Miley Cyrus and her record label Sony Music Entertainment are facing legal action regarding her record-breaking 2023 single Flowers. According to court filings, Flowers lifted enough elements of a 2012 Bruno Mars track that it constituted copyright infringement.
Flowers, the hit single from her 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation, has drawn comparisons to Mars’s When I Was Your Man from his 2012 album Unorthodox Jukebox since its release. Some have even speculated that the song can be seen as the muse of When I Was Your Man‘s clap back, though the singer has never confirmed that to be the case. It’s a comparison that’s made so often, it’s even cited in the lawsuit.
Flowers ruled the charts in the second half of 2023 and even into 2024, taking the title of Spotify’s most-streamed song of 2023. Many fans view the song as an empowerment anthem about a woman’s recovery from an unsatisfying relationship. It also landed 31-year-old Cyrus her first-ever Grammy earlier this year.
YouTube/Recording Academy / GRAMMYs
The lawsuit was brought by Tempo Music Investments, a company that invests in music rights. Tempo Music was launched in 2019 by Providence Equity Partners and Warner Music Group (WMG), and has partial ownership of When I was Your Man. Singer Bruno Mars is not a named party in the lawsuit, but Mars is signed to Atlantic Records, a subsidiary of WMG.
Tempo Music Investments alleges “striking similarities” between the two songs upon the release of Flowers were recognizable to “any listener can detect that the song boasts a chorus that is the inverse of what Cyrus sings on Flowers,” the lawsuit charges.
The chorus of the two songs do share some similarities. Mars laments that he should have bought his love more flowers, while Miley’s says she can buy herself flowers. There are similar inversions regarding handholding, giving their partner more time, and going dancing.
“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 lawsuit charges, adding that Flowers “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” of Mars’s 2012 track.
However, flowers, handholding, and dancing are commonly associated as gestures of love. There are also differences between the two. Bruno expresses remorse that his love may be with another man while Miley sing about loving herself. Miley talks about writing her name in the sand and communication gaps, while Mars wishes he chad taken his partner out more.
Did Miley Cyrus Copy Bruno Mars?
While the songs do have some mirrored components, music and entertainment industry content creator Adam Barrera explains what he things are key differences between the songs.
Firstly, Barrera notes that Mars and his co-writers are not credited on the song.
“So why is this? Well, even though the lyrics of Flowers relate to the lyrics of When I Was Your Man, there are no similarities in the melodies or instrumentals,” Barrera explains.
Barrera continues: “If Miley had sung the lyrics, using the same melody as When I Was Your Man or even a similar instrumental, then this would have been an interpolation and we would have seen Bruno and his co-writers credited.”
The Success of Flowers
The lawsuit comes almost a year after the song’s release.
“One year ago today Flowers started making people happy & that makes me happy,” Miley Cyrus wrote on her Instagram.
The song dominated the US Billboard charts for eight weeks and has nearly 2.3 billion streams on Spotify alone.
Bruno Mars’s When I Was Your Man also topped the Billboard Hot 100 at the time of the song’s April 2013 release.
The outcome of the lawsuit is pending.
