Olivia Dean's Label Sued Over Alleged Melody Theft

Olivia Dean's record label is facing a federal copyright infringement lawsuit that alleges her 2025 song "I've Seen It" repeatedly copies the melody of Bill Withers' Grammy-winning 1971 hit, "Just the Two of Us." The lawsuit was filed Friday by Mattie Music Group, the publisher of Withers' catalog, against Dean's label.

According to the lawsuit, "I've Seen It" and "Just the Two of Us" share "obvious and inescapable similarities." The legal filing asserts that the "number, character and arrangement of the shared musical features are so striking that they support an interference that the similarities did not result from coincidence, independent creation or reliance on common musical elements."

Mattie Music Group claims that "Just the Two of Us" was so widely disseminated that Dean and her co-writers, Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang, had ample opportunity to encounter the song. The group reportedly notified the companies of the alleged infringement on August 17, 2026, but contends that they continued to commercially exploit the song afterward.

The lawsuit targets Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Publishing, and Kobalt Music Publishing, seeking damages, profits, and an injunction against further alleged infringement. Dean herself is not named as a defendant.

"Just the Two of Us" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, earned a Grammy Award, and achieved decades of radio play and streams. Bill Withers, who died in 2020 at age 81, had a celebrated catalog that included hits such as "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lean on Me," "Use Me," and "Lovely Day."

Dean, a 27-year-old British singer-songwriter, gained prominence with her 2023 debut album "Messy." Her second album, "The Art of Loving," produced hits like "Nice to Each Other," "So Easy (To Fall in Love)," and "Man I Need."