However, it is not Mars that is suing Cyrus, but Tempo Music Investments, TMZ reported Monday.
DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Cyrus and Mars requesting comment.
In the lawsuit, Tempo Music accused Cyrus of “intentionally copying” When I Was Your Man in Flowers because of the significant similarities between the two songs.
Miley Cyrus, 31, is being sued by Tempo Music Investments for allegedly plagiarizing Bruno Mars’ song When I Was Your Man in her 2023 hit Flowers; pictured in February in Los Angeles
Mars, who is not an actor, sold part of his music catalog to Warner Music Group — which invested in Tempo Music Group — in 2020; pictured in 2018 in Las Vegas
The investment firm claims that Flowers features a similar melody and harmonies to the previous song, both in the verses and the chorus.
She claims that the chord progressions used on Cyrus’s tune – which she is credited with writing with Aldae (real name: Gregory Hein) and Michael Pollack – are similar to the progressions on Mars’s song, and also claims that some of the song’s lyrics are similar to those of When I Was Your Man, which Mars wrote with Philip Lawrence, Ari Levin and Andrew Wyatt.
Tempo states in its lawsuit that “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.”
Both songs were hits for their respective artists and each reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
When I Was Your Man was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014, but Flowers has had even more success.
The song won Record of the Year, which honors songwriters, along with the award Mars was nominated for, Best Pop Solo Performance.
Flowers was also nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammys, although it did not win.
Tempo Music accuses Cyrus, her producers Kid Harpoon and Tyler Harper, and her record label of all having access to Mars’ song, even though nearly all of them have access to the song, which was a hit when it was released a decade earlier and has remained readily available on physical media and streaming ever since.
The investment firm is seeking damages from Cyrus, although it is unclear whether it has yet specified the amount it is seeking.
In a more severe move, it is asking that she and her label be barred from distributing Flowers, which could result in the record being removed from digital and future physical releases of her 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation, and the company is also asking that Cyrus be barred from distributing Flowers and performing the popular song ever again.
In May 2021, the Uptown Funk hitmaker was reported to have sold a portion of his song catalog to Warner Music Group six months earlier.
Few details about the scale of the deal were revealed at the time, but Mars (real name: Peter Hernandez) was said to have retained majority ownership of his catalog.
In late 2019, Warner Music Group and Providence Equity Partners announced plans to invest $650 million in a new platform, Tempo Music Investments, according to Variety.
Mars’ song topped the charts in 2013 but failed to win a Grammy. Cyrus’ song also topped the Billboard Hot 100, but also won Record of the Year (Songwriter) and Best Pop Solo Performance, for which Mars was nominated but lost; Mars seen in 2021 in Los Angeles
The investment firm is seeking money from Cyrus and wants her to be barred from distributing or performing Flowers live; pictured in February in Los Angeles
Tempo was conceived to invest in artists’ catalogues, both their master recordings and their publishing rights.
In recent years, it has become increasingly common for artists to sell all or part of their catalogs to investment firms like Tempo or its older competitor Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
The move promises huge earnings for the artists, many of whom – including Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan – are at the end of their careers, while companies can then profit from song royalties.
It’s less common for younger artists like Mars to sell off their catalogs, although he’s only sold a portion of them.