Miley Cyrus and the cowriters of her Grammy-winning 2023 hit, “Flowers”, are being sued for copying Bruno Mars’ 2013 ballad “When I Was Your Man.” But, and this is important, it is not Bruno who is doing the suing. Tempo Music Investments have brought the case. On their website, Tempo bills itself as “a proprietary music rights acquisition platform that operates in partnership with Warner Music Group.” A few years ago Tempo “acquired” the catalog of Philip Lawrence, a songwriter and longtime collaborator of Bruno Mars’, thus giving them a share of the song’s copyright. Of course Tempo is seeking damages with this lawsuit, but they’re also ballsy enough to be asking for Miley to stop “reproducing, distributing or publicly performing ‘Flowers.’” Here’s more from People Mag’s reporting:
Miley Cyrus is being sued in a new lawsuit over the alleged similarities between her 2023 hit “Flowers” and Bruno Mars’ 2013 track “When I Was Your Man.”
According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by PEOPLE and filed in a Los Angeles court on Monday, Sept. 16, Tempo Music Investments — which owns a share of the copyright in Mars’ hit after it acquired songwriter Philip Lawrence’s music catalog — alleges that many “recognized the striking similarities” between the two songs upon the release of “Flowers.”
“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 documents state, adding that “Flowers” “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” of Mars’ track.
“Accordingly, Plaintiff brings this action for copyright infringement arising out of Defendants’ unauthorized reproduction, distribution and exploitation of ‘When I Was Your Man,’” the complaint adds.
Tempo Music Investments also lists “Flowers” songwriters Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack — who wrote the track with Cyrus — among multiple defendants, along with Sony Music Publishing and Apple, in the suit. Mars is not named as a plaintiff in the filing.
The investment platform claims in the documents that it acquired “the copyright interests” of Mars’ hit — which was written by the singer, 38, Lawrence 44, Ari Levine and Andrew Wyatt — “in or around 2020.”
Among the accusations, the suit states that “the opening vocal line from the chorus of ‘Flowers’ begins and ends on the same chords as the opening vocal line in the verse of ‘When I Was Your Man.’”
Tempo Music Investments wants Cyrus, 31, and the defendants listed in the suit to stop reproducing, distributing or publicly performing “Flowers.” The company is also seeking damages, but the amount is yet to be determined.
Reps for Cyrus and Mars did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The lawsuit comes after Cyrus won record of the year at the 2024 Grammys for “Flowers” on Feb. 4. She also won the best pop solo performance gong for the track.
Artists being sued for copying other songs isn’t anything new. We’ve seen a spate of them in recent years, from Ed Sheeran to Robin Thicke & Pharrell Williams to Ed Sheeran to Lady Gaga to Ed Sheeran. So what gives? Do the pop stars of today not know their music history? (Even if it’s very recent history?) Is this just the mathematical inevitability of there being a finite number of notes and chords? If a song falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? Well color me nerdy, but I actually love that this lawsuit situates the conversation of songwriters’ originality at the intersections of music, copyright law, and the purchase of artist catalogs by big companies. The fact that Tempo is associated with Warner is a big deal. Warner is a huge operation — they bought David Bowie’s catalog for $250 million in 2021 — so they have the resources to fund litigation like this case against Miley Cyrus and “Flowers.”
I’m not expert enough in music composition to say definitively if a piece of music has been plagiarized; I only have the authority of my ears, and they’re telling me that yeah, the songs sound alike. It also doesn’t help that some of the lyrics are so similar: “That I should’ve bought you flowers” vs “I can buy myself flowers” are the respective first lines of each song’s chorus! But I’m also wondering why is Tempo suing now, 20 months after “Flowers” was first released? And could the outcome actually be that Miley is legally prevented from performing the song that won her her first Grammy? Plus, how long until Bruno Mars has to comment on this case? Or, dare I say it, buy Miley flowers?