Copyright independent

Lizzo is facing a copyright infringement suit over an unreleased track that references actor Sydney Sweeney and allegedly samples a 1970s soul ballad without permission. GRC Trust, a rights holder based in Georgia, claims that Lizzo’s track, tentatively titled “I’m Goin’ In Till October”, uses “instrumental and vocal elements” from a composition originally written by Sam Dees, according to court documents filed in California on 21 October. Performing rights databases for the composition, titled “Win or Lose (We Tried)”, lists Jimmy Ginn as the publishing rights holder. In its filing, GRC Trust says both Lizzo and her label, Atlantic Records, “obtained profits they would not have realised but for their infringement” of the trust’s rights, according to Billboard. The trust is seeking an injunction against further distribution of Lizzo’s song and a settlement equal to all of her and her label’s “profits plus all GRC’s losses” from the alleged infringement. The primary dispute revolves around a video Lizzo posted on Instagram and TikTok in August 2025 showing her dressed in denim and washing a Porsche while rapping the line, “B****, I got good jeans like I’m Sydney”, a clear nod to Sweeney’s ad campaign for the fashion brand American Eagle. Lizzo’s posts containing the snippet were removed from social media sometime after the suit was filed. The song is not registered with US copyright or royalty societies in the artist’s name yet, so it is unclear how Lizzo may have earned money by posting a 13-second clip to social media. The song in question did not appear on Lizzo’s June 2025 mixtape My Face Hurts From Smiling or its extended edition, My Face Still Hurts From Smiling. Her studio album, Love in Real Life, was expected to release this year, but was delayed indefinitely. GRC Trust argues that the online exposure of the song’s teaser alone triggers liability. The trust also says it tried to work out an informal arrangement with Lizzo’s team but negotiations “reached an impasse, necessitating the filing of this case”. Responding to the lawsuit, Lizzo’s representatives told AFP: “We are surprised that the GRC Trust filed this lawsuit. To be clear, the song has never been commercially released or monetised, and no decision has been made at this time regarding any future commercial release of the song.” The Independent has reached out to representatives for Lizzo and Sweeney for comment. The White Lotus star’s American Eagle jeans campaign, released in 2024, drew intense scrutiny online with people comparing the phrase to the racist language of eugenicists, due to its wordplay on “jeans” and “genes”. In the advert, Sweeney says: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue." While critics accused the ad of playing into the eugenic idea that some genetic qualities were better than others, the MAGA camp quickly came to Sweeney’s defence. US president Donald Trump praised the actor when he found out she was a registered Republican, writing on social media that she had “the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there”. Sweeney herself did not make any comment on the controversy, shutting down questions on the divisive campaign at the September premiere of her latest film, Christy. Lizzo had, at the time, posted a photo of herself posed like Sweeney from the ad campaign on Instagram, with the caption: “My jeans are black.” She followed up with a short video that opened with footage from a Fox News segment denouncing the “woke agenda” of people criticising Sweeney’s advertisement. It then cut to Lizzo parodying the American Eagle ad, zipping up her jeans and rapping: “F*** outta my face/H*, give me some space/It’s way too hot up in here/I’m sweatin’ out of my lace.” In a separate filing last month, GRC Trust sued Kanye West, his company Yeezy, and rapper Vory for allegedly sampling another track by Dees – “Always Keep Your Love (Just Out of My Reach)” – without permission. A hearing in that case was set for 19 November. Lizzo faced a plagiarism claim over her chart-topping single “Truth Hurts” in 2019. She was sued by three producers who claimed the song was derived from an earlier track called “Healthy” that they had written with her in 2017. Lizzo denied this and the suit was ultimately settled out of court in 2022. The same year, British singer Mina Lioness said the song’s now-famous opening line originated in a 2017 social media post of hers. Lizzo subsequently credited Lioness as co-writer of “Truth Hurts”. She was also sued by three former dancers in 2023 who accused her and members of her touring company of sexual harassment, weight-shaming and creation of a hostile work environment. Lizzo denied the allegations, calling them “false” and “outrageous” and saying she was “blindsided” by the lawsuit, which is ongoing.