Miley Cyrus faces lawsuit for allegedly copying Bruno Mars’ song in Flowers

Miley Cyrus is being sued alleging that she and co-songwriters Gregory Hine and Michael Pollack copied parts of Bruno Mars’ single when they wrote her Grammy-winning global hit “Flowers,” according to Rolling Stone.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles, Tempo Music Investments alleges that “Flowers” ​​includes an unauthorized “exploitation” of several elements of Mars’ 2013 song “When I Was Your Man.” The lawsuit also names Sony Music Publishing, Apple, Target, Walmart and several other companies as defendants accused of distributing “Flowers.”

Tempo owns a percentage of the U.S. copyright to Mars’ song from co-writer Philip Lawrence. Mars, along with co-writers Ari Levine and Andrew White, are not named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Cyrus’ rep had no comment when contacted. diverse.

The lawsuit also notes that Pollack “refused to comment” on the similarity of “Flowers” to Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” in Interview with Billboard in March 2023In the same article, Billboard noted that Lawrence once said that “When I Was Your Man” was partly inspired by Billy Joel’s virtuosity.

Although Mars’ lyrics mention flowers, any similarity between the two is not blatantly obvious from casual listening. However, the lawsuit asserts, “Any fan of Bruno Mars’ ‘When I Was Your Man’ knows that Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ did not achieve all of its success on its own. ‘Flowers’ replicates many of the melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements of ‘When I Was Your Man,’ including the melodic riff design and verse sequence, the continuous bass line, some chorus sections, certain theatrical musical elements, lyrical elements, and specific chord progressions.”

The suit meticulously dissects the melodic and harmonic material, end-note patterns, bassline structures and lyrics of the two songs, noting that they are “substantially similar,” especially the opening vocal line of the chorus of “Flowers.”

“It is undeniable that ‘Flowers’ would not have existed without ‘When I Was Your Man,’” the complaint continues. “By using ‘Flowers,’ Cyrus, Henn, and Pollack created a derivative work of ‘When I Was Your Man’ without permission.”

The lawsuit seeks damages “in an amount to be determined at trial,” or a maximum of $150,000 per infringement, which could prove to be a very large total, given the record-breaking streaming of “Flowers.”