We love a bit of musical trivia, so when we heard that a video was doing the rounds suggesting that a melody from Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso may have been lifted from a beloved Legend Of Zelda theme we had to investigate.
“Switch it up like Nintendo,” of course, became one of the song’s many quotable lines as it dominated summer 2024. But TikToker Morgan Brook believes that Espresso’s connection with the Japanese video game giant goes a little deeper - in fact, she and her friend Kyle James Alm reckon that “Sabrina Carpenter is a nerd,” and interpolated Zelda’s famous Lullaby (which has been used in the series’ games since the ‘90s in A Link To The Past on the Super Nintendo) into the production.
On the surface, their argument seems pretty plausible. The two melodies - you’ll hear Espresso’s used in its intro and chorus - are certainly similar, both in terms of the notes used and their rhythm. However, the changes in timing are significant enough to make us doubt that this is a direct homage.
Then there’s the ascending melodic figure that you hear in both pieces. Similar, sure, but, as Brook and Alm point out, Espresso’s has more notes.
The two creators go on to suggest that Carpenter and her co-writers “got away” with the lift because they changed the time and key signatures, but our hunch is that the Zelda connection is probably a coincidence.
That’s because, as previously reported, a large proportion of Espresso’s main beat - including hints of the ‘Zelda melody’ - come from Splice samples. Yes, there’s a synth lead line over the top, but our suspicion is that this was inspired by the melodic and harmonic content in one sample in particular (OLIVER_104_pop_loop_surf_dad_rhythm_lead_C.wav) as opposed to a video game theme that Carpenter wanted to place in there as some kind of sonic Easter egg.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that Carpenter and her team picked those samples - whether consciously or otherwise - because they reminded them of Zelda’s Lullaby (or already had the melody in mind and wanted to find something that fitted), but we’d say it’s unlikely.
Only they know for sure, though: it remains to be seen whether any kind of response will be forthcoming. Compare and contrast yourself in the videos below.
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