Tempo Music Investments has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Miley Cyrus, Sony Music Publishing, and numerous other parties over alleged similarities between Cyrus's "Flowers" and Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man."

The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, claims that "Flowers" borrowed heavily from Mars' 2012 hit without permission. Tempo Music Investments, which acquired rights to "When I Was Your Man" through a 2020 deal with co-writer Philip Lawrence, argues that Cyrus's song "duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements" of Mars' track.

Specific alleged similarities include:

• Melodic pitch design and sequence of the verse
• Connecting bass-line
• Certain bars of the chorus
• Theatrical music elements
• Lyric elements
• Chord progressions

The lawsuit extends beyond Cyrus to include:

• Fellow "Flowers" co-writers
• Sony Music Publishing
• Concord
• Major streaming services (Apple, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, SoundCloud)
• Live Nation
• Retailers (Walmart, Target)

Both songs have achieved significant commercial success, with "When I Was Your Man" accumulating 2.26 billion Spotify streams and "Flowers" reaching 2.20 billion streams, breaking records as the fastest song to reach one billion streams on the platform.

The case is particularly notable as it involves major industry players and targets not just the artists and publishers, but also streaming platforms and retailers who participated in the distribution and sale of the song.

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