Lizzo is being sued for copyright infringement over an unreleased song that features a lyrical reference to actress Sydney Sweeney. The lawsuit was filed on October 21, 2025, by GRC Trust.
The lawsuit claims that Lizzo’s song incorporates an unauthorized sample of the 1970s hit “Win or Lose (We Tried),” originally recorded by Sam Dees.
Lizzo previewed the song on social media in August 2025. The lyrics in question reference Sweeney’s body and a controversial American Eagle advertising campaign, with the line: “Fat a pretty face with the titties, I got good genes like I’m Sydney.”
In a statement, Lizzo’s representatives expressed surprise at the suit since the song has not generated any revenue. “We are surprised that The GRC Trust filed this lawsuit. To be clear, the song has never been commercially released or monetized, and no decision has been made at this time regarding any future commercial release of the song”, they said.
Before the lawsuit, Lizzo had discussed the legacy and history of sampling in hip-hop in an interview. She referenced the regulatory problems besetting sampling, from its use as a means for creativity to an area of common legal dispute over intellectual property and artistic expression. “I just feel like the theft of it all, putting theft on Black culture, that’s the part that kind of turns me off,” she said. “Hip-hop’s medium was sampling. Sampling is a Black art that bred hip-hop. Hip-hop was born from sampling. And now sampling is synonymous with theft.”
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