Sam Smith & Normani Must Face Trial in ‘Dancing With a Stranger’ Lawsuit: ‘For the Jury to Decide’

A judge says Sam Smith and Normani must face a jury trial over accusations that they stole key elements of their 2019 hit “Dancing With a Stranger” from an earlier track.

In a ruling Wednesday (Sept.

23), Judge Wesley L.

Hsu refused to dismiss the long-running copyright case , which claims that the hit song ripped off a 2015 track of the same name by an artist named Jordan Vincent.

Smith and Normani say they never even heard the earlier song and that their track simply sounds similar by coincidence — a legal defense known as “independent creation.” But the judge said that it would require a full trial to decide that tricky copyright question.

“The court finds the question of independent creation should be left for the jury to decide,” Judge Hsu says in the ruling, obtained and first reported by Billboard .

The ruling sets the stage for a rare jury trial in a song-theft lawsuit over a major pop hit.

Such cases are routinely filed, but are often settled before trial, like a blockbuster case against Taylor Swift over “Shake It Off,” or thrown out of court, like a lawsuit against Dua Lipa over “Levitating.” Barring a settlement, Smith and Normani will now head for a must-watch courtroom showdown — calling to mind Ed Sheeran’s successful trial over claims he stole his “Thinking Out Loud,” or Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s losing effort to defeat accusations they ripped off “Blurred Lines.” Neither side’s lawyers immediately responded to Billboard ‘s requests for comment.

Released in 2019, “Dancing with a Stranger” peaked at No.

7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it one of Smith’s biggest hits and Normani’s peak spot on the chart.

The song, released on Smith’s third studio album Love Goes , ultimately spent 45 weeks on the chart.

In March 2022, the stars were sued over the track by Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda and Rosco Banlaoi, who claimed that the 2019 hit song was “strikingly similar” to their own “Dancing” — and that it was “beyond any real doubt” that their song had been copied.

A year later, the case was tossed out by Judge Hsu, who ruled the two songs were not similar enough for it to rise to copyright infringement.

But it was revived last year by a federal appeals court, which said the songs were at least close enough that Vincent, Miranda and Banlao could proceed with their lawsuit.