Lizzo has responded to the three songwriters who are claiming they deserve credit for her breakout hit, “Truth Hurts.” The single, which has sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, has been the subject of several songwriting claims.
Last week, brothers Justin and Jeremiah Raisen publicly accused Lizzo of using elements from a demo they made with her in 2017 called “Healthy” for “Truth Hurts.”
“‘I just took a DNA test turns out I’m 100% that bitch’ was taken from ‘Healthy’ and used in ‘Truth Hurts,’” Justin wrote on Instagram. “We were never contacted about being credited for the use of the parts of ‘Healthy’ (melody, lyrics, and chords) that appear in ‘Truth Hurts.’”
A third co-writer on “Healthy,” Yves Rothman, is also seeking credit.
Wednesday (Oct. 23), Lizzo addressed the claims in an Instagram post, writing, “The men who now claim a piece of Truth Hurts did not help me write any part of the song. They had nothing to do with the line or how I chose to sing it. There was no one in the room when I wrote Truth Hurts, except me, Ricky Reed, and my tears.”
However, one person is receiving a long-awaited credit, British singer Mina Lioness, who was responsible for the tweet that inspired the line “I just took a DNA test turns out I’m 100% that bitch.” Lizzo changed her mind and has awarded the artist with songwriter credit, which the Raisens also demanded in their claim.
“I saw a meme that resonated with me, a meme that made me feel like 100% that bitch,” Lizzo wrote. “I later learned that a tweet inspired the meme. The creator of the tweet is the person I am sharing my success with… not these men.”
Mina Lioness took to Twitter to share her good news.
“I just took a DNA Test, turns out I’m a credited writer for the number one song on Billboard,” she wrote, adding, “I want to publicly thank Lizzo and her entire management team for embracing me and reaching out.”
As for the alleged songwriters, Lizzo is suing the Raisen brothers, saying they “expressly withdrew any claim to ‘Truth Hurts,’ in writing” last April and that Rothman has never made any previous claim to the song. Lizzo is seeking the court to enter a judgment stating that the Raisens, Rothman and their publisher have no ownership rights or rights to any money earned in connection with “Truth Hurts.”
The rapper is also suing the Raisens for “escalating [a] campaign of harassment against Lizzo and others involved in ‘Truth Hurts.’”
In a statement to Variety, Lizzo’s attorney Cynthia Arato wrote: “Today we filed a lawsuit on Lizzo’s behalf to establish, in a court of law, that the Raisens are not writers of ‘Truth Hurts’ and have no right to profit from the song’s success. The Raisens did not collaborate with Lizzo or anyone else to create the song, and they did not help write any of the material that they now seek to profit from, which is why they expressly renounced any claim to the work, in writing, months ago, as the lawsuit makes abundantly clear.”
“Although it is all too commonplace for successful artists to be subjected to these type of opportunistic claims,” the statement continues, “it is nevertheless disappointing that Lizzo had to take this step to put an end to the Raisens’ false claims and their campaign of harassment.”
The lawsuit details email exchanges and a phone call on April 2 between Lizzo and Justin Raisen, where he admitted that neither he nor his brother had anything to do with the writing of “Truth Hurts.” Later in the day after the phone call, the brothers’ manager contacted Lizzo’s lawyer, stating that the Raisens would no longer make any claims toward the single.