Other songwriters have come forward to claim some credit for the tune, which Lizzo denies they deserve.
It seems like some people in the music industry are taking a DNA test to find out if “Truth Hurts” is 100% their song.
Lizzo’s breakout single, “Truth Hurts,” has been featured in commercials and a movie and has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the last seven weeks. However, other songwriters have come forward to claim some credit for the tune, which Lizzo denies they deserve.
Industry songwriters Justin and Jeremiah Raisen claim that in 2017 they penned a song called “Healthy” with the pop star. They say that track has certain similarities to “Truth Hurts,” including the song’s iconic line: “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that b****." The brothers say they got the lyrics from a meme that was discovered on social media by U.K. singer Mina Lioness.
“Healthy” was never released by Lizzo.
The Raisens say they deserve co-writing credits on “Truth Hurts."
Jeremiah Raisen spoke to Inside Edition about the situation and said that the now-iconic line in “Truth Hurts” is not only from “Healthy” but Lizzo also sings it in the same cadence as she did when they recorded in it 2017.
“Everyone was super excited about it. Lizzo told us that day that her and her producer, Ricky Reed, have been trying to do something like this and so that got us pretty excited and we actually thought that the song was going to come out,” he claimed to Inside Edition.
Raisen explained that songwriters do not get paid for sessions, saying that they “collaborate and write to essentially you will get credit for…It is sort of the unspoken rule, if you collaborate on something you will get credited.”
“'Healthy’ never came out but parts of ‘Healthy’ were in ‘Truth Hurts,’ basically, ‘I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that b***,’ and that line came out through the concept of having a song called ‘Healthy,’" he added. “We were looking for health-oriented concepts.”
Raisen says that their claim against the singer goes beyond the line and also has to deal with “the cadence, how it is sung, the timing — that is all part of songwriting as well. It is not just the lyrics.”
Raisen said that the melody and beat to “Truth Hurts” are also similar to “Healthy.”
“We contacted our team to reach out to Lizzo’s team and they basically said they didn’t want to credit us,” Raisen added.
Raisen and his brother put the song in dispute through their publishers in order to help solve the issue, but that has not been resolved.
“This whole situation is upsetting because that day was a magical day, like, working with Lizzo,” Raisen told Inside Edition. “I wish we could figure it out to be properly credited but I also don’t like seeing any of this negativity over this whole situation because I think Lizzo is one of the most talented out right now.”
The brothers want a 5% share of royalties for the song as well.
"It’s not about the money. It's about the credit and the difference of what's right and wrong," Raisen said.
On Oct. 23, Lizzo took to social media to slam the brothers, saying she is not giving them credit for the song.
"The men who now claim a piece of 'Truth Hurts' did not help me write any part of the song," she wrote. "There was no one in the room when I wrote 'Truth Hurts' except me, Ricky Reed, and my tears. That song is my life, and its words are my truth."
She also added the brothers "had nothing to do with the line or how I chose to sing it."
Lizzo also said in her statement that the person who created the meme that inspired the line will get credit.
Soon after Lizzo released her statement, her attorney Cynthia Arato, announced that a lawsuit has been filed against the brothers as well as Justin “Yves” Rothman, who was part of the “Healthy” session. The suit, filed in a California federal court, says they are not entitled to any credit for the track.
The suit says the Raisens "expressly withdrew any claim to 'Truth Hurts,' in writing, in April of this year, and subsequently assured Lizzo, again in writing, that they were making no claims to the work."
The Raisens released a statement in response to the suit saying they are “beyond happy” Lioness will receive credit for her line but adding they “find it unsettling that they believe our claim is 'unwarranted,' considering the receipts we have which include a musicology report for the song 'Healthy,' which predates 'Truth Hurts.'"
“Truth Hurts” was released in September 2017. It was then the breakout bonus track on the deluxe edition of Lizzo’s album “Cuz I Love You,” which came out May 3, 2019. The original 11-track release of “Cuz I Love You,” which dropped April 19, 2019, did not feature “Truth Hurts.”
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