A series of accusations against Best New Artist hopeful Stella Lefty may have seemed like the primary plagiarism storyline of the 69th Grammy Awards, but a new charge from the Bill Withers estate could potentially shake up the top categories.
Mattie Music Group, who oversee the Withers estate, is suing Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Group’s Capitol Records, among others, over what it claims is plagiarism in the final song off reigning Best New Artist winner Olivia Dean‘s latest record, “I’ve Seen It.” (Dean herself is not named as a defendant.) The track, according to the suit, features portions that are simply too close to Wither’s “Just the Two of Us” to be coincidence.
“In early August 2026, upon listening several times to ‘I’ve Seen It,’ representatives of plaintiff came to what they considered to be the obvious and inescapable conclusion that ‘I’ve Seen It’ copied in large and significant part [‘Just the Two of Us’], including without limitation repeated copying of the distinctively protectable melody, and clearly infringed plaintiff’s copyrights in and to the original work,” the suit reads.
Withers, who died in 2020, was an R&B legend, winning three career Grammy Awards in nine nominations, while two of his classic tunes, “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean on Me,” were inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame. He is enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.
The lawsuit comes a crucial time in the Grammys cycle. The first round of voting begins on Oct. 12, and the album on which “I’ve Seen It” appears, The Art of Loving, is all but guaranteed to be part of the conversation.
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At the time of publishing, Dean sits atop the combined Gold Derby odds for nominations in Album of the Year with The Art of Loving and Record of the Year with the breakout single, “The Man I Need.” She is currently only one off the lead in Song of the Year, just behind Raye for “Where Is My Husband.”
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There has been no official response to the lawsuit from the defendants, but even if the matter were to be settled relatively quickly, the news could linger throughout the two rounds of voting.
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As for whether the controversy could hurt Dean’s odds, recent high-profile examples of plagiarism accusations against potential Grammy contenders suggest otherwise.
Credit for the songwriting team behind TLC’s “No Scrubs” was added to Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” shortly after release and ahead of its eventual win for Best Pop Solo Performance in 2018.
And perhaps most prominently, the Gap Band was awarded 17% of royalties and songwriting credit on the Mark Ronson-Bruno Mars song “Uptown Funk” before that track went onto win Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2016.
The extent to which this lawsuit affects Dean’s odds will be made clear when nominations for the 69th Grammy Awards are announced on Nov. 16.
