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Miley Cyrus is being sued in a new lawsuit over the alleged similarities between her 2023 hit “Flowers” and Bruno Mars’ 2013 track “When I Was Your Man.” According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by PEOPLE and filed in a Los Angeles court on Monday, Sept. 16, Tempo Music Investments — which owns a share of the copyright in Mars’ hit after it acquired songwriter Philip Lawrence’s music catalog — alleges that many “recognized the striking similarities” between the two songs upon the release of “Flowers.”
“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,’ ” the documents state, adding that “Flowers” “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” of Mars’ track.
“Accordingly, Plaintiff brings this action for copyright infringement arising out of Defendants’ unauthorized reproduction, distribution and exploitation of ‘When I Was Your Man,’ ” the complaint adds.
Tempo Music Investments also lists “Flowers” songwriters Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack — who wrote the track with Cyrus — among multiple defendants, along with Sony Music Publishing and Apple, in the suit. Mars is not named as a plaintiff in the filing.
The investment platform claims in the documents that it acquired “the copyright interests” of Mars’ hit — which was written by the singer, 38, Lawrence, 44, Ari Levine and Andrew Wyatt — “in or around 2020.”
Among the accusations, the suit states that “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.’ ”
Tempo Music Investments wants Cyrus, 31, and the defendants listed in the suit to stop reproducing, distributing or publicly performing “Flowers.” The company is also seeking damages, but the amount is yet to be determined.
Reps for Cyrus and Mars did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The lawsuit comes after Cyrus won record of the year at the 2024 Grammys for “Flowers” on Feb. 4. She also won the best pop solo performance gong for the track.
On Jan. 13, Cyrus celebrated the one-year anniversary of the empowerment anthem’s release, sharing a couple of black-and-white photos of herself and, fittingly, a flower, on Instagram.
“One year ago today ‘Flowers’ started making people happy & that makes me happy. Love you. Thank you,” she wrote, before signing off the message with, “XO MC.”
The track spent eight weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard charts and skyrocketed to the top of Spotify’s charts, breaking a record in the process.
“Flowers” — which seemingly contains several references to Cyrus’ relationship with ex-husband Liam Hemsworth — became the most-streamed song in a single week in the app’s history, beating out the previous record-holder, BTS’ “Butter.”
Meanwhile, Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” also topped the Billboard Hot 100 in April 2013 weeks after it was first released.
