A pair of music producers are publicly accusing LIZZO of not crediting them on her hit “Truth Hurts.”
In an Instagram post this week, Justin and Jeremiah Raisen said the song uses melody, lyrics and chords from a demo titled “Healthy” they made with LIZZO, Jesse Saint John and Yves Rothman in April 2017.
LIZZO, Saint John, and producers Ricky Reed and Tele (Steven Cheung) are credited on “Truth Hurts,” which was released in September 2017.
“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,” wrote the Raisens. “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.”
The pair posted a video comparing “Healthy” and “Truth Hurts.”
But, in a statement to The New York Times, LIZZO’s lawyer said the Raisens “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.”
View this post on Instagram
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
A post shared by Justin Raisen (@justinraisen) on Oct 14, 2019 at 11:50pm PDT