Miley Cyrus Sued for Allegedly Copying Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” in Hit Song “Flowers”
"Flowers" earned Cyrus her first Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance at this year's ceremony.
Miley Cyrus is reported to have been sued over allegedly copying Bruno Mars’s “When I Was Your Man” in the hit song “Flowers.”
As reported, the lawsuit was filed on Monday in Los Angeles federal court by the company Tempo Music Investments, which claimed that Flowers includes unauthorised “exploitation” of the song. Co-writers Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack are also named, and Sony Music Publishing, Apple, Target, Walmart and other companies are accused of distributing the song.
“Flowers” earned Cyrus her first Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance at this year’s ceremony. The song topped the charts for eight weeks in the US and 10 weeks in the UK last year.
The lawsuit against Miley Cyrus for copyright infringement over her 2023 hit “Flowers” is based on claims from Tempo Music Investments, alleging that the song shares substantial similarities with Bruno Mars’ 2012 track “When I Was Your Man.”
The lawsuit reportedly points to similarities in the songs’ chorus, harmony, melody, chord progressions, and lyrics. Tempo Music Investments, which claims partial ownership of Mars’ song, argues that these elements were intentionally copied by Cyrus, leading to legal action.
“Flowers” became a massive success for Cyrus, even winning a Grammy, while “When I Was Your Man” is a signature ballad for Bruno Mars, from his album Unorthodox Jukebox.
The case hinges on whether the overlapping musical elements cross the line into copyright violation, which can be difficult to determine since many pop songs share similar structures.
It’s unclear how this lawsuit will unfold, but it continues a trend of high-profile copyright disputes in the music industry.
The Law Suit:
The lawsuit states: “Any fan of Bruno Mars’ When I Was Your Man knows that Miley Cyrus’s Flowers did not achieve all of that success on its own. Flowers duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements of When I Was Your Man, including the melodic pitch design and sequence of the verse, the connecting bass line, certain bars of the chorus, certain theatrical music elements, lyric elements, and specific chord progressions.”
It continues: “It is undeniable based on the combination and number of similarities between the two recordings that Flowers would not exist without When I Was Your Man. With Flowers, Cyrus, Hein and Pollack have created a derivative work of When I Was Your Man without authorisation.”
