Why do “American Teenager” by Ethel Cain and “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey Sound So Similar?

If you’ve listened to “American Teenager” by Ethel Cain and “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, you may have heard some similarities between the two. If you haven’t heard both, take a listen now and see if you can spot them (YouTube videos of both songs are below). But do you know why they sound similar? To understand why you first need to know a little music theory.

Chord progressions are a set of chords that sound good together. That’s it. Shockingly complicated, right? One of the most famous chord progressions is the Axis Chord Progression, which pops up in many popular tunes. In this case, the Axis Progression is written as I—V—vi—IV. This tells you in what order to play the chords. ”I” stands for the first chord of the key, so if you’re playing in the key of C, the first chord is C. Logically then, V means the fifth chord (G), vi means the sixth chord (Am), and so forth. 

Both songs use this very popular Axis chord progression. Hence, the reason they sound the same. Even if you switch the key signature, it will sound the same (to an extent) because of the way our brains contextualize chord changes. And many other famous songs use this chord progression, such as “Hello” by Adele, “Let It Be” by The Beatles, “Wannabe” by Spice Girls, and loads more.  

This is where music gets tricky, though. When does using a specific chord progression go from fair use to plagiarism? It’s hard to say, which is why so many copyright cases can go on for years. In this case, I think Ethel Cain uses this chord progression as a homage to Americana, which works really well for her song. And what’s more American than using the past and turning it into something new?