PAIN's PETER TÄGTGREN Dismisses Plagiarism Accusation Against Croatia's EUROVISION Entry BABY LASAGNA: 'I'm Totally Fine With' It

In a new interview with Laureline Tilkin of Tuonela Magazine, Peter Tägtgren of Swedish industrial metallers PAIN was asked about recent accusations of plagiarism leveled against Croatia's 2024 entry BABY LASAGNA, whose song for this year's competition, "Rim Tim Tagi Dim", is said to be very similar to PAIN's "Party In My Head", which was originally released in 2021.

"I didn't even hear it in the beginning, and [comments about the supposed similarities between the two songs] started popping up everywhere," Peter said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "People were, like, 'Oh, I think Croatia stole your song,' blah, blah, blah. And I was, like, 'What? I don't hear it.' I just hear 'woo hoo hoo' [in the chorus], but you hear 'woo hoo hoo ' in 'I Love It Loud' with KISS since '81 or whatever. So, for me, I was fine with that. And then, actually, our bass player explained, 'Well, he has the same kind of figure of singing.' Whatever. I don't care. I thought it was fun. And I think it's good that they put in a little bit metal in this Eurovision thing, like they did with the LORDI 15 years ago. When you get it right, it gets popular. So people want more metal."

When the interviewer noted that it must make him feel good when other musicians are inspired by his work, Peter said: "I mean, I have no problem, like I said. I'm honored, even though it doesn't say my name on it. But you can maybe feel that he heard 'Party In My Head' before. So I'm totally fine with that."

BABY LASAGNA was formed by 28-year-old singer-songwriter Marko Purišić, who is from Umag, Croatia. Marko adopted the pseudonym BABY LASAGNA following the launch of his solo career in 2023.

At last month's Eurovision 2024 grand final, BABY LASAGNA achieved Croatia's best-ever result at the contest, topping the public vote and finishing second overall.

BABY LASAGNA won the televote but ultimately finished as a runner-up. Marko received 337 points from the public, while Nemo, the winner, received 226 points from the public. The difference was made by the juries, who awarded Switzerland 365 points and Croatia 210 points.

In some of his interviews, Marko admitted to taking inspiration from RAMMSTEIN, whose lead singer Till Lindemann has collaborated with Tägtgren on two full-length albums in the past.

"RAMMSTEIN all the way!" Marko said. "When I first started the first riff [for 'Rim Tim Tagi Dim'], I wanted it to sound like a RAMMSTEIN riff."

PAIN's new album, "I Am", came out on May 17 via Nuclear Blast Records.