According to the lawsuit, Miley Cyrus’ hit ‘would not exist’ without the Bruno Mars song it’s accused of ripping off
We all know that Miley Cyrus can buy herself flowers… but she may need to buy herself an attorney instead.
That’s because the ‘Wrecking Ball’ has been slapped with a lawsuit over her award-winning song ‘Flowers’ – accused of copying a Bruno Mars tune.
Miley Cyrus carrying a basket of flowers back in 2017 (Matthew McNulty/Getty Images)
Bruno Mars, whose real name is Peter Gene Hernandez, is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which has been filed by Tempo Music Investments, a company that owns a share of the copyright for Mars’ song ‘When I Was Your Man’.
When the 31-year-old Hannah Montana star released the song ‘Flowers’ in January last year, similarities were immediately drawn with Mars’ own hit single.
Cyrus’ inspiration for the song came after her split with Liam Hemsworth, the Australian actor known for his starring role in The Hunger Games as Gale Hawthorne.
The pair married in 2018 but just a year later they filed for divorce.
According to TMZ, who have seen the lawsuit, Tempo Music has alleged that ‘Flowers’ is ‘intentionally copying’ ‘When I Was Your Man’.
The investment company further alleged that the melody, harmony and chorus of Cyrus’ song is ‘substantially similar’ to the verse in Mars’ song.
Fortunately, Bruno Mars isn’t the plaintiff behind the lawsuit against Miley Cyrus (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for NARAS)
As per TMZ, the docs read: “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’.”
Now, the company want Cyrus to be banned from performing ‘Flowers’ at her future concerts and hope she will not even be allowed to distribute the record that landed her a Grammy.
While the Rolling Stone, who also obtained a copy of the lawsuit, stated that it read in part: “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.”
Liam Hemsworth and Cyrus pictured just months before their split in 2019 (Presley Ann/WireImage)
To dive into the similarities, the chorus for 38-year-old Mars’ song 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 are: “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.”
Mars and Cyrus are yet to speak out on the lawsuit.
When contacted by UNILAD, Miley Cyrus’ representatives refused to comment.
Featured Image Credit: Getty/Kevin Winter/Getty/Aaron J. Thornton
