Lawsuit against Miley Cyrus for copying the song “Flowers” ​​by Bruno Mars

A lawsuit has been filed against Miley Cyrus, alleging that she and her co-songwriters Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack copied parts of a Bruno Mars single when they wrote her Grammy-winning global hit “Flowers,” Rolling Stone reports.

According to a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles, Tempo Music Investments claims that “Flowers” contains unauthorized “exploitation” of several elements of Mars' piano-driven 2013 ballad “When I Was Your Man.” The lawsuit also names Sony Music Publishing, Apple, Target, Walmart and several other companies as defendants accused of distributing “Flowers.”

Tempo owns a percentage of the U.S. copyright to Mars' song, which it acquired from co-writer Philip Lawrence. Mars and co-writers Ari Levine and Andrew Wyatt are not named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

A representative for Cyrus did not comment when contacted by Diversity.

The lawsuit also notes that Pollack “declined to comment” on the similarity of “Flowers” to Mars' “When I Was Your Man” in a March 2023 interview with Billboard. In the same article, Billboard points out that Lawrence once said that “When I Was Your Man” was partially inspired by the art of Billy Joel.

Although flowers are mentioned in the lyrics of Mars' song, similarities between the two songs are not obvious upon a casual listen. However, the lawsuit states: “Any fan of Bruno Mars' 'When I Was Your Man' knows that Miley Cyrus' 'Flowers' did not achieve this success alone. 'Flowers' copies numerous melodic, harmonic and lyrical elements of 'When I Was Your Man,' including the melodic pitch design and progression of the verse, the connecting bass line, certain measures of the chorus, certain elements of theatrical music, lyrical elements and certain chord progressions.”

The lawsuit meticulously analyzes the melodic and harmonic material, pitch ending patterns, bass line structures and lyrics of both songs, finding them to be “substantially similar,” particularly the opening vocal line of the chorus of “Flowers.”

“Given the combination and the many similarities between the two recordings, there is no denying that 'Flowers' would not exist without 'When I Was Your Man,'” the lawsuit continues. “With 'Flowers,' Cyrus, Hein and Pollack have unilaterally created a derivative work of 'When I Was Your Man.'”

The lawsuit seeks damages “in an amount to be determined at trial,” but not exceeding $150,000 per infringement, which could be a very large sum given the record-breaking streams of “Flowers.”