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Two high-profile celebrities who’ve been notably quiet this year are Bruno Mars and Miley Cyrus. The reason? A heated legal battle that began when Mars took issue with Cyrus’ chart-topping single, Flowers, claiming it bore striking similarities to his 2013 hit, When I Was Your Man.
The lawsuit, filed by Tempo Music Investments, which owns a portion of the copyright to When I Was Your Man, argued that Flowers wouldn’t exist without Mars’ original track. According to Tempo’s complaint, many listeners immediately noticed 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 lawsuit stated, further alleging that Cyrus’ hit duplicated “numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” of Mars’ song.