In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles court Monday, Tempo Music Investments alleged Cyrus copied elements of Mars' track "When I Was Your Man" in her career-defining hit song "Flowers," which was released last year on her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth's birthday.
"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,'" the lawsuit alleges.
Tempo Music says Cyrus' song includes "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."
Miley Cyrus performs ‘Flowers’ during the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, after winning her first award. Cyrus is at the center of a new lawsuit, alleging she copied elements of a Bruno Mars song in her comeback single last year. Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY
Tempo Music owns a share of the copyright from "When I Was Your Man," released as a single in 2013 from Mars' 2012 sophomore studio album "Unorthodox Jukebox," because they acquired the catalog of Philip Lawrence, one of the song's co-writers.
The lyrics in both songs, released 10 years apart, do contain similarities. In Mars' song, he croons "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 Flowers, Cyrus sings: "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 mentioned the widespread success of "Flowers," a comeback hit for Cyrus on the radio last year when she recaptured the mainstream attention she first experienced during her 2013 "Bangerz" era a decade earlier. Her success with the song resulted in a pair of first-time Grammy wins.
"The song also earned Cyrus her first set of Grammy wins for record of the year and best pop solo performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February," the lawsuit states. Mars similarly garnered best pop solo performance nod at the 56th Grammy Awards. Cyrus performed "Flowers" at the Grammys in February.
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