- Lizzo just denied she stole her “Truth Hurts” lyric from producer Justin Raisen.
- She gave credit to a British singer named Mina Lioness who tweeted the now-famous lyric in 2017.
Last week, producer and songwriter Justin Raisen joined a growing chorus by posting a video claiming Lizzo stole the lyrics to her iconic “Truth Hurts”, specifically the phrase “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100 percent that b*tch.” He said his team tried to work things out with Lizzo “quietly” over the last two years by asking for a percentage of her royalties but “were shut down every time.” Lizzo didn’t immediately comment on that claim, but she just hopped on Instagram to shut him down and credit a Twitter user who previously claimed she created the phrase.
Around the time when Lizzo filed to trademark the lyric in August, Twitter came for her and said:
“Lizzo has literally built her whole brand off of some stolen words and now her whole shit is unraveling because she point-blank refused to cite a Black woman. On Beyoncé’s internet, the receipts last forever.”
They also included a link to a 2017 tweet by a British singer named Mina Lioness that basically had the same exact wording as “Truth Hurts” and was a joke about Demi Lovato saying she was 1 percent African.
Mina’s been vocal about how she thinks Lizzo took the lyric from her tweet, which is why Lizzo once told her:
“‘Truth Hurts’ was written in June, FYI—someone made a meme on IG that said ‘I’m 100% that bitch’ and we were inspired, I give that meme credit when I talk about making the song. I’ve never seen ur viral tweet but I’m glad it exists.”
Now, amid mounting drama and legal concerns, Lizzo took to Instagram to say that she definitely didn’t steal the lyrics from Justin and credited Mina. She wrote:
“Hey y’all...as I’ve shared before, in 2017, while working on a demo, I saw a meme that resonated with me, a meme that made me feel like 100% that bitch…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…I later learned that a tweet inspired the meme. The creator of the tweet is the person I am sharing my success with…not these men. Period.”
Shortly after Lizzo posted that statement, Mina took to Twitter to write, “I just took a DNA Test, turns out I’m a credited writer for the number one song on Billboard,” and thanked Lizzo and her team for reaching out.
And that brings you up to speed with the “Truth Hurts” saga.
