Miley Cyrus is being sued over her single ‘Flowers’. (Getty)
Pansexual pop princess Miley Cyrus and the co-writers of her Grammy Award-winning single “Flowers” are being sued for allegedly “copying” parts of Bruno Mars’ hit, “Once I Was Your Man”.
In a lawsuit filed at a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Monday (16 September), Tempo Music Investments – which owns a portion of the copyright of Mars’ 2012 hit – accused Miley Cyrus and “Flowers” co-writers Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack of unauthorised “exploitation” of the tune.
The lawsuit additionally names corporations together with Sony Music Publishing, Apple, Goal, and Walmart, who’re accused of distributing the tune. Tempo Music Investments is looking for an as-yet undetermined quantity in damages, and is looking for to stop Cyrus from performing or cashing in on the tune any additional.
The music funding platform is ready to carry the case ahead because it bought a few of the copyright of “Once I Was Your Man” from its co-writer Philip Lawrence. Mars himself, and his co-writers Ari Levine and Andrew Wyatt, usually are not named as plaintiffs within the case.
Regardless of there being evident stylistic and style variations between the 2 songs – Mars’s is a piano-led ballad, Cyrus’s is a straight-up pop bop with disco and rock influences – there are notable parallels between the songs’ lyrics.
On “Once I Was Your Man”, Mars croons: “I ought to’ve purchased you flowers and held your hand. Shoulda gave you all my hours, after I had the prospect. Take you to each celebration, ‘trigger all you wished to do was dance. Now my child’s dancin’, however she’s dancin’ with one other man.”
When “Flowers” was launched final January, some followers picked up on the lyrics seemingly answering Mars’ confessions from the attitude of the lady he misplaced. Others famous the probability that “Flowers” was merely about Cyrus’s ex-husband, actor Liam Hemsworth.
“I can purchase myself flowers, write my identify within the sand. Discuss to myself for hours, say stuff you don’t perceive,” Cyrus belts on the refrain. “I can take myself dancing and I can maintain my very own hand. Yeah, I can love me higher than you may.”
Upon its launch, “Flowers” grew to become the best-selling single of 2023, topping the charts within the US for eight weeks and the UK for ten weeks, and incomes Cyrus her first ever Grammy.
Nonetheless, the lawsuit means that Cyrus’s tune couldn’t have achieved the success it did with out “Once I Was Your Man”.
“Any fan of Bruno Mars’ ‘Once I Was Your Man’ is aware of that Miley Cyrus’s ‘Flowers’ didn’t obtain all of that success by itself,” the go well with reads, as per Selection.
“‘Flowers’ duplicates quite a few melodic, harmonic, and lyrical components of ‘Once I Was Your Man’, together with the melodic pitch design and sequence of the verse, the connecting bass line, sure bars of the refrain, sure theatrical music components, lyric components, and particular chord progressions.
“It’s simple primarily based on the mix and variety of similarities between the 2 recordings that ‘Flowers’ wouldn’t exist with out Once I Was Your Man. With Flowers, Cyrus, Hein and Pollack have created a spinoff work of ‘Once I Was Your Man’ with out authorisation.”
Throughout a 2023 interview with Billboard, Pollack refused to be drawn on comparisons between Mars and Cyrus’s two songs.
PinkNews has contacted representatives for Miley Cyrus and Bruno Mars for remark.
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