'AITA for using my girlfriend's high school poetry to write an amazing song?' UPDATED 3X

"AITA for using my girlfriend's high school poetry to write an amazing song?"

Hey guys I was hoping for some input bc she wont talk to me right now. I hope she sees this and understands that she's being really dramatic right now. My gf is an incredible poet. She's been writing since she was in elementary school and has won contests and awards. Well, I'm a musician so it works out perfect - I can write good melodies and sing well, but I suck with words.

My girlfriend helped me write a couple songs last summer and my followers LOVED them, I played them live too. So we moved in together in March which seems a little soon I know but once the current situation hit we said f it and had her move in with me because her parents are AHs. Anyway as I was helping her unpack her stuff at my place I noticed a really old shoebox.

As I started to open it, my gf freaked out and snatched the box from me. I laughed asking what was so special about it because she was acting like she saw a ghost, and she got super defensive and told me it was "bad poetry I wrote in middle school and high school that I'm only holding on to for sentimental value but I don't want anyone to see it."

I tried to convince her to let me read it, but it just made her more mad so I dropped it. I couldn't stop being curious though; it was like that shoebox started to taunt me. I eventually waited until she went to work from home on her laptop in the spare bedroom to finally go through all the notebooks. Some of it was really cringe, yeah, but some of it was seriously just as good as her current writing.

So all throughout last week I starting working on a new song based on her old poetry. The song turned out awesome, so I posted the SoundCloud link to all my social media accounts and my fans adored it. I showed her the good reception it was getting so she could see how incredible of a teen poet she was, and she flipped out.

She threatened to take me to court for plagiarism if I didn't take it down right away, which I did, but now she's telling me to take down the other two songs she helped write because she "can't look at me right now." All I did was show her how talented she's always been, and now she's messaging all of her friends looking for a couch to crash on.

I really love this girl. I don't want her to leave. Ive apologized but she says I'm full of it. Hopefully some honest internet feedback will help her understand this isn't worth losing a good thing over. AITA here guys?

Not long after posting, OP shared a small update.

EDIT: I think you guys are being way too harsh and should hear the song before judging. I'll upload it again and link it when I get a chance because right now my PC is busted and my mobile data is too s--ty to do it with.

The internet did not hold back one bit.

slythercon wrote:

YTA. She said no. End of story. A lot of time, poetry can be very emotional for the writer. Depending on why she wrote it can be the reason she doesn't want to hear it. Stop. You're selfish.

lemon_lark wrote:

Seriously, YTA. If your going to troll, make it less obvious. Saying that she needs to be less dramatic? Too obvious.

If this is real, you really think it’s okay to go through her private things after she made it very clear she didn’t want that?

Then you took her work and plagiarized it into a song? Then you shared it with a bunch of strangers? What the f is wrong with you? Not only did you break her trust by going way beyond a very clear boundary she set, but you also just want her to get over it.

YOU invaded HER privacy, and the burden falls on YOU to repair your relationship. BTW, you also broke copyright law by using lyrics that aren’t yours without permission, so if you ended up getting famous and making a ton of money off the song, she would have a great case to sue. Go apologize, take the song down, and hope she doesn’t leave you.

neub1736 wrote:

Oh sweet summer child, where to start? Oh yeah, YTA.

« I hope she sees this and understands she’s being really dramatic right now » oh boy that is not how you achieve that

YTA. She told you not to look at it, made that PERFECTLY CLEAR, and you waited until she turned her back so that you could disregard her wishes. It’s clear you never even considered respecting her demand to privacy. YTA. You then took it one step further, took that ONE thing she didn’t want to share even to her boyfriend, and you shared it on SOUNDCLOUD?

YTA Quick mention for the « some of it was really cringe », just to bring her down a bit more. Sorry for not sugarcoating it but you are a massive AH. If I were her I would never be able to trust you ever again. This is one of the most narcissistic AITAs I’ve read in a long time. Again, YTA.

cubbiegthrow wrote:

"I eventually waited until she went to work from home on her laptop in the spare bedroom to finally go through all the notebooks."

YTA. JFC - you snooped in stuff she explicitly told you not to and then recorded it and PUBLISHED it on all your social media.

"All I did was show her how talented she's always been."

Nope. Here's what you did:

• Teach her she can't trust you

• Disrespect her wishes

• Invade her privacy

• Publish her private thoughts/words without her permission

• Publish her words as your own

You're a huge gaping AH.

ETA: To OP's edit: DO NOT UPLOAD THE SONG HERE and further violate her and disrespect her wishes. You have to be a troll... The song doesn't matter. It could be freaking Bohemian Rhapsody and it wouldn't change a d-mn thing.

After the post gained traction, OP's GF found it and commented.

I normally only lurk on here, but then I saw this post...and after spending the last thirty minutes seeing red because this dumpster fire of a "musical genius" is my pathetic now EX-boyfriend (I told him to edit that into the post but he probably won't do it), I decided to make a throwaway account and hijack the top comment in order to get my two cents in.

OP, YTA. I'm glad I showed you this subreddit because everyone here described you exactly as you are; a selfish narcissist who disregards my privacy just like the parents I wanted to get away from. But, thankfully, my best friend (not you) has finally responded to my texts, and now her and her husband are on their way to pick me up. As you know by now, my crap is almost done being packed.

Also, your song sucked (not my "cringe" poetry, of course, it was that bongo drum solo that truly made me die inside), and if you reupload that crap you will absolutely see me in court. Delete the other two songs, as well, or you will hear about it from me later. Oh, and can you please clean out those d-mn litter boxes? Your entire apartment smells like cat turds. Kick rocks.

The commenters loved hearing from OP's (ex) GF.

LavenderDragon18 wrote:

YOU GO GIRL! Good on you for kicking his a-- to the curb! I'm so glad that you know your boundaries and have put your foot down. Your so much better off without this AH dragging you down. Good luck with everything.

OP's ex GF responded:

Thank you, I appreciate it! ♥️

mbbaer wrote:

INFO: How much time did you waste with him before he showed his true colors? Curious...

OP's ex-GF responded:

Sigh more time than I care to admit.

mbbaer responded:

Gotcha. More than ten seconds. My convalescences. The choice may have been easy, but everything else isn't.

OP jumped on with another small update.

Well, apparently my girlfriend saw this and left a comment of her own. Her friends are gonna be here in an hour. I keep telling her I'm sorry but she's basically pretending I'm a ghost now. it kinda sucks.

The internet had plenty of schadenfreude for OP.

DrRocknRolla wrote:

Given how much of an idiot her (thankfully) ex-boyfriend is, she could probably write one song for every dumb thing he's done and come out with a discography as big as Taylor Swift's.

joefox099 wrote:

"Don't touch this. So I touched it. Why is she mad?" 🤦‍♂️

TyrconnellFL wrote:

I simultaneously urgently want this to be a real idiot so I can point and laugh, hope someone did not really violate privacy this way, and find that my mind recoils from someone who can believe his bongo solo is going to take the world by storm and win hearts and minds online.

Gwynasyn wrote:

"I think you guys are being way too harsh and should hear the song before judging."

Look guys, I know I broke her boundaries, invaded her privacy and took something very private and sentimental to her for my own gains, but I DID make a sick song from it and that has to balance out right? 🙄