but I think you're making the similarities between the songs a little more wishy-washy than they are. I agree with all your points. But you're leaving stuff out that can't be described only as 'feel' or 'vibe'. There's concrete similarities.

But the main thing is the tone. I'm using that word literally....the tone of the instruments. The Pharell bass sounds like the Marvin bass. The Pharell ep sounds like the Marvin EP. A bunch of the percussion instruments sound the same too. It's not just a coincidence...Pharell engineered those sounds to mimic the Marvin song. That is potentially measurable. You could analyze frequency range and dynamic for each instrument.

Also...having a party background track is also a concrete element. You can't just describe that part as Pharell 'trying to capture the feel'. That's a clear idea or concept in the Marvin track that Pharell copies. Yah...there's lots of songs that have a 'party track'...but noone could claim it's common enough NOT to be relevant.

And the groove could be objectively compared too. You could chart out the drums and percussion...showing that they share emphasis and dynamic.

I guess I'm saying...it's not just a 'vibe' that is similar. You can say two completely different songs have the same 'vibe'. Like they're both 'happy'. Here, there's more concrete similarities.