LizzoTruth Hurts – during a writing session for another track.
In a post on Instagram, the producers said they wrote a song called Healthy with Lizzo and two other writers at their studio in April 2017 – and that the song included the lyric in question. The New York Times reports that the lyric was adapted from an Instagram meme that songwriter Jesse Saint John showed the group.
The song's credits list four writers - Lizzo, producers Ricky Reed and Tele, and singer-songwriter Jesse Saint John. And the Raisen brothers say they have been trying to resolve the issue ‘quietly’ for the past two years, asking for 5% of the songwriting royalties.
The brothers wrote on Instagram, ‘Coming forward publicly to family, friends, artists, and colleagues seems to be the only way at this point in relieving some of our emotional distress caused by this. The last thing we want to do is throw any negativity toward Lizzo's momentum and movement as a cultural figure. If we believe in what she's preaching, believing in ourselves and our own voices it's something we thought she'd understand.’
Lizzo's lawyer, Cynthia S. Arato, has denied their claim, saying in a statement to the New York Times, ‘The Raisens are not writers of Truth Hurts. They did not collaborate with Lizzo or anyone else to create this song, and they did not help write any of the material that they now seek to profit from, which is why they expressly renounced any claim to the work, in writing, months ago.’
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