Miley Cyrus has been embroiled in a legal battle for her Grammy-winning song Flowers. On September 16, Tempo Music Investments which is one of the leading music investment platforms, filed a lawsuit against Miley Cyrus in Los Angeles federal court. The lawsuit alleges that the 2023 hit track contains some portions from American singer Bruno Mars' 2013 song When I Was Your Man. Charges were also made against Michael Pollack and Gregory Hein, the co-writers of Flowers. Sony Music Publishing, Target, Walmart, Apple and other companies have been accused of distributing the track. The lawsuit claims that Flowers consists of unauthorised “exploitation” of When I Was Your Man, as per a report by The Guardian.
The lawsuit alleges, “Any fan of Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man knows that Miley Cyrus's Flowers did not achieve all of that success on its own. Flowers duplicate 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. ”
The lawsuit claimed that 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. “With Flowers, Cyrus, Hein and Pollack have created a derivative work of When I Was Your Man without authorisation.”
Bruno Mars is not listed as a plaintiff. Tempo Music claims the company owns a part of When I Was Your Man. It was purchased from the song's co-writer Philip Lawrence. Presently, Tempo Music is looking into the unspecified damages Flowers has caused. They also plan on prohibiting Miley Cyrus from reproducing, distributing or performing the song in public.
Flowers is the lead single from Miley Cyrus' 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation. After its debut, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks breaking Spotify's record for the most number of streams in a week, witnessing over 100 million listens.