voice in the speakers until I got on stage.”

Lights said the error was likely due to Deadmau5’s production team being busy juggling so many things and, as a consequence, overlooking it. She also said that “there were no egregious conspiracies to erase identity or malicious intent.”

“Long story short, it sucked for me to be singing my [expletive] off and no one could hear me,” she said. “And it sucked for Greta to see that and get the wrong impression about me.”

Viewers respond

In the comments section of Bech’s video, many viewers expressed skepticism that either Lights or Deadmau5 were intentionally malicious.

“Wait, why would LIGHTS do that?" one user questioned. “She’s a good singer and has her own thing.”

“I don’t think Deadmau5 ever claimed that Lights was the original singer?” another said. “That’s on the newbies for assuming that based on minimal observations.”

“May I ask if you wrote the song?” a third viewer asked. “I see you aren’t credited as a writer on the publishing. This split was super common in 2010 (doesn’t make it right) but I don’t think Lights needs criticism over it.”

Others, however, were more sympathetic to Bech’s plight and noted that this phenomenon is fairly common in the music industry.

“I’ve sang for many producers, as they play my songs at events and internationally, they have never once asked me to sing at the gigs,” one artist revealed. “In 15 years... Not once. The struggle is real.”

“This exact thing has happened to me and I had no way to express how I was feeling,” another shared. "I was super torn not wanting to feel like a ‘diva’ but was also so hurt. I’m sorry this has happened to you.”

@gretasvabo Today is my birthday. And it’s also the day I reclaim my voice, and take part in a conversation that has been happening online without me. This false crediting of my voice to someone else has to stop. If you want to respect the integrity and authenticity of the record, respect the Artists who made it. @deadmau5 When I asked to sing live at these shows - this was not the response I was expecting. A big thank you to those of you who have called this out, and who are fighting my corner. And to those who have tagged me in these shows, and are fans of “raise your weapon” - I’m sorry I haven’t said anything sooner. But I thank you, love to you all. Xx #raiseyourweapon #gretasvabobech #miming #edm #womeninmusic #deadmau5 #dancemusic #ultramusic #livemusic #shutupandsing ♬ original sound - greta svabo

The Daily Dot has reached out to Bech via TikTok comment. We also contacted Deadmau5 via email for comment.

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