Miley Cyrus is being sued for copyright infringement by Tempo Music Investments, who claim that her overnight hit “Flowers” copied parts of Bruno Mars’ 2013 single, “When I Was Your Man.” Tempo Music is a music investment firm that owns a share of the rights to Mars’ hit. Although his single is mentioned, Mars himself is not involved in the lawsuit.
In the complaint filed on Sept. 16 in the Los Angeles federal court, the investment firm asserts that “Flowers” has “substantial similarities” to “When I Was Your Man” in its “melody, harmony, and chorus.” Tempo Music especially had a problem with the beginning and ending vocal lines of both songs because they overlapped in terms of harmony, pitch, lyrics, and bass-line sequences.
“Flowers'” co-writers, Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack, and its distribution companies including Sony Music Publishing, Apple, and Amazon, among others, were also called out in the suit.
Focusing on the lyrics themselves, Tempo Music’s complaint isolated lines within both songs to draw attention to the “striking similarities” of the verses. For example, Mars sings, “That I should have brought you flowers and held your hand,” while Cyrus sings, “I can buy myself flowers and I can hold my own hand.”
“A comparison of the lyrics of the two songs also suggests that the musical similarities are no coincidence,” a lawyer for Tempo Music wrote within the suit.
As a result, Tempo Music’s complaint proposed that Cyrus should no longer be allowed to reproduce, distribute, or publicly perform “Flowers.” They’re also seeking damages with the exact amount “to be determined at trial,” but capped the reparations at $150,000 per violation.
Multiple news outlets, including Variety and Rolling Stone, have not received a response to their requests for comment from Cyrus’ representatives.
“Flowers” has earned Cyrus multiple accolades, including two Grammys a little over a year after its release in 2023. It also earned the top spot among the Billboard Hot 100 chart and ranked No. 1 on Spotify while breaking a record in the process for earning one billion streams in less than four months.
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