Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Lizzo is learning that harsh reality in real time as her #1 Hot 100 hit, “Truth Hurts,” is being called out over plagiarism for the second time.
“Just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100 percent that bitch” is perhaps the track’s most iconic line, as well as the opening lyric, and the one that’s been at the center of these plagiarism claims. According to producers and brothers Justin and Jeremiah Raisen, the lyric came to be during their songwriting session with Lizzo and fellow songwriters Jesse Saint John and Yves Rothman in 2017.
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As reported by the NY Times, it was Saint John who pulled up a Twitter meme on his phone with the phrase “100 percent that bitch.” Everyone in the room laughed, and Jeremiah suggested it be included in a song. Five months later, when “Truth Hurts” was released, the lyric arrived without Raisen receiving any credit.
“There was a bittersweet emotion, because deep in our hearts we know that we were a part of this song,” Jeremiah told the New York Times. “We should feel validated but we’re not.”
In support of his claim, Raisen posted an Instagram video illustrating how Lizzo sang the line in “Healthy,” another song worked on in that session, and how similar it sounds to the version in “Truth Hurts.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3oRS_0liE_/
“The Raisens are not writers of ‘Truth Hurts,’” Lizzo’s lawyer Cynthia S. Arato countered in a statement. “They did not collaborate with Lizzo or anyone else to create this 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.”
The same line was at the heart of the first plagiarism charge against Lizzo and “Truth Hurts.” British singer “Mina Lioness” called the singer out on Twitter back in August for what she felt was lack of credit for her role in the hit: “If she thought I had the autonomy to truly challenge her and assert my rights.. She would have been given me my writers credit,” one of Lioness’ tweets claim of Lizzo. “She could of rode this tweet till the wheels fell off. I would have supported through and through as long as I was credited.”
If she thought I had the autonomy to truly challenge her and assert my rights.. She would have been given me my writers credit. She could of rode this tweet till the wheels fell off. I would have supported through and through as long as I was credited.
— MAKE DUA OUT NOW (@MinaLioness) August 28, 2019
