British pop star Olivia Dean has been accused of copying the melody of Bill Withers’ soul classic Just The Two of Us in a legal case filed in California.
The complaint centres around Dean’s song I’ve Seen It, taken from her Brit Award-winning 2025 album The Art of Loving.
Just The Two of Us was a hit for Withers in 1981, and the publishers of the late singer’s catalogue allege that the two songs “share musical features” that are “so striking” they cannot have arisen by coincidence alone.
The lawsuit names Dean’s record label Capitol Records, parent company Universal Music Group and her publishing companies as the defendants. It does not seek damages from the singer herself or her co-writers Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang.
In legal documents seen by the BBC, Mattie Music Group, which looks after Withers’ back catalogue, said it hired a musicologist to review the two songs.
He concluded “that the works contain substantial similarities” including the “repeated copying” of the melody from Just The Two of Us, the documents said.
The publishers claim they notified Dean’s record label of the potential infringement in August, but the music was not pulled from distribution.
To prove plagiarism, Mattie Music Group would have to prove that Dean and her co-writers had previously heard Withers’ original composition.
In the lawsuit, they allege that his song’s “extraordinary and sustained” commercial success, including “decades of radio play”, would mean the musicians had “reasonable opportunity” to have encountered Just The Two of Us before writing I’ve Seen It.
The defendants have yet to respond to the lawsuit. The BBC has contacted them, and Dean’s representatives, for a comment.
