Mark SavageMusic correspondent
Getty Images
Lizzo’s hits include Juice, Truth Hurts and About Damn Time
The pop star posted a brief snippet of the as-yet-untitled song in August. It caused a stir by mentioning Sweeney’s adverts for the jeans company American Eagle, which some critics said promoted white supremacism.
But lawyers for the GRC Trust were more interested in the music. They claim Lizzo unlawfully sampled the 1970s song Win or Lose (We Tried), for which they own the copyright.
GRC is suing Lizzo in California for lost profits. Lizzo’s spokesperson expressed shock that action was being taken over an unreleased song.
“We are surprised that The GRC Trust filed this lawsuit,” the singer’s representative said.
“To be clear, the song has never been commercially released or monetised, and no decision has been made at this time regarding any future commercial release of the song.”
The song in question has not been registered with copyright or royalty societies in the US – so it is unclear how Lizzo might have earned money by posting a 13-second clip to social media.
However, in legal papers filed in California, GRC Trust claims the star “obtained profits they would not have realised but for their infringement” of Win Or Lose (We Tried), originally recorded by soul singer Sam Dees.
The company’s lawyers say they “attempted informal resolution of the dispute” with Lizzo’s team, “but reached an impasse, necessitating the filing of this case”.
They are seeking an injunction blocking further distribution of the song; and a financial settlement equal to “all [of the] defendants’ profits, plus all GRC’s losses”, from the alleged copyright infringement.
Lizzo’s original posts have been scrubbed from her social media accounts.
Lizzo / Instagram
The song clip, which has now been deleted, was posted to Lizzo’s Instagram and TikTok profile in August
The song – which fans have dubbed either Good Jeans or I’m Goin’ In Till October – was originally uploaded in August, alongside a video of Lizzo washing a Porsche while wearing a denim top and cut off shorts.
The lyrics went viral after she referenced actress Sydney Sweeney’s advertisement campaign for American Eagle Jeans.
The campaign became a political talking point, with some critics accusing the company of championing white beauty standards by pairing Sweeney (who has blonde hair and blue eyes) with a slogan which was a play on the phrase “great genes”.
Lizzo’s song included the line: “I got good jeans like I’m Sydney”, which was interpreted as either praise or criticism of The White Lotus star, depending on the ideological slant of the publication reporting the story.
The singer made her own position clear in a follow-up video that mocked the right-wing response to Sweeney’s advertisement, which even drew praise from President Trump.
Lizzo’s clip opened with footage of a Fox News pundit criticising the “woke agenda” of people who accused Sweeney of promoting white supremacism.
“If this were a 300-pound non-binary person, they would be applauding her,” they said.
The video then cut to a clip of Lizzo parodying the American Eagle ad, with the caption: “Lizzo’s got good jeans.”
Breaking down the Sydney Sweeney jeans ad controversy
This is not the first time Lizzo has faced a copyright claim.
In 2019, three producers sued over her breakout hit Truth Hurts, claiming the track was based on an earlier song, called Healthy, that they had written with Lizzo in 2017.
Lizzo denied the claims, and the case was later dismissed after the parties reached an out-of-court agreement.
Separately, the singer Mina Lioness claimed Lizzo had lifted Truth Hurts’ viral lyric, “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch”, from one of her social media posts.
Lizzo ultimately credited Lioness as a co-writer on the song.
Separately, GRC Trust is suing Kanye West over his sample of another Sam Dees song, Just Out Of My Reach, on his recent track Lord Lift Me Up.
