Lizzo Hit With Second Accusation of Plagiarism Over No.1 Hit “Truth Hurts”

lizzo truth hurts
Getty Images / Emma McIntyre

Lizzo has recently been hit with plagiarism claims over her song “Truth Hurts” by a Los Angeles songwriter.

According to a report by The New York Times, a songwriter and producer named Justin Raisen has accused the singer of plagiarizing “Truth Hurts” from a 2017 song they both worked on. Named “Healthy,” the song appears to share the same melody as Lizzo’s popular hit, along with the signature line “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch.”

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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

“We were never contacted about being credited for the use of the parts of “Healthy” (melody, lyrics, and chords),” said Raisen via an Instagram post. “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 added.

This isn’t the first time Lizzo has been accused of plagiarism over “Truth Hurts.” This summer, British writer Mina Lioness — the woman behind the “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch” phrase — took to Twitter to complain that she never received any credit. Lizzo has recently filed for copyright over the popular phrase and is selling merchandise around it.
Words by Feleg Tesema