Lizzo is under fire over accusations of plagiarizing her chart-topping hit, “Truth Hurts.”
Two of the singer’s previous collaborators are claiming she stole elements from a song they created together two years ago called “Healthy”. Producer Justin Raisen shared a comparison between the two songs on Instagram, claiming that he and his brother Jeremiah co-wrote the song with Lizzo, along with Jesse St. John and Yves Rothman, on April 11, 2017.
Jeremiah and Justin claim that parts of the “Healthy” melody, chords and lyrics were used in “Truth Hurts,” including the line, “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch.”
“We were never contacted about being credited for the use of the parts of ‘Healthy’ (melody, lyrics, and chords) that appear in ‘Truth Hurts,’” Justin wrote on Instagram. “After reaching out to Ricky Reed and Lizzo’s team about fixing it, we put the song in dispute in 2017 when it came out. We’ve tried to sort this out quietly for the last two years, only asking for 5% each but were shutdown every time.”
Adding to their post, the artists also detailed the alleged emotional toll that trying to get credit for the song has taken on them.
“Coming forward publicly to family, friends, artists, and colleagues seems to be the only way at this point in relieving some of our emotional distress caused by this,” Justin wrote. “The last thing we want to do is throw any negativity toward Lizzo’s momentum and movement as a cultural figure. If we believe in what she’s preaching, believing in ourselves & our own voices is something we thought she’d understand.”
The accusation comes two years after an initial dispute from British singer Mina Lioness, who claimed Lizzo had stolen “Truth Hurts” lyrics from her. Lioness allegedly tweeted a meme in February 2017, which included the “DNA test” line. Lioness’ accusation circled around on Twitter, with Lizzo responding the next year.
“I’ve never seen this before in my life. That’s crazy,” she tweeted Feb. 9, 2018. “But u know, there’s 10 BILLION ppl on the planet. The odds of multiple people having the same idea are VERY high. The odds of multiple ppl putting it in song w/ millions of streams are low tho. Nothin new under the sun.”
She followed up the tweet that same day, saying she’d seen the meme but not Lioness’ tweet.
“Truth Hurts was written in June fyi— someone made a meme on IG that said “I’m 100% that bitch” and we were inspired, I give that meme credit when I talk about making the song,” she wrote. “I’ve never seen ur viral tweet but I’m glad it exists.”
However, in Justin’s Instagram post, he claims they were inspired directly by Lioness’ tweet and says he believes she deserves credit for the song, too.
“Shout out to the singer Mina Lioness for tweeting ‘I just did a DNA test turns out I’m 100% that bitch.’ A meme of that came up in our writing session & inspired the lyric and melody we wrote together,” he wrote. “If Ricky and Lizzo’s team decide to settle this dispute with us, we would like to share some of the proceeds with Mina for her influence on Healthy.”
“Truth Hurts” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Sept. 7, 2019 and currently sits at No. 2, below Travis Scott’s “Highest In The Room.”