Miley Cyrus is being sued for copyright infringement over her chart-topping 2023 hit Flowers.
The 31-year-old singer was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit for a allegedly copying Bruno Mars earlier hit When I Was Your Man, which was released in 2013 and also topped the pop charts.
However, it’s not Mars suing Cyrus, but rather Tempo Music Investments, TMZ reported on Monday.
DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for Cyrus and Mars requesting comment.
In the lawsuit, Tempo Music accused Cyrus of ‘intentionally copying’ When I Was Your Man in Flowers due to the significant similarities between the two songs.
Miley Cyrus, 31, is being sued by Tempo Music Investments for allegedly plagiarizing Bruno Mars’ song When I Was Your Man on her 2023 hit Flowers; pictured in February in LA
Mars, who is not a plaintiff, sold part of his music catalog to Warner Music Group — which invested in Tempo Music Group — in 2020; pictured in 2018 in Las Vegas
The investment company claims that Flowers features a similar melody and harmonies to the earlier song, both in the verses and in the chorus.
It alleges that the chord progressions used on Cyrus’ tune — which she is credited for writing with Aldae (real name: Gregory Hein) and Michael Pollack — are similar to progressions on Mars’ song, and it also claims that some of the song’s lyrics are similar to those on When I Was Your Man, which was written by Mars with Philip Lawrence, Ari Levin and Andrew Wyatt.
Tempo claims in its lawsuit that ‘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.’
Both songs were hits for their respective artists, and each reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
When I Was Your Man was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, but Flowers was even more successful.
The song won Record Of The Year — which honors songwriters — along with the award Mars was nominated for, Best Pop Solo Performance.
Flowers was also nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammys, though it didn’t win.
Tempo Music accuses Cyrus, her producers Kid Harpoon and Tyler Harper and her record label of all having access to Mars’ song, though nearly everyone has access to the song, which was a hit when it was released a decade earlier and has remained easily accessible on physical media and streaming ever since.
The investment firm is requesting damages from Cyrus, though it’s unclear if it has specified a requested amount yet.
In a more severe move, it is requesting that she and her label be barred from distributing Flowers, which might entail removing it from digital and future physical versions of her 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation, and the firm is also requesting that Cyrus be barred from ever again performing the popular song.
Tempo Music, rather than Mars, appears to have filed the lawsuit after reportedly taking control of part of the song’s copyright.
In May of 2021, the Uptown Funk hitmaker was reported to have sold a portion of his song catalog to Warner Music Group six months earlier.
Few details were revealed at the time about the scope of the scale, but Mars (real name: Peter Hernandez) was reported to have retained majority ownership of his catalog.
In late 2019, Warner Music Group and Providence Equity Partners announced plans to invest $650 million in a new platform, Tempo Music Investments, according to Variety.
Tempo Music, which claims to own part of Mars’ copyright, says Flowers has major similarities to When I Was Your Man’s melody, harmonies, chord structure and lyrics; Cyrus pictured in the Flowers video
Mars’ song was a chart topper in 2013 but failed to win a Grammy. Cyrus’ song also topped the Billboard Hot 100, but she also won Record of the Year (for songwriters) and Best Pop Solo Performance, which Mars was nominated for but lost; Mars seen in 2021 in LA
The investment firm is seeking money from Cyrus and wants her to be barred from distributing or ever performing Flowers live; pictured in February in LA
Tempo was devised to invest in artists’ catalogs, both for their master recordings and their publishing rights.
It has become increasingly common in recent years for artists to sell all or portions of their catalogs to investment firms like Tempo, or its more senior competitor Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
The move provides massive paydays for artists, many of whom — including Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan — are at the ends of their careers, while the companies can then profit from the royalties on the songs.
It’s less common for younger artists like Mars to sell off their catalogs, though he only sold a portion of his.