Miley Cyrus and Bruno Mars legal battle explained
25 March 2025, 16:55
Miley Cyrus was sued over allegations her hit single Flowers copied parts of Bruno Mars's famous track When I Was Your Man.
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Miley Cyrus's number-one hit single Flowers came under fire in 2024 after a lawsuit was filed against her for copyright infringement.
The catchy single from her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation was accused of mirroring parts of Bruno Mars's famous track, When I Was Your Man.
In March 2025, reports revealed the US pop star wasn't able to dismiss the claims that alleged she copied "melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements" from the 2013 tune – meaning her team had to continue with court proceedings.
So as Miley prepares to face the music, what happens now? Is Bruno Mars suing Miley Cyrus? Here's everything we know about the legal battle so far.
Is Bruno Mars suing Miley Cyrus?
According to reports, it's not the pop star himself who is suing Miley Cyrus over her Grammy-award winning track Flowers.
The lawsuit was filed by Tempo Music Investments, which is not affiliated with Bruno Mars, meaning he is not officially involved in the legal dispute.
In fact, Bruno Mars and the spokespeople for his label, Warner Music Group, declined to comment at the time.
Tempo reportedly owns a share of the copyright in his famous track, If I Was Your Man, after purchasing the catalogue of the song's co-songwriter Philip Lawrence.
The US company brought the case against the Wrecking Ball hitmaker and Sony Music in September 2024 when filing the copyright claims in a California federal court.
It accused Miley of "intentionally copying" Bruno's hit track.
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Did Miley Cyrus's Flowers copy Bruno Mars's If I Was Your Man?
Tempo Music Investment's lawsuit claimed that Flowers had "striking similarities" to When I Was Your Man, from the melodies and bass lines used, to the lyrics themselves.
Their case cited an article from Billboard in 2023, which said: "Any listener can detect that [Mars' song] boasts a chorus that is the inverse of what Cyrus sings on 'Flowers.'"
Speculation around whether Miley's 2023 single had anything to do with Bruno's 2013 track began rumbling when fans picked apart the lyrics.
Many believed it was a response song, written 10 years later, with Miley on a mission to empower women.
What are the lyrics to Flowers and When I Was Your Man?
There's no denying these two popular songs have similarities, but whether Miley has broken copyright laws remains to be seen.
These are the lyrics to Bruno Mars's When I Was Your Man:
"I should have bought you flowers
"And held your hand
"Should have 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."
While these are the lyrics to Miley Cyrus's Flowers:
"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."
What will happen to the song Flowers?
With over 1 billion streams on Spotify and a Grammy award for Record of the Year, there's no arguing that Miley Cyrus's celebrated track Flowers was a huge hit.
But now Tempo has accused the pop icon of ripping the song from When I Was Your Man, there could be some serious repercussions.
The music company is fighting for an unreported amount of money in damages and has requested that Miley and her label stop distributing Flowers, meaning the song might be removed from digital platforms and hard copies of the album produced in the future.
Tempo has also put forward the request that Miley should be banned from ever performing Flowers again.
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