Miley Cyrus faces lawsuit claiming her song ‘Flowers’ copied Bruno Mars’ music
Miley Cyrus is in legal trouble for allegedly copying elements from Bruno Mars’ music.
A lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles on Monday by Tempo Music Investments, which claims that Cyrus borrowed aspects of Mars’ 2013 song “When I Was Your Man” for her widely popular track “Flowers,” released last year on her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth’s birthday.
The lawsuit states, “Anyone familiar with Bruno Mars’ ‘When I Was Your Man’ understands that Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ did not gain all of its success independently. ‘Flowers’ replicates several melodic, harmonic, and lyrical components of ‘When I Was Your Man.'”
According to Tempo Music, Cyrus’ song features “the melody and sequence of the verse, a similar bass-line, specific portions of the chorus, certain dramatic musical aspects, lyrical similarities, and particular chord progressions.”
Tempo Music holds part of the copyright for “When I Was Your Man,” having purchased the catalog from Philip Lawrence, one of the song’s co-writers.
There are indeed notable similarities in the lyrics of both songs, which were released a decade apart. In Mars’ track, he sings: “I should’ve bought you flowers and held your hand, shoulda gave you all my hours when I had the chance; Take you to every party, ’cause all you wanted to do was dance, now my baby’s dancin’, but she’s dancin’ with another man.”
In contrast, Cyrus sings in “Flowers”: “I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand; Talk to myself for hours, say things you don’t understand; I can take myself dancing and I can hold my own hand, yeah, I can love me better than you can.”
The lawsuit also highlights the significant success of “Flowers,” which marked Cyrus’ return to the music scene last year, reminiscent of her groundbreaking era in 2013 with “Bangerz.” Her success with this song earned her two Grammy awards.
The lawsuit notes, “The song also secured Cyrus her first Grammy wins for record of the year and best pop solo performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February.” Mars similarly received a nod for best pop solo performance at the 56th Grammy Awards. Cyrus performed “Flowers” during the Grammys in February.
