Tempo Music Investments, which owns a share of the copyright for Bruno Mars’ hit song, “When I Was Your Man”, filed a lawsuit on Monday against Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” stating major similarities such as “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.”
Bruno Mars is not named as a party in the lawsuit from Tempo Music Investments, but the filing does include Gregory Hein and Michael Pollock, who co-write the song with Cyrus, Sony Music Publishing, and distributors of the song such as Apple and Live Nation, where Tempo Music Investments further alleges that “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.”
Miley Cyrus was awarded the Grammy for her song “Flowers” beating out artists such as Lana Del Ray, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, and Billie Eilish, and her song “Flowers” would see a massive commercial success debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending eight consecutive weeks in the top slot as well as becoming the fastest song to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
As of Tuesday night, there have been no reported comments from the party of Miley Cyrus regarding the lawsuit, and fans of the artist are rushing to her defense claiming the song “Flowers” is about her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, and even with the alleged similarities, Cyrus was given alleged permission from Bruno Mars to use its likeness.
What’s Next?
According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, Tempo Music Investments has demanded that Miley Cyrus stop reproducing, distributing and publicly performing “Flowers” in all current and future events, potentially marking a change in pace for the tune of “Flowers” if the lawsuit is successful.
