Lizzo said Wednesday she has given a songwriting credit to Mina Lioness, whose 2017 tweet inspired the line “100% that b**ch” in her hit song “Truth Hurts.”
The singer also shot down a claim by brothers Justin and Jeremiah Raisen that the song uses melody, lyrics and chords from a demo they made with Lizzo in early 2017.
“I saw a meme that resonated me, a meme that made me feel like 100% that bitch,” Lizzo recalled in a statement she shared on social media. “I sang that line in the demo, and I later used the line in ‘Truth Hurts.’
“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. There was no one in the room when I wrote ‘Truth Hurts,’ except me, Ricky Reed, and my tears.”
Lizzo said she later learned that the meme was inspired by Lioness’ tweet. “The creator of the tweet is the person I am sharing my success with … not these men. Period.”
— FOLLOW @YITTY (@lizzo) October 23, 2019
“Truth Hurts” was originally only credited to Lizzo, Saint John, and producers Ricky Reed and Tele (Steven Cheung).
Lioness tweeted Wednesday: “I just took a DNA Test, turns out I’m a credited writer for the number one song on Billboard … I want to publicly thank @Lizzo and her entire management team for embracing me and reaching out.”
I did a DNA test and found out I'm 100% that bitch.
— mina (@MinaLioness) February 25, 2017
Meanwhile, Lizzo has filed a lawsuit against the Raisen brothers, who last week shared on Instagram: “We’ve tried to sort this out quietly for the last two years, only asking for 5% [of songwriting royalties] 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.”
Lizzo’s lawyer Cynthia Arato said in a statement that the lawsuit is intended 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” and to “put an end to the Raisens’ false claims and their campaign of harassment.”