On Monday, September 16th, 2024, Tempo Music Investments which owns a portion of the copyright of Mars’s song, filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles court, alleging that Cyrus copied different aspects of “When I Was Your Man,” notably with certain chords and with some lyrical similarities. Miley’s “Flowers” was considered a mainstream hit and some would say brought her back into the spotlight, taking back the big recognition she had in the first place ten years ago (2013) while it was her “Bangerz” period. The song would grant Miley’s first-ever Grammy awards in her career. She would win for Record of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. But this popularity would not bring only positive attention, it would catch the eye of Bruno’s record label and spark controversy. Tempo Music Investments is looking for $150,000 per infringement in lawful damages. 

The lyrics for “When I Was Your Man” and “Flowers,” which were released 10 years apart, share contradictory lyrics. 

In Bruno Mars’ song he laments, “I should’ve bought you flowers and held your hand, shoulda 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.”

Contrastingly, in “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, she belts, “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 hand, yeah, I can love me better than you can.”

Although both songs were a hit, Miley Cyrus and Bruno Mars’s fans can see the huge similarity in the lyrics and melody. Whether or not Miley Cyrus did this intentionally, Tempo Music Investments wants to take legal action.