Lizzo purportedly has ironed out a settlement involving an unreleased song referencing Sydney Sweeney’s controversial American Eagle jeans campaign.
In a notice filed in federal court and obtained by Rolling Stone, lawyers for Georgia-based GRC Trust say they’ve reached a “settlement in principle” with the Grammy-winning singer they sued last year over an alleged copyright infringement tied to the song. The lawyers said they expect to file a dismissal of the case with prejudice, meaning they can’t file again, within 60 days.
The lawsuit stemmed from a TikTok post Lizzo made last August, previewing an unreleased song, “I’m Goin’ in Till October.” In the post, Lizzo was seen washing a Porsche while wearing a denim top. When she sang the lyrics, “Bitch, I got good jeans like I’m Sydney,” it was clearly a play on the controversial American Eagle ad slogan, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” which was released in July and ignited a firestorm.
Critics called the American Eagle campaign, which featured Sweeney talking about her genetic traits, a dog whistle for white beauty standards and eugenics. Fox News then blitzed the airwaves in defense of the ad campaign, drawing Lizzo into the discourse when one right-wing pundit crowed, “We’re over this woke agenda. We are over the Lizzos, we are over the Dylan Mulvaneys. If this were a 300-pound non-binary person, they would be applauding her.”
For its part, GRC Trust filed its lawsuit Oct. 21, claiming Lizzo’s new song infringed on their copyright for the song “Win or Lose (We Tried).” The lawsuit didn’t name the artist behind “Win or Lose,” but it appeared to be referencing a track with the same name from soul artist Sam Dees. GRC Trust previously sued Kanye West with allegations his song “Lord Lift Me Up” infringed on Dees’ song, “Always Keep Your Love (Just Out Of My Reach).”
Though Lizzo’s song wasn’t officially released, GRC claimed she and Atlantic Records exploited “Win or Lose” and “obtained profits they would not have realized but for their infringement of GRC’s rights.” They asked for disgorgement of the alleged profits in an amount to be decided at trial.
In a statement shared with Rolling Stone last October, Lizzo’s reps said, “We are surprised that The GRC Trust filed this lawsuit. To be clear, the song has never been commercially released or monetized, and no decision has been made at this time regarding any future commercial release of the song.”
A few weeks after Lizzo shared the TikTok post August, she released the extended edition of her EP My Face Hurts From Smiling, this time titled My Face Still Hurts From Smiling. The deluxe version included nine new tracks, but “I’m Goin’ in Till October” did not appear on the project.
In their complaint, GRC said they tried to negotiate with the musician and her label before suing, but they “reached an impasse.” “The infringing work incorporates, interpolates, and samples instrumental and vocal elements of the [protected] composition,” the complaint said.
Reached by email on Monday, a lawyer for GRC Trust declined to comment. (A lawyer representing Atlantic Records did not respond. Attempts to reach a spokesperson for Lizzo were not immediately successful.)
Lizzo previously faced a plagiarism claim over her hit single “Truth Hurts.” She countersued the songwriters who filed the complaint, though that was later dismissed. The parties reached a private settlement in 2022.
