In a post on her Instagram profile in mid-January, Miley Cyrus reminded fans that exactly one year earlier her song “Flowers” was released as the first single from the artist’s studio album titled “Endless Summer Vacation”. – Exactly one year ago, the song “Flowers” started making listeners all over the world happy, which makes me very happy. Thank you! – she captioned a black and white photo in which she posed with a single white rose.
The next happy moments related to the song’s promotion occurred during this year’s Grammy Music Awards gala, when the artist received two statuettes: for record of the year and for best solo performance in the pop category. “Don’t pretend you don’t know the words!” she joked from the stage during a bold performance of the song, during which she showed off an exclusive silver dress from the Bob Mackie collection, a lush hairstyle and carefully refined choreography. The song, which refers to the artist’s difficult experiences related to a stormy divorce, became the subject of a legal dispute after a few months, with Bruno Mars’ representatives deciding that its fragments were copied from the song “When I Was Your Man”, which was written in 2013. Are the allegations justified?
“Flowers” wouldn’t exist without “When I was your man”
The lawsuit was filed earlier this week in federal court in Los Angeles by the co-owner of the rights to Bruno Mars’ hit song, Tempo Music Investments, whose representatives claim that “Flowers” contains unauthorized references to the song from more than a decade ago. In addition to the singer herself, the hit’s co-writers, Michael Pollack and Gregory Aldae Hein, as well as several companies that distribute the artist’s music, have also been sued. “Given the numerous similarities between the two songs, there is no doubt that the song “Flowers” would not have been created if the song “When I Was Your Man” did not exist,” the court documents cited by The Guardian read. “The song “Flowers” reproduces numerous fragments of the melody and lyrics used in Bruno Mars’ song,” the rest of the lawsuit says.
According to the charges filed, “the first vocal line of the chorus of ‘Flowers’ begins and ends with the same chords as the first vocal line of the verse of ‘When I Was Your Man.’ The company filing the lawsuit, Tempo Music Investments, is demanding that the singer and the companies named stop reproducing, distributing and publicly performing “Flowers.” The company’s representatives are also demanding damages, but the amount has not yet been determined.
