The new lawsuit alleges that Olivia Dean’s song ‘I’ve Seen It’ from her hit record ‘The Art of Loving’, “unmistakably copies” the melody of Bill Withers hit song ‘Just The Two Of Us.’

As per Rolling Stone, the lawsuit filed by Mattie Music Group, the publisher behind Withers’ catalogue claims that the similarities between the two songs are “obvious and inescapable.” The publisher further claims that they hired a musicologist who reviewed both songs and found “substantial similarities” and repeated copying of “a distinctively protectable melody”.

The publisher further claims in the lawsuit that “The number, character, and arrangement of the shared musical features are so striking that they support an inference that the similarities did not result from coincidence, independent creation, or reliance on common musical elements.”

The lawsuit names Universal Music Group, Capitol Records and Dean’s publishing companies as the defendants; whilst Dean and her co-writers Bastian Langebaak and Max Wolfgang are not named. Mattie Music Group also shared that they attempted to reach out to the defendants on August 17th but they allegedly continued with “the song’s distribution, licensing and commercial exploitation.”

Speaking to W Magazine last year, Dean said the song was written after “I’d had a lot of red wine.” She further stated that “When I heard it back for the first time, I burst into tears. It felt like the loveliest note to end on. Whether it’s within your friends, your family, or just the love that exists in the strangers around you, it’s there, and it’s inside of you, too.” 

This lawsuit is not the first of its nature from the Bill Withers estate, as US rapper Kendrick Lamar was previously sued in 2016 over alleged similarities between his song ‘I Do This’ and Withers 1975 song ‘Don’t You Want To Stay’. The lawsuit was later settled outside of court with details of the terms being kept between both parties.

Since its release as part of Olivia Dean’s smash hit and award winning record ‘The Art of Loving’, ‘I’ve Seen It’ has racked up nearly 250 million streams on Spotify alone. Since the albums release Dean’s growth has been exponential from winning Best New Artist at the 2026 Grammys, to breaking UK chart record history with her collaboration with fellow UK artist Sam Fender on ‘Rein Me In.’