Lizzo has been sued for an uncleared sample used in her unreleased song referencing Sydney Sweeney’s controversial ad.
A lawsuit against the ‘Juice’ singer was filed on Tuesday (October 21) in California over her unreleased song, which is rumoured to be called ‘I’m Goin’ In Till October’. The song gained notoriety for Lizzo singing “I got good jeans like I’m Sydney” – referencing the actress’ controversial American Eagle advertisement.
Based on a snippet posted by Lizzo to social media in August, the song allegedly samples ‘Win or Lose (We Tried)’ by 1970s funk group Windy City without permission. She is now being sued by the song’s publishers, Georgia-based The GRC Trust.
In the complaint, GRC Trust’s lawyers wrote Lizzo and her label Atlantic “obtained profits they would not have realized but for their infringement of GRC’s rights”. The complaint also notes that GRC “attempted informal resolution of the dispute but reached an impasse,” forcing them to file the lawsuit.
They are seeking any profits made by Lizzo and her label from the snippet, along with damages and attorneys’ fees.
In response, Lizzo’s representative told the BBC: “We are surprised that The GRC Trust filed this lawsuit. To be clear, the song has never been commercially released or monetised, and no decision has been made at this time regarding any future commercial release of the song.”
The singer was previously hit with plagiarism claims in 2019 for allegedly copying parts of her 2017 breakout hit ‘Truth Hurts’ – including its star lyric, “I just took a DNA test / Turns out, I’m 100 per cent that bitch”.
Producers Justin and Jeremiah Raisen claimed the singer took some lyrics, melodies and chords from an unreleased demo called ‘Healthy’ written with the Raisen brothers, Lizzo and two other writers, Jesse Saint John and Yves Rothman.
Lizzo denied the allegations and sued the Raisen brothers and Rothman in October 2019, seeking “a judicial declaration” that the trio “did not co-author ‘Truth Hurts,’ and have no right to co-own that work or to share in its profits.” In 2020, Lizzo was herself countersued by the musicians.
U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee later agreed with Lizzo’s claim that “a joint author of one copyrightable work does not automatically gain ownership of a derivative work in which the joint author had no hand in creating.”
Judge Gee added that the plaintiffs themselves alleged that ‘Healthy’ was completed as a “standalone” song and not a demo for ‘Truth Hurts’.
The parties eventually reached a settlement in 2022, with attorneys asking for the “dismissal of the entire action without prejudice.”
English (US) · 