Miley Cyrus sued over alleged Bruno Mars plagiarism in ‘Flowers’

Miley Cyrus can buy herself flowers — but that won’t stop a plagiarism lawsuit.

The “Party in the U.S.A.” songstress is being accused of plagiarizing Bruno Mars‘ “When I Was Your Man” on her song “Flowers” in a new lawsuit. Cyrus’ cowriters Michael Pollack and Gregory Hein (also known as Aldae) are also listed as defendants, as well as Sony Music and Apple.

Mars himself is not involved in the lawsuit as a plaintiff or defendant — instead, the suit is being brought by Tempo Music Investments, a company that owns a copyright stake in “When I Was Your Man” by acquiring the catalog of Philip Lawrence, one of Mars’ frequent collaborators and a credited co-writer on the 2012 song.

Representatives for Cyrus, Mars, Lawrence, Tempo Music, Pollack, Hein, Sony, and Apple didn’t immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s request for comment Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles and reviewed by EW, claims, “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,’ noting that Cyrus’ song “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” from Mars’ track.

It’s worth noting that similarities between the tracks were observed immediately upon the release of “Flowers” in January of 2023.

In the chorus of “Flowers,” Cyrus sings, “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.” The chorus of “When I Was Your Man” sees Mars croon, “I should’ve bought you flowers/And held your hand/Should’ve 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.”

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“Flowers” earned Cyrus her first two Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. She performed the track during this year’s Grammy Awards telecast.

The lawsuit also claims, “the opening vocal line from the chorus of ‘Flowers’ begins and ends on the same chords as the opening vocal line in the verse of ‘When I Was Your Man.'” The plaintiffs want Cyrus to stop performing the song publicly and for the other defendants to cease distribution of the track, and are also seeking undisclosed damages.

Cyrus discussed penning “Flowers” in an interview with British Vogue in May 2023. “I wrote it in a really different way. The chorus was originally: ‘I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand, but I can’t love me better than you can.’ It used to be more, like, 1950s. The saddest song. Like: ‘Sure, I can be my own lover, but you’re so much better,'” she told the outlet. Ultimately, she opted against the sadder iteration of the track. “The song is a little fake it till you make it,” she said. “Which I’m a big fan of.”