Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ hit with questionable lawsuit over alleged connection to ‘When I Was Your Man’

Miley Cyrus has been hit with a copyright lawsuit over allegations that her hit song, “Flowers,” copied Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man.”

Cyrus released “Flowers” last year as part of her album Endless Summer Vacation. The female empowerment song is told from the perspective of someone whose relationship is ending and who learns to embrace their independence. In a society where women who are single or childless are often mocked, it’s wonderful for a song to capture how women are better off single than with a man who doesn’t treat them right. “Flowers” has become something of a feminist anthem, reminding women that they can care for and provide for themselves just as well as men can.

Even before the lawsuit, though, many listeners connected “Flowers” to “When I Was Your Man.” After all, Cyrus’ song almost appears to be the antithesis of Mars’ song. “When I Was Your Man” is a song told from the perspective of someone who lost their lover and regrets their mistakes. He sings about wishing he had bought her flowers, held her hand, and spent more time with her.

Meanwhile, Cyrus seems to be shutting down this remorseful lover by singing about how she can buy herself flowers, hold her own hand, and love herself better than someone else can. Still, writing a song that responds to another song didn’t seem like something Cyrus could be sued for.

Why is Miley Cyrus being sued for her hit song?

Given that “Flowers” has been out for over a year with no legal action from Mars, it doesn’t appear he was bothered about it. However, recently, Tempo Music Investments purchased a share of the copyright to “When I Was Your Man” from one of its co-writers. As a result,  Tempo Music Investments has filed a lawsuit without Mars’ involvement. The lawsuit accuses Cyrus of copyright infringement, pointing out the lyrical and musical similarities between the songs.

It acknowledges the connections that listeners have already made between the songs, noting that the “Flowers” chorus is the “inverse” of the chorus from “When I Was Your Man.” The lawsuit claims that the similarities go deeper than that, though, stating,

“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 progression.

Given the similarities, the lawsuit suggests that “Flowers” didn’t achieve its success independently and likely wouldn’t exist without “When I Was Your Man.”

The lawsuit also contains charts showing the choruses and music sheets from the two songs side-by-side to prove the similarities. Meanwhile, it is seeking to stop Cyrus from “reproducing, distributing, or publicly performing ‘Flowers.'” So far, Cyrus has not publicly responded to the suit, but some legal experts have.

Experts have pointed out that songs that reply to other songs do not constitute copyright infringement and that the alleged musical similarities aren’t that significant and can be explained by basic music theory. Many have also questioned Mars’ absence in the lawsuit. If the song’s actual performer didn’t see the need to take legal action, it’s strange that a shareholder is taking these measures.