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MusicRadar
MusicRadar
Entertainment
Ben Rogerson

“Merely a commonplace ‘circle of fifths’ chord progression”: Miley Cyrus’s lawyers bring music theory to the fore in a fresh attempt to show that her hit song Flowers doesn’t copy Bruno Mars’ When I Was Your Man

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 03: Miley Cyrus attends the 37th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 03, 2026 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/WireImage).

Miley Cyrus is making a fresh attempt to have the copyright claim brought against her in relation to her 2023 hit Flowers dismissed before it goes to court.

To recap, Cyrus – along with Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack, Flowers’ co-writers – are being accused of ripping off Bruno Mars’ 2012 song, When I Was Your Man… but not by Mars himself. Instead, the challenge is coming from Tempo Music Investments, which previously purchased a ‘piece’ of When I Was Your Man from Philip Lawrence, one of the song’s co-writers.

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