Boyd has a federal lawsuit going that says more than she’s been offerred thus far. And I don’t have time to write a short answer so I’m gonna write a long one. If I had more time? I’d tell a succinct story about how nobody seems sufficiently focused yet on what the entire case might depend on — a voice note Boyd’s supposedly recorded that may be the fixed form her contribution was first in. So far, I’ve seen no musicologist’s analysis in the public filings.
Let me walk you through what I think I understand.
According to her complaint, in November 2019, Victory Boyd — a Roc Nation-signed gospel artist — wrote the lyrics and vocal melody for a song called “Like the Way It Sounds.” She recorded it as a voice note. Then, evidently, she shared it with Kanye West.
If that sequence holds up, it matters a great deal. It would mean she wrote lyrics before Kanye’s input whatever they were. She didn’t merely contribute a verse to someone else’s track. She created a demo containing lyrics and vocal melody, fixed in a recording — and then handed it to West. That would make the voice note the first copyrightable asset in this chain. Everything that follows would flow downstream from it.
Boyd alleges that West took her work and built collaborative versions — “Future Bounce,” then “Future Sounds,” then “Ultrasounds,” none of which made the cut for his Donda record. West reportedly repurposed the chord progression for “Heaven and Hell” and moved on. But the song didn’t die. According to the complaint, it ended up in a Wyoming studio, where Travis Scott gained access to it.
Fast forward to May 2023. Boyd alleges Scott shared it with SZA and Future. They cut new verses, reworked some lyrics, and on July 28, 2023, “Telekinesis” drops as the penultimate track on Utopia. It peaks at No. 26 on the Hot 100. Goes platinum.
And Victory Boyd’s name is right there in the metadata as a co-writer. According to Boyd, nobody asked her. All very interesting.
Boyd’s voice note (“Like the Way It Sounds,” November 2019) → West’s versions (“Future Bounce” / “Future Sounds” / “Ultrasounds,” 2019–2021, never officially released) → SoundCloud leak (“Future Sounds feat. Travis Scott & Victory Boyd”) → Commercial release (“Telekinesis feat. SZA & Future,” July 28, 2023)
If Boyd’s account is accurate, that connects what’s on her phone to their platinum single.
Whatever the backstory, the lyrics are what they are, and we can compare them right now. When we hold these two works up to the light — like putting them on vellum paper — the chorus tells a striking story. Here’s what Boyd says she wrote in 2019 versus what Scott sings on “Telekinesis”:
| Boyd — “Like the Way It Sounds” | Scott — “Telekinesis” Chorus |
|---|---|
| I can see the future is looking like we level through the sky | I can see the future, it’s lookin’ like we leveled through the sky |
| I can’t wait to live in glory of eternal paradise | I can’t wait to live in glory in eternal lastin’ life |
| Won’t you wash my sins and write my name inside the book of life | Won’t you take the wheel? And I recline and I sit still |
| Might as well turn up now | Might as well turn up now |
| He gone pop up unannounced | He gon’ pop up unannounced |
| Hear the trumpets, do you like the way it sounds? | To the trumpets, do you like the way it sounds? |
Lots is near-verbatim. 6 is functionally the same. 3 is different, more secular certainly, but functionally very similar. (Remember her name IS in the credits.) This chorus though repeats a few times in “Telekinesis.” It is the hook. It’s the most recognizable element of the song. That matters too, especially in terms of scale and what she might be owed.
And Boyd’s signature phrase, “Do you like the way it sounds?” which is her song title and the anchor of her hook survives intact. It’s in Telekinesis’s chorus, bridge, and post-chorus.
The defendants reportedly offered Boyd an 8% songwriting credit to resolve the dispute. “Telekinesis” has twelve credited writers. An equal split gives you about 8.3% each. So the offer is basically: here’s your equal share, same as everyone else.
But Boyd may have written the hook, and that’d be worth a premium. Future’s bars about drug addiction, SZA’s verses about relationships — all great, but she may have a claim to the chorus, which according to Boyd, originated four years before “Telekinesis” existed. Now, I want to be precise about what I can say here without the audio. The lyric overlap alone might put Boyd’s contribution north of 8%. If her vocal melody from that 2019 voice note is the same melody Scott sings on the chorus or very close. Same words and same melodic contour? That becomes the backbone of the song. I can’t make that call without hearing the recording.
Let me steelman the other side a little too though. The defense has arguments here that can’t be waved away easily.
First, Boyd didn’t register her copyright until December 2023 — five months after “Telekinesis” came out. That takes away a lot. This is one reason you register your copyright. Registration before infringement (or within three months of first publication) is required for statutory damages and attorney’s fees. You may have heard copyright exists from the moment you make it or something. Sorta. Copyright itself exists at fixation, in this case probably that voice memo, or maybe she had other recordings of it. You don’t need to register to have a copyright. But you need it to sue, and to get certain remedies.
Then there’s the chain of custody, and he-said-she-said parts. Boyd’s first registration claimed sole authorship, but the defense says that’s a knowing misstatement since West contributed to the music. She filed a second registration in June 2025 covering only the lyrics, but that was after the lawsuit started. If the court agrees both registrations are defective, this would probably get tossed at least for now. (This is I am not a lawyer time, but it wouldn’t be good for the plaintiff.)
Then we have to see how much of Boyd’s own work — solely hers — is involved here. Boyd’s own complaint says West gave her “some chords and melodies that he liked.” The defense therefore sees the contribution as a joint work. Defense attorney Ed McPherson points out that West has been collecting publishing royalties on “Telekinesis” since release. So long story, not too much longer, that makes the sequence the ballgame. If Boyd wrote lyrics over West’s musical framework, joint work has legs. If she showed up with a completed voice note and West built around it later, the contributions are separable. What’s hers would be more clearly hers.
The lyrics are there, but I see no melodic transcription, harmonic reduction, or even any formal substantial similarity assessment. The complaint asserts both lyric and melody copying, “specifically Plaintiff’s Lyrics and Melody,” but the melody claim lacks support.
I want to hear that voice note. If it was fixed in form before anyone else’s hands touched the material, a forensic musicologist with access to that recording could address both the ownership question and the similarity question.
I was reminded about this case when it survived a motion to dismiss a week ago. So, discovery is coming up?
And in fairness, I have no musicologizing to do here really either. I haven’t listened to any of the recordings from Scott or Kanye yet. For now, this is just an interesting story to me. But the first thing I’d like to hear is that voice note. It’s March Madness, but maybe I’ll find time over the weekend.
How’s your bracket doing?!
