Olivia Dean’s music has collided with a Grammy-winning basic in a brand new lawsuit accusing the singer of repeatedly copying the melody from Invoice Withers’ “Simply the Two of Us.”
Dean’s label was sued Friday by Mattie Music Group, the writer of Withers’ catalog.
Dean’s tune from 2025, “I’ve Seen It,” and Withers’ hit basic have “apparent and inescapable similarities,” in keeping with the lawsuit obtained by Fox Information Digital.
“The quantity, character, and association of the shared musical components are so placing as to help an interference that the similarities don’t outcome from coincidence, unbiased creation, or reliance on frequent musical components,” the lawsuit claims.
On the coronary heart of the case is the allegation that “I’ve Seen It” repeatedly copies the “distinctly protectable melody” of “Simply the Two of Us.”
After discovering the tune in August 2026, Mattie Music Group employed musicologist Alexander Stewart, whose preliminary evaluation reportedly revealed substantial similarities in protectable musical expression.
Mattie Music Group insisted that Withers’ authentic tune had been so broadly distributed that Dean and his co-writers Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang had an affordable alternative to fulfill her.
“Simply the Two of Us” reached quantity two on the Billboard Sizzling 100, received a Grammy Award and obtained a long time of airplay and radio play. It has additionally been coated by many artists.
The label reportedly knowledgeable the businesses of the alleged infringement on August 17, 2026, however claims to have continued to commercially exploit the tune thereafter.
The federal lawsuit targets Capitol Data, Common Music Group, Sony Publishing and Kobalt Music Publishing – not Dean personally – and seeks damages, earnings and an injunction in opposition to additional alleged violations.
Withers’ breakthrough got here in 1971 with “Ain’t No Sunshine”, which earned him his first Grammy.
His catalog contains classics corresponding to “Lean on Me”, “Use Me”, “Pretty Day”, “Grandma’s Palms” and “Simply the Two of Us”.
Dean, 27, is a British singer-songwriter whose mix of soul, pop and jazz-influenced R&B has made her one of many UK’s largest stars.
She launched her first album, “Messy”, in 2023.
Her second album, “The Artwork of Loving,” produced main hits together with “Good to Every Different,” “So Simple (To Fall in Love),” and “Man I Want.”