Miley Cyrus has fired back at recent accusations surrounding her hit “Flowers.”
Lawyers for the “Party in the USA” singer denied allegations of copyright infringement brought forth by Tempo Music Investments, a partial copyright holder for Bruno Mars’ song “When I Was Your Man” that claims she plagiarized the track on her Grammy-winning No. 1 smash.
Cyrus’ legal team filed its response, which Entertainment Weekly has reviewed, to Tempo’s September complaint on Wednesday, arguing that an expert would need to be consulted to compare the two songs.
Attorneys for Cyrus and Tempo did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.
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Tempo holds only part of the copyright to “When I Was Your Man” because it acquired the catalog of the song’s cowriter Philip Lawrence, but is not affiliated with Mars or the song’s other two cowriters, Ari Levine and Andrew Wyatt.
That distinction led Cyrus’ attorneys to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which EW has also reviewed. The singer’s lawyers argued that since Tempo represents only one of the song’s several co-writers, it “does not own exclusive rights and, as a result, lacks standing to sue for copyright infringement.”
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Tempo’s complaint claimed “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,'” arguing that it “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” from Mars’ 2013 song.
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“Flowers” first hit the airwaves in January 2023, and listeners immediately compared the song to “When I Was Your Man” upon hearing its lyrics.
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.” On his track, Mars sings, “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.”
Cyrus explained how she crafted “Flowers” in an interview with British Vogue in May 2023. “I wrote it in a really different way,” she said. “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.'”
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