He Sued Drake for Stealing a Chorus — Then Quietly Un-Sued Him 11 Days Later

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2026

Let’s rewind the tape to October 16, when producer Aviel Hirschfield — a co-writer of Beyoncé’s “Heated,” recording as GoodbyeCalev — sued Drake in federal court, claiming the chorus of “Janice STFU,” Drake’s biggest hit in years, was his. He said he cut it in January, sent it to Drake’s producers FnZ, and heard nothing until the album landed and the chorus came back at him “word-for-word, note-for-note.” The complaint called them “literally identical” — “no assertion of independent creation or coincidence can be made with a straight face.” He wanted a co-writing credit, a royalty split and a share of the profits.

The timeline had other ideas, as Music Business Worldwide laid out: Drake had previewed the song on a livestream in September 2025, months before that January session, and Hirschfield’s copyright registration for the demo took effect in July 2026 — after the release. Drake’s camp called the lawsuit “manufactured and baseless,” accused Hirschfield of doctoring his files’ metadata, and said Drake wrote it himself. His camp said experts had verified the metadata.

Then, on Tuesday — eleven days after filing, days after Rolling Stone sent his lawyer follow-up questions — Hirschfield dismissed the case, as Exclaim! reported. No reason was given. No court ruled on whether anything was copied, and the dismissal, without prejudice, leaves him free to refile. But a man who swears his evidence cannot be argued with a straight face does not fold his case before the other side answers a single question.

What he filed for tells you the size of the swing. Exclaim! reported that Hirschfield asked the court to recognize him as a co-writer of the song and award him a retroactive split of its publishing royalties, and Music Business Worldwide added that he sought actual damages and a share of Drake’s profits on the track — or, on the statutory route, damages capped at $150,000 per infringed work. The complaint itself put the stakes in writing: “Janice STFU,” it said, had been streamed more than 300 million times on Spotify alone, and it was the first Drake song in nearly a decade to spend multiple weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100.

The registration was its own problem. Music Business Worldwide reported that Hirschfield registered his unpublished demo with the US Copyright Office only after the album was out — the registration took effect on July 21, 2026 — and under copyright law, that timing for an unpublished work closes the door to statutory damages and attorney’s fees, the very route his complaint had priced at $150,000 a work. What would have remained was the harder road: proving actual damages and profits, dollar by dollar, against a defendant who says he never heard the man’s name.

One honest wrinkle: the September 2025 preview does not, by itself, settle the chorus. Music Business Worldwide noted that the lyrics transcribed from that livestream did not clearly include the disputed hook — the song was still an early version, then titled “That’s Just How I Feel,” played on the third Iceman livestream, with 2 Chainz and Young Thug dropping in. What the preview does prove is narrower, and still damaging: the song existed, in Drake’s hands, months before the January session where Hirschfield swore the chorus was born.

Underneath the timeline sat a fight about files. Drake’s representative told TMZ on filing day that the allegations were “categorically, unequivocally, and completely denied,” called the suit a “manufactured and baseless attempt to capitalize on the album’s success,” and accused Hirschfield of manipulating metadata on multiple files to dress up a false claim. The representative added that “Drake wrote this song and has no connection or knowledge of this person full stop.” Hirschfield’s camp answered through Rolling Stone that “the complaint speaks for itself” and that multiple experts had examined his metadata and deemed it legitimate. Then a forensic breakdown by creator What’s The Dirt — covered by The Source and DancehallMag — argued the “demo” was something else entirely: Drake’s finished hook, pitch-shifted and laid over a leaked FnZ instrumental.

None of it ever reached a judge. Music Business Worldwide reported that the notice of voluntary dismissal, filed October 27, stated it “dismisses the action in its entirety without prejudice” — no reason attached, no statement from either camp explaining the fold. Rolling Stone, which first reported the withdrawal, noted it arrived days after the magazine sent Hirschfield’s attorney follow-up questions about the case. The “without prejudice” label is the one live wire left in the story: it means the claims were never decided and can legally be filed again. Whether they will be is the only question the case leaves open.

Boi-1da, one of Drake’s longtime producers, told Rolling Stone he had seen this film before: “Every time you make a hit song there’s always some weirdo plotting to say you stole it from them. It’s happened to me every single time.”

THE VERDICT — After review: Aviel Hirschfield is outta pocket.

More of the day’s tape lives with Previously’s music coverage.