Sam Smith Regrets Ghosting Tom Petty Over 'Stay With Me' Song Dispute

Sam Smith is looking back at one of pop music's most infamous royalty battles with a bit of remorse. The Grammy-winning singer recently opened up about the drama surrounding their massive 2014 hit "Stay With Me," which famously resulted in rock legend Tom Petty securing co-writing credits due to its uncanny resemblance to his 1989 classic "I Won’t Back Down." Appearing on *Alchemy With Anthony Mason*, Smith dished on what went down behind closed doors when the copyright conflict first erupted. The soul star revealed that Petty actually took the high road at the time by sending a personal letter directly to Smith—a gesture Smith now deeply regrets ignoring.

Did Sam Smith steal Tom Petty I Won't Back Down Throughout the entire saga, Smith has held firm on one major detail: the melodic similarities were an absolute accident. Smith continues to maintain that they had never listened to "I Won’t Back Down" prior to writing "Stay With Me," making the sudden legal drama a complete shock. Smith admitted to feeling overwhelmed by the legal machinery involved in the situation. With attorneys driving the high-stakes negotiations, the young pop star froze up and opted not to send a reply back to Petty's handwritten note, a decision that still stings years later.

BUZZBEAT

What did Tom Petty say about Sam Smith Stay With Me Back in 2015, both sides quietly resolved the dispute without stepping foot inside a courtroom. Petty and his co-writer Jeff Lynne were added to the official credits for "Stay With Me," taking a 12.5% publishing stake in the multi-platinum track. Petty even released a famously gracious public statement at the time, calling the overlap a common hazard in songwriting and insisting he held zero bad blood. Since then, Smith has shown major appreciation for the late rock icon. During a 24-night residency at Warsaw in Brooklyn last year, Smith took the stage to cover Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 1987 track "It Will All Work Out," proving that while the original letter went unanswered, the respect was always there.