Beyoncé: copycat or cultural remixer?

Beyoncé is a sensational performer and always has been. So when she took to the 2011 Billboard Awards stage Sunday in Las Vegas, there was no doubt we were in for a show. Even fellow pop stars Rihanna and Pink tweeted their amazement at Beyoncé's energetic and interactive Run the World (Girls) performance.

But then, a fast-acting YouTuber uploaded a video comparing Beyoncé's moves -- which were synced to sophisticated projection technology on display behind her -- to a 2010 show by Italian pop star Lorella Cuccarini. And the conspiracy theories began to brew.

"Beyoncé a copycat" has been a theme that's dogged the singer over her career (How Bob Fosse inspired the moves in Single Ladies, for instance), and it returned after Sunday's performance, with detractors claiming she had ripped off Cuccarini's show.

Indeed, some of the imagery is strikingly similar -- both singers have wings sprouting behind them at one point, interact with geometric shapes and see their silhouettes turn into armies of back-up dancers -- but directly copied? I beg to differ.

A little digging and one discovers that Tribe Inc. Design -- a popular entertainment and production design studio that also developed the Black Eyed Peas' Super Bowl set -- was behind both Cuccarini and Beyoncé performances. New media artist Kenzo Digital created the graphics.

Beyoncé has also responded to the controversy, saying that Cuccarini's performance had so inspired her ("The technology and concept were so genius") that she decided to hire the same creators.

Amid a culture where song covers, remixes and music sampling are ubiquitous, Beyoncé doesn't seem too bothered by her critics. What do you think? Is she a copycat or simply a cultural re-mix wiz?

-- Leviana Coccia