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Last year, Miley Cyrus released her hugely successful comeback hit “Flowers,” and plenty of people noticed that it seemed to be structured as an answer to Bruno Mars’ chart-topping 2013 ballad “When I Was Your Man.” On the chorus of that song, Mars sang, “I should’ve bought you flowers and held your hand/ Should’ve gave you all my hours when I had the chance.” On “Flowers,” Cyrus sang, “I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand/ Talk to myself for hours, say things you don’t understand.” “Flowers” debuted at #1 and won Record Of The Year at the Grammys, and now the song is the subject of a lawsuit over its similarities to “When I Was Your Man.”
Bruno Mars, who co-wrote and co-produced “When I Was Your Man,” is not the party suing Miley Cyrus. He’s not involved in the lawsuit at all. Instead, TMZ reports that Tempo Music Investments, a company that claims to have an ownership stake in the “When I Was Your Man” copyright, has filed a lawsuit against Cyrus, accusing Cyrus of “intentionally copying” Mars’ song and arguing, “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.’” According to the lawsuit, the melody, chord progression, and lyrics of “Flowers” are substantially similar to those of “When I Was Your Man.” In addition to money, Tempo Music seeks to prevent Cyrus from distributing or performing “Flowers.”
According to Newsweek, Providence Equity Partners and Warner Music Group launched Tempo Music Investments in 2019 — six years after Mars released “When I Was Your Man” — and the company invests in music rights. Atlantic Records, Bruno Mars’ label, is a subsidiary of WMG. In a 2021 press release, Providence announced that it acquired the catalog of Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars’ frequent collaborator. Lawrence, a member of Mars’ songwriting group the Smeezingtons, co-wrote and co-produced “When I Was Your Man.”