TikTok Star Denies “Stealing” Ashanti’s “Foolish” Classic After Fans Call Her Out

Her catalog is filled with classics that fans have been enjoying for decades, but an Ashanti favorite is at the center of a TikTok controversy. Social media stars often gain notoriety for taking chart-topping artists’ songs and covering them, but typically, artists are openly credited. However, teen TikTok star Danielle Cohn reportedly attempted to pass off Ashanti’s “Foolish” as her own according to the R&B singer’s fans.

TikTok is a platform where teens have become superstars, and Danielle Cohn is one in a long list of the social media app’s money-making content creators. Recently, she posted a video to her page of her and her boyfriend as she sings a revised version of Ashanti’s 2002 hit. “Make a TikTok to my new song,” she wrote as the caption as her version of the track played in the background.

People immediately took to Cohn’s comments to point out that this wasn’t a new track at all, and things took a turn when it was revealed that the song was available on streaming services. Cohn was also selling “Foolish” merchandise including jumpsuits, and soon the teenager was accused of profiting off of music that she didn’t create. 

Danielle Cohn addressed the accusations of stealing Ashanti’s song by tweeting, “Do people not understand what a cover is.” Then, on her Instagram Story, she reportedly added, “Hey, guys, so I just wanna clear this up. So I did not steal Ashanti’s song or take it from her.” Cohn claimed that she credited Ashanti, but that wasn’t clear from in her initial TikTok post. Still, Ashanti fans have pointed out that on Spotify and other streaming services, Cohn has not credited Ashanti at all. However, she later shared in an Instagram post that her track was “inspired by Ashanti.” Check out a few posts about the single below.