Source: JD Barnes / JD Barnes for ESSENCE
Lizzo has been sitting pretty these days with the success of her creative and catchy album and singles. Last month, her hit single, “Truth Hurts,” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and reigned supreme for weeks! But amid the overwhelming success of ‘Truth Hurts,’ it seem like a few other artists are trying to get in on the single’s popularity and profit.
Songwriter and producer, Justin Raisen, is accusing the Houston native of plagiarizing part of his own single called, “Healthy,” for her smash hit. In a lengthy Instagram post, Raisen details the history of the song, and explains how it was allegedly written with Lizzo and others in 2017. While, most of his complaint stems around the opening line – “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100 percent that bitch,” Raisen also says Lizzo jacked his melody.
“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,’” Raisen wrote. “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 shut down 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,” he continued. “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.”
But to make matters worse, Raisen is the second creative to accuse Lizzo of stealing parts of their work for the hit. In fact, Raisen revealed he’s also fighting for British singer, Mina Lioness, as well, who, in February 2018, said she first tweeted the line a year before she filed a complaint. Although Lizzo claimed she never saw the tweet and was inspired by an Instagram meme, Raisen believes both he and Mina should be credited and compensated.
“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,” he said.
Source: JD Barnes / JD Barnes for ESSENCE
Source: Complex
