Did Lady Gaga Rip Off Ace of Base?

If you found yourself listening to Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” and thinking it sounded an awful lot like Ace of Base, then No. 1, you’re showing your age. And No. 2, you’re not alone. “Some critics say, Hang on, that sounds exactly like a dance hit from 16 years ago. Remember ‘Don’t Turn Around’ by Ace of Base?” says Mary Louise Kelly on NPR.

Well, maybe not exactly like “Don’t Turn Around,” since that would arguably make “Alejandro” a better song than it is. Putting that aside, commentators note that Ace of Base, in turn, cribbed from Blondie’s “The Tide is High”…which cribbed from any number of reggae songs, which cribbed from Frankie Lymon, and so on and so forth all the way back to, seemingly, the beginning of time. So can “Alejandro” (which also sounds a lot like—take your pick—Madonna, Shakira, or ABBA) really be stolen? (The outlandish Gaga news doesn't stop there. Click here for more.)