Miley Cyrus has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit alleging in Los Angeles that she and her co-writers recycled parts of a Bruno Mars song for her two-time Grammy Award-winning hit “Flowers,” according to court papers obtained today.
The suit was filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court by partial copyright holder Tempo Music Investments, which claims “Flowers” incorporates unauthorized elements of Mars’ 2013 ballad “When I Was Your Man.” Mars is not named as a plaintiff.
The complaint also names Cyrus co-writers Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack as defendants. Sony Music Publishing, Apple, Target, Walmart and several other companies are accused in the suit of distributing the song.
A representative for Cyrus could not immediately be reached for comment.
“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,” the lawsuit reads. “‘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.”
The plaintiffs contend that the Cyrus hit is a “derivative work” that would not exist without “When I Was Your Man.”
You can listen to both of the tunes below.
Cyrus’ “Flowers” won Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at this year’s ceremony. The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent eight consecutive weeks in the top spot.
City News Service contributed to this report.
