Miley Cyrus is facing a legal challenge over her chart-topping single Flowers from her 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation.
On September 16, Tempo Music Investments, a prominent music investment firm, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court, alleging that Flowers unlawfully copies elements of Bruno Mars' 2013 song When I Was Your Man.
The legal action also targets the song's co-writers, Michael Pollack and Gregory Hein, along with major companies like Sony Music Publishing, Target, Walmart, and Apple, for distributing the track.
According to The Guardian, the lawsuit claims Flowers contains “unauthorized exploitation” of When I Was Your Man. The complaint points out numerous similarities, including melodic and harmonic patterns, lyrical elements, bass lines, and chord progressions, asserting that Flowers is essentially a derivative work of Mars' hit without proper authorization.
While Bruno Mars is not named as a plaintiff in the suit, Tempo Music, which purchased a share of the rights from the song's co-writer Philip Lawrence, asserts ownership of When I Was Your Man. Tempo Music is seeking unspecified damages and aims to prevent Cyrus from further reproducing, distributing, or performing Flowers publicly.
Flowers, the lead single from Miley Cyrus’ 2023 album, broke records upon its release, spending eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and setting a Spotify record for the most streams in a week, with over 100 million plays.