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October 17, 2019

Lizzo accused of plagiarism over 'Truth Hurts', for a second time

Songwriter and producer Justin Raisen has posted a video on Instagram comparing Lizzo's hit single 'Truth Hurts' to a song 'Healthy' he and others wrote with Lizzo in 2017, Time reports. Both songs share the same opening line – “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch” – as well as the same melody, sung in a different key (watch snippets of both songs below). Lizzo was first accused of plagiarism in February 2018 by British singer Mina Lioness for the “100% that bitch” lyric, which Lioness originally tweeted in full in February 2017. Raisen acknowledged Lioness’s tweet and is willing to share some of the proceeds with Lioness for her influence on 'Healthy'.

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The Truth about “Truth Hurts” On April 11th, 2017, we wrote a song called “Healthy” w/ Lizzo, Jesse St John, and Yves Rothman at our studio. “I just took a DNA test turns out I’m 100% that bitch” was taken from “Healthy” and used in “Truth Hurts”. We were never contacted about being credited for the use of the parts of “Healthy” (melody, lyrics, and chords) that appear in “Truth Hurts”. 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. 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. 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. Shout out to the singer Mina Lioness ( @minalioness ) 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. 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. The clip below shows a video & photos from the day we wrote “Healthy” along with the comparisons between the two works. All the Love, Justin & Jeremiah Raisen #lizzo #truthhurts #healthy #billboard

A post shared by Justin Raisen (@justinraisen) on

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