Miley Cyrus sued for alleged copying of Bruno Mars' song

Lawsuit claims 'Flowers' borrows from 'When I Was Your Man'

Miley Cyrus has found herself at the centre of a new legal battle, with a lawsuit accusing her of plagiarising key elements of Bruno Mars' 2013 hit single When I Was Your Man for her Grammy-winning song Flowers. As per Variety, the lawsuit, filed on Monday in Los Angeles federal court by Tempo Music Investments, claims that Cyrus, along with her co-writers Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack, unlawfully borrowed several distinctive parts of Mars' track to create her smash hit.

Tempo Music, a company that acquired a portion of the copyrights to When I Was Your Man from one of the song's co-writers, Philip Lawrence, alleges that Flowers features unauthorised "exploitation" of Mars' song. The company asserts that the similarities between the two tracks are too significant to be a coincidence, pointing out shared melodic patterns, harmonic sequences, chord progressions, and even specific lyrical elements.

The lawsuit also claims that Cyrus' team duplicated the verse's melodic pitch design, a connecting bass-line, and certain bars of the chorus, alongside some theatrical music elements found in both songs. The complaint goes as far as to say that Flowers would not exist without When I Was Your Man, framing the song as a "derivative work" created without proper authorisation.

Alongside Cyrus and her co-writers, the suit also names several high-profile companies like Sony Music Publishing, Apple, Target, and Walmart, which are accused of distributing the song. Mars himself is notably absent from the list of plaintiffs, as Tempo Music's claim stems from their ownership of the rights acquired from Lawrence, rather than Mars personally.

"Any fan of Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man knows that Miley Cyrus' Flowers did not achieve all of that success on its own," reads the lawsuit. "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."

Released in early 2023, Flowers quickly became one of the year's most celebrated anthems, spending eight consecutive weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning Cyrus her first Grammy Award. The track, which was part of her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation, resonated deeply with fans for its themes of self-love and empowerment. Written after Cyrus' highly publicised divorce from actor Liam Hemsworth, Flowers was largely interpreted as a message of independence and personal growth.

Tempo Music is seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial. In addition, the company is requesting a court order prohibiting Cyrus and the other defendants from reproducing, distributing, or publicly performing Flowers.

As of now, neither Cyrus nor her representatives have commented publicly on the lawsuit.

The case highlights the growing trend of legal disputes within the music industry over alleged similarities between hit songs. With more artists facing lawsuits over whether their chart-toppers were inspired by previous works, the line between creative influence and outright copying has become a hot topic of debate. For Cyrus, whose song has become a cultural anthem in 2023, the lawsuit could prove to be a significant challenge to her recent success.

Whether the courts will rule in favour of Tempo Music or Cyrus remains to be seen, but this legal dispute has already raised eyebrows in the music world, sparking fresh conversations about copyright laws and artistic originality.