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Palestinian-Jordanian artist Sarah Bahbah has accused pop singer and actress Selena Gomez of plagiarizing her work for the second time. The 32-year-old photographer took to her Instagram on Friday, March 1, 2024, to elaborate on her claims.
In the almost 6-minute-long clip, Sarah brings up comparisons between the music video of Selena Gomez's latest track, Love On, and her work.
Per her profile, Bahbah is a Palestinian-Jordanian artist and photographer from Australia. Based in Los Angeles, she set up her agency Possy in 2016. She has shot for industry big names like Gucci, Condé Nast, Capitol Records, Sony Music, and GQ.
Bahbah's art has been exhibited in 25 galleries internationally since she became an independent artist. She has also directed videos for music producer Kygo. Her work "(embraces) emotional vulnerability to break taboos and celebrate the liberation of guilt and shame." As stated in her video, her art has gone viral several times in the past.
Back in 2018, Selena Gomez was first accused by her fans of copying Sarah Bahbah's work
In her video, Sarah Bahbah explains that on Friday, her friends brought up Selena Gomez's video for Love On, stating it had similarities to her art. She states it heavily remembers her style of directing and art. She also remarked the music video was shot in the same locations as the said replicated short films, namely I ___ YOU (2022) and Untangles (2023).
The Palestinian-Jordanian then proceeded to compare frame-by-frame similarities with Selena Gomez's video, including the sound effects for its opening title. According to Bahbah, her films have views ranging from 1 million to over 50 million. She states:
"So many artists have shot in (these) locations before from Haley Seinfeld to Lady Gaga. I do not claim this location at all... What I did notice though is none of them feel anything close to my art. So why does this one feel so similar?"
This is not the first time Selena Gomez has been accused of plagiarizing Bahbah's work. Back in 2018, fans drew comparisons between the music video for Gomez's Back To You and Bahbah's style and art, including adding subtitles and text over photographs.
At the time, fans slammed the pop singer, stating that she should credit the original artist. Per a comment by @lmaonotjame, Bahbah commented "lets work together next time" on Gomez's post, which the latter deleted.
The 32-year-old artist added she consulted with people in the entertainment industry "from legal to music managers to agents," who encouraged her to bring this up in public. She explained that this happens frequently to women of color and smaller artists in the industry.
Several internet users continued to slam the pop singer, and by extension, big names and producing companies, stating they could just hire the artist they plagiarized.
Selena Gomez has not released any statement regarding the accusations at the time of writing this article.
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