Lizzo countersued over 'Truth Hurts' lyrics by songwriters of 'Healthy'

"Lizzo is a talented musician and performer who currently enjoys immense popularity based on a hit song that she did not write alone," lawyers claim. Photo / AP

Lizzo is facing a countersuit from a pair of songwriters who publicly accused her of cribbing portions of a song they co-wrote in her Grammy-winning smash hit "Truth Hurts."

Justin and Jeremiah Raisen say "Truth Hurts" was heavily inspired by "Healthy," an unreleased track they and Lizzo collaborated on in an April 2017 writing session. The brothers first made their claims in social media posts last fall, arguing that the writing session produced the most recognizable line in "Truth Hurts": "I just took a DNA test, turns out I'm 100 percent that b----."

After the song dispute received coverage in outlets including the New York Times and The Washington Post, Lizzo filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to establish that the Raisens and another songwriter, Justin "Yves" Rothman, had no claim to the song. "Truth Hurts" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart last year for a record-breaking seven weeks. The song went on to win best pop solo performance at the 2020 Grammy Awards, where it was also nominated for record and song of the year.

Those accolades are outlined in the countersuit - filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division - that argues" 'Truth Hurts' was 'derived and copied' from 'Healthy.' "

"Lizzo is a talented musician and performer who currently enjoys immense popularity based on a hit song that she did not write alone," lawyers for the Raisens and Rothman said in a statement. "The Counterclaims we filed today seek a judgment from the court that the song that is now called 'Truth Hurts' originated in Justin Raisen's home recording studio from a collaboration among our clients, Justin and Jeremiah Raisen and Yves Rothman, along with Lizzo and Jesse Saint John."

An attorney representing Lizzo in her suit against the songwriters did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The countersuit also cites a musicology report - commissioned by the brothers' record label - which concluded that " 'Truth Hurts' would not exist in its present form without the existence of and the borrowing from 'Healthy.' "

Experts have said the dispute around "Truth Hurts" is unique because it involves a track that had not been previously heard by the general public. Adding to the complexity of the claims is a fact upon which the Raisens and Lizzo agree: The DNA test line was itself inspired by a meme. The song had previously drawn the ire of Mina Lioness, a British singer who quipped "I did a DNA test and found out I'm 100% that b----" in a February 2017 tweet.

In October, after Lizzo's lawyer announced her suit against the Raisens and Rothman, Lizzo tweeted a statement acknowledging that she had come across the meme and repurposed it while working on a demo in 2017. "I sang that line in the demo, and I later used the line in Truth Hurts," she wrote. "The men who now claim a piece of Truth Hurts did not help me write any part of the song. They had nothing to do with the line or how I chose to sing it."

Lizzo added that the only other person in the room when she wrote "Truth Hurts" was producer Ricky Reed, who signed the singer to his Atlantic Records imprint, Nice Life, in 2016. But the singer did imply that Lioness would receive credit for contributing to the song. "I later learned that a tweet inspired a meme," Lizzo wrote. "The creator of the tweet is the person I am sharing my success with ... not these men."

Tweets are entitled to copyright protection "to the extent that what's being tweeted constitutes an original work of authorship," Lisa Alter, a copyright lawyer not involved in the Lizzo dispute, told The Post last year. Just suggesting the use of language from a tweet or meme - as the Raisens say Jeremiah did after songwriter Jesse Saint James came across the DNA test meme - would be a trickier basis for a copyright infringement case, Alter said, because "an idea itself is not copyright."

The countersuit argues that the Raisens and Rothman contributed beyond that. " 'Truth Hurts' is substantially similar to 'Healthy' both by objective musicological elements, and in its total concept and feel," the songwriters say in their counterclaim.

The countersuit asks that the court dismiss Lizzo's suit "with prejudice and in its entirety." It also asks the court to declare the Raisens and Rothman "joint authors and co-owners" of "Truth Hurts." Alternatively, it asks the court to "declare that 'Truth Hurts' is a derivative work of 'Healthy,' and that the three songwriters are entitled to "royalties and profits from the exploitation of 'Truth Hurts.' "