Miley Cyrus might be able to “buy herself flowers,” but she’s now found herself needing to hire a lawyer too.

The release of her hit single Flowers in 2023 marked a major milestone in Cyrus’ career, showcasing her evolution from Disney’s Hannah Montana to the bold, post-teen pop icon, and finally to her mature phase with the album Latest Summer Vacation.

However, the massive success of Flowers—which garnered over two billion streams on Spotify and earned Cyrus two Grammy Awards—soon became overshadowed by controversy, with allegations that the song borrows heavily from Bruno Mars’ 2013 hit, When I Was Your Man.

Though Mars himself hasn’t leveled any accusations, Tempo Music Investments, a company that owns part of the copyright to the song, filed a lawsuit against Cyrus in September. The suit claims that Flowers “would not exist” without exploiting “numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” of When I Was Your Man, including its melodic pitch patterns, bass line, sections of the chorus, theatrical elements, lyrics, and chord progressions.

In When I Was Your Man, Mars sings: “I should’ve bought you flowers/And held your hand/Should’ve gave you all my hours/When I had the chance/Take you to every party/’Cause all you wanted to do was dance.”