Miley Cyrus needs to lock up her flowers. Cyrus was sued on September 16 for copyright infringement over her song “Flowers,” and has now denied the allegations and filed to dismiss the suit. Tempo Music Investments claims the song “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” from Bruno Mars’s “When I Was Your Man,” according to People. The similarities between the two songs have been noted since Cyrus put out “Flowers” in 2023 — with some publications even referring to “Flowers” as having a “sample” of the Mars track. The lyrical similarities may be obvious, but are they illegal?
Wait, so is Bruno Mars suing Miley Cyrus?
No, not at all. Mars is notably not named as a plaintiff in the suit. Instead, the suit comes from Tempo Music Investments, a group that buys up music rights. Tempo previously purchased the rights to songwriter Philip Lawrence’s catalogue, and Lawrence was a songwriter on “When I Was Your Man.” Now, they’re using that purchase to get litigious with it, suing Cyrus for a unknown sum and to stop her from performing or distributing the song. Fellow “Flowers” songwriters Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack Bruno, plus Apple and Sony Music Publishing, are named as defendants. Mars, as far as we know, has nothing to do with the lawsuit and even had to deal with his own version of this when “Uptown Funk” got sued thrice over for taking from the Zapp song “More Bounce to the Ounce,” Collage’s “Young Girls,” and Sequence’s “Funk You Up.” The first two of those suits have settled.
What is this lawsuit about?
Miley Cyrus and her co-songwriters are being sued for copyright infringement of Bruno Mars’s “When I Was Your Man.” Lyrics in her song, “Flowers,” are often interpreted as a response to Mars’s song. Mars, on his track, sings “I shoulda bought you flowers, and held your hand,” and he bemoans that he didn’t “take you to every party, cause all you wanted to do was dance.” In “Flowers,” Cyrus sings, “I can buy myself flowers,” “I can take myself dancing, and I can hold my own hand.” It has been said by fans that she references “When I Was Your Man” because Liam Hemsworth dedicated the song to her at their engagement party, but there’s no confirmation that happened. And if it did … yikes.)
Despite this lyrical connection, “Flowers” does not credit Mars or the other songwriters of “When I Was Your Man.” When “Flowers” debuted, Billboard reported that Cyrus did not have “sonic” similarities to Mars’s song, only lyrical ones. Cyrus’s track therefore didn’t need to give credit, especially given the long history of response, or answer, songs. The new lawsuit claims that the two songs share melody, harmony, and chorus, per People. “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,’” the suit reportedly claims.
How has Miley Cyrus responded?
Her legal team has denied the allegations of plagiarism and filed to dismiss the lawsuit, according to court documents obtained by People and Rolling Stone in November. According to the dismissal motion, the songwriter defendants “categorically deny copying, and the allegedly copied elements are random, scattered, unprotected ideas and musical building blocks.”
Cyrus’s attorneys also claim that there’s a “fatal flaw” with this lawsuit. Tempo Music Investments purchased Philip Lawrence’s rights, but not those of the other “When I Was Your Man” songwriters. The dismissal motion argues that only exclusive copyright holders are legally allowed to sue for infringement, so Tempo doesn’t have the right to do so as a partial copyright owner. Now we’ve just got to wait for the flowers (the lawsuit) to grow (get in front of a judge).
This post has been updated.
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Cyrus has filed to dismiss a lawsuit over similarities between her track and Bruno Mars’s “When I Was Your Man.”
