'Flowers': Miley Cyrus sued for 'stealing' from Bruno Mars

It's been almost two years since Miley Cyrus released one of her biggest hits: 'Flowers', the song in which she referred to her breakup with Liam Hemsworth.

After almost two years and billions of streams making 'Flowers' a classic, Mars' agency Tempo Music Investments has decided that now is a good time to sue Miley Cyrus for copyright infringement. Analyses of the song had previously shown it has a certain relation to a famous Bruno Mars song.

The company, as reported by The Times, points out that 'Flowers' has many melodic, harmonic, and lyrical similarities with Bruno Mars's 2012 song 'When I Was Your Man'. Not only that, but it seems to implicitly mention the original song.

Tempo Music Investments, back in March 2020, acquired the catalog of composer Philip Lawrence, which includes part of the rights to this Bruno Mars song.

The company has now gone to court to sue not only Miley Cyrus but also Gregory Aldae and Hein Michael Pollack, co-authors of the song, as well as several record companies such as Sony Music, Apple, and iHeart Media.

In the legal documents, reviewed by The Times, the company highlights several parts of the song that seemed all too familiar to them. However, they place special emphasis on the chorus of 'Flowers' and its similarities with that of the Bruno Mars song.

Specifically, when Miley Cyrus sings that she is capable of buying herself flowers or talking to herself for hours, it seems to refer to Bruno Mars's words: "I should have bought you flowers... and gave you all my hours." Mars's song was a hit while Miley Cyrus and her ex Liam Hemsworth went through a rough patch.

Tempo Music Investments claims in the lawsuit that "Defendants did not seek or receive permission to copy or interpolate any portion of 'When I Was Your Man' into 'Flowers.'"

Photo: Youtube - Miley Cyrus

The company is therefore seeking a "permanent injunction" limiting defendants from "reproducing, distributing, or publicly performing 'Flowers.'"

They also, of course, ask for an assessment of damages, which includes lost profits, statutory damages, legal fees and other losses.

Considering that 'Flowers' was the best-selling song of 2023, number 1 in 45 countries, and earned Miley Cyrus the first two Grammys of her career, the numbers involved in this lawsuit are going to be enormous.