Lizzo Faces Copyright Suit Over Unreleased ‘Good Jeans’ Track

A live performance from Lizzo. Photo Credit: Daniel Benavides

What do Lizzo, Atlantic Records, and Sydney Sweeney have in common? For one thing, they’re all mentioned (the latter professional indirectly) in a new copyright infringement lawsuit centering on the jeans video that Lizzo put out over the summer.

As many will recall, the clip arrived on the heels of Sweeney’s much-discussed American Eagle commercial – a point Lizzo emphasized in the accompanying song snippet. This unreleased track, dubbed “I’m Goin’ In Till October” or “Good Jeans,” not so subtly mentioned Sydney by name.

And the way today’s plaintiff (a trust appearing through an individual named Jimmy Ginn) tells the story, Lizzo’s effort actually infringes on a composition called “Win or Lose (We Tried)” as well. Per his LinkedIn profile, Ginn has served as president of a company called Ginn Music Group for nearly 45 years.

Atlanta-based Ginn Music’s website, for its part, indicates that the entity houses a number of sub-labels and, in turn, an extensive catalog. Furthermore, the business “controls both the underlying composition copyright and master sound recording for the majority of our titles.”

Among the titles is Sam Dees’ rendition of “Win or Lose,” which, despite sharing its name with at least one other work, is streaming on Spotify and elsewhere. Lizzo’s track allegedly “incorporates, interpolates, and samples instrumental and vocal elements of the” underlying “Win or Lose” composition.

It probably goes without saying in light of the five-page complaint, but the filing party denies authorizing the alleged interpolation.

More interesting than that, however, Lizzo’s reps “acknowledge the” alleged overlap, according to the legal text; “informal resolution” talks failed to produce an agreement, “necessitating the filing of this case.”

Not stopping there, the action spells out that Atlantic and Lizzo allegedly “copied and exploited the” relevant work “with actual or constructive knowledge, and/or with reckless disregard or willful blindness for, [the trust’s] rights…rendering their infringement willful.”

As a result, the plaintiff entity is seeking, among other things, an order blocking the alleged infringement and all Lizzo’s “Good Jeans” profits.

In the bigger litigation picture, Lizzo is still grappling with harassment allegations, some voiced by fashion designer and former tour employee Asha Daniels in a September 2023 complaint.

Two years and change later, that courtroom confrontation still features Lizzo’s Big Grrrl Big Touring as a defendant and is now just 40 days out from a scheduled December 1st trial kickoff.

Last week, the plaintiff provided a witness list featuring multiple tour dancers; their testimonies will corroborate claims of “micro-aggressions toward Black dancers,” a “culture of bullying and insufficient
accommodations,” and “unsafe working conditions,” the document shows.