We all recognize that Miley Cyrus can buy herself flowers… but she might find herself needing to buy an attorney.
The ‘Wrecking Ball’ singer faces a lawsuit accusing her of copying Bruno Mars’ song for her hit ‘Flowers’.
Bruno Mars, born Peter Gene Hernandez, is not directly involved in the lawsuit. The suit has been filed by Tempo Music Investments, which owns part of the copyright for Mars’ song ‘When I Was Your Man’.
Upon the release of ‘Flowers’ by the 31-year-old former Hannah Montana star in January last year, observers quickly noted its resemblance to Mars’ hit single.
Cyrus drew inspiration for her song following her breakup with Liam Hemsworth, the Australian actor known for his role as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games.
The couple married in 2018 but filed for divorce just a year later.
According to TMZ, which obtained a copy of the lawsuit, Tempo Music alleges that ‘Flowers’ is “intentionally copying” ‘When I Was Your Man’.
The company claims that the melody, harmony, and chorus of Cyrus’ song are “substantially similar” to the verse in Mars’ track.
As per TMZ, the lawsuit reads: “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 company seeks to prohibit Cyrus from performing ‘Flowers’ at future concerts and aims to prevent her from distributing the Grammy-winning record.
Rolling Stone, which also reviewed the lawsuit, quoted it stating: “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.
“‘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.”
To explore the similarities, Mars’ song chorus for the 38-year-old artist goes: “I should have bought you flowers, and held your hand.
“Should have gave you all my hours, when I had the chance.
“Take you to every party ’cause all you wanted to do was dance.
“Now my baby’s dancing, but she’s dancing with another man.”
While Cyrus’ lyrics state: “I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand.
“Talk to myself for hours, say things you don’t understand.
“I can take myself dancing, and I can hold my own hand.
“Yeah, I can love me better than you can.”
Both Mars and Cyrus have yet to publicly comment on the lawsuit.