Disney Legend Miley Cyrus Accused of Copying Bruno Mars Song
Newly-minted Disney Legend Miley Cyrus is being sued over alleged similarities between her 2023 hit “Flowers” and Bruno Mars’s 2013 song “When I Was Your Man.”
Songwriters Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, and Andrew Wyatt wrote the Bruno Mars hit.
According to a new report from PEOPLE, Tempo Music Investments, which owns a share of songwriter Philip Lawrence’s music catalog, is suing Cyrus. They argue that many people “recognized the striking similarities” between the two songs, and the Miley Cyrus hit benefited from these similarities.
Photo: Miley Cyrus
“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. ‘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.”
What Tempo Music Is Seeking
The suit also names “Flowers” songwriters Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack, Sony Music Publishing, Apple, Target, and Walmart as defendants.
Source: Billboard (Kai Z Feng)
“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 lawsuit states. “‘Flowers’ depicts the numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements [of ‘When I Was Your Man’].”
Miley Cyrus. Photo: Billboard
Tempo Music Investments is seeking damages “in an amount to be determined at trial ” or a maximum of $150,000 per infringement. Cyrus refused to comment on the lawsuit.
