Connor Shaw says he was floored the first time he heard Jason Aldean’s You Make it Easy.
The Edmonton singer/songwriter said he was sure he’d heard it before.
He also noticed some similarities in the lyrics. Then, he heard the chorus.
The lawyer for Florida Georgia Line, the group that wrote You Make it Easy for Aldean, calls Shaw’s claims “entirely devoid of merit.”
Shaw said he wrote his song Easy for a music class in 2015.
“I did a quick, rough recording. It was really well-received in my class. So I posted it online.”
Reaction was positive, and Shaw was asked to send the music to a family friend in Nashville in October 2017.
He didn’t hear anything back. Then in February, he stumbled on You Make it Easy.
READ MORE: Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean lead 2018 CMT Awards nominations
He took his concerns to social media, asking his followers what they thought of the song similarities.
An entertainment lawyer reached out to Shaw.
“He told me in all of [his] years of entertainment law, [he] had never heard two songs sound so similar.”
Shaw’s lawyer sent a cease-and-desist order to Jess Rosen, the lawyer representing Florida Georgia Line.
In his reply, Rosen wrote: “I will state simply that your analysis is fundamentally flawed and misguided and there is no meaningful similarity between the music of the two compositions.”
The letter also said: “Your client’s claims are entirely devoid of merit and we categorically reject any allegation to the contrary. And let me be very clear, our clients are not and will not be intimidated by baseless allegations and unsupported conjecture.”
READ BELOW: Letter from the lawyer representing Florida Georgia Line
Shaw took to Twitter on Wednesday, with one last push.
“My lawyer can only do so much. It is just way too difficult to pursue financially and time-wise,” Shaw said. “I doubt Jason Aldean knows I exist at this point. I would love to see what he has to say or Florida Georgia Line. That’s where I could go from there.”
Shaw said his song is copyrighted and registered on SOCAN.
READ BELOW: Cease-and-desist order sent to the lawyer representing Florida Georgia Line
630 CHED reached out to Rosen and the law firm representing Florida Georgia Line for further comment, but did not hear back by the time this story was published.
Comments