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Lizzo Speaks Out About Accusations That She Ripped Off “Truth Hurts”

Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images.
Lizzo's September 2017 song "Truth Hurts" endures as a classic, thanks to its reappearance in the Netflix film Someone Great and as a bonus track on her most recent album Cuz I Love You. And, of course, thanks to the unforgettable lyric: "I just took a DNA test / Turns out I'm 100% that bitch."
The meme-inspired lyric actually came from a tweet by British artist Mina Lioness. In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Lizzo acknowledged her contribution and Lioness tweeted that she has been officially credited as a writer on the track. However, Lizzo's post also disputed a claim of plagiarism from songwriters Justin and Jeremiah Raisen, who worked with Lizzo on a demo titled "Healthy" in April of 2017.
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Both "Healthy" and "Truth Hurts" contain the lyrics and, in an Instagram post of their own, the songwriters play the offending segments side-by-side. The Raisens say they have not been properly credited for the parts of "Healthy" they believe appear in "Truth Hurts." Refinery29 has reached out to Justin Raisen for comment.
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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

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However, Lizzo is adamant that the credit they demand is not deserved.
"The creator of the tweet is the person I am sharing my success with...not these men," she wrote on Instagram. "Period."
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Truth Hurts... but the truth shall set you free.

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Her team has filed a lawsuit in hopes of a judicial declaration that puts these accusations to bed.
"Today we filed a lawsuit on Lizzo’s behalf to establish, in a court of law, that the Raisens are not writers of ‘Truth Hurts’ and have no right to profit from the song’s success," her attorney wrote in a statement to Variety. "The Raisens did not collaborate with Lizzo or anyone else to create the 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, as the lawsuit makes abundantly clear."

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