Lizzo responds to 'Truth Hurts' plagiarism allegations, credits tweet
SEATTLE, WA - JULY 20: Singer Lizzo performs on stage during the Capitol Hill Block Party on July 19, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images)
Popstar Lizzo responded on Wednesday to plagiarism allegations related to her hit song “Truth Hurts” by giving credit to a woman whose tweet inspired a line in the song and saying that two men claiming they helped write the song “had nothing to do with” it.
“Truth Hurts” has spent seven weeks as the No. 1 song on the Hot 100, according to Billboard.
Record producer Justin Raisen had posted a clip he said was from an earlier song that included the line, “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100 percent that b----.” The line was used in “Truth Hurts,” and Raisen claimed he and his brother were uncredited for work they contributed to the song, including that line plus melody and chords.
Further complicating the situation, the line actually came from a tweet by the singer Mina Lioness in 2017.
Lizzo said she saw a meme that had taken Lioness’ words while she was working on a demo and included the line in the demo, and later in “Truth Hurts.”'
“I later learned that a tweet inspired the meme,” Lizzo said in a tweet. “The creator of the tweet is the person I am sharing my success with … not these men. Period.”
Lioness tweeted on Wednesday that Lizzo and her management team had reached out to her and that she was now credited with helping to write the song.
Lizzo said Raisen and his brother “did not help me write any part of the song,” adding that only she and producer Ricky Reed were in the roOm when she wrote “Truth Hurts.”
“That song is my life, and its words are my truth,” Lizzo said.