Mattie Music Group Sues Capitol Records Over Olivia Dean Song

Grammy winner Olivia Dean’s 2025 single “I’ve Seen It” copied in large and significant part from Bill Withers’ 1981 hit “Just the Two of Us,” according to a copyright infringement complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Mattie Music Group, doing business as Bleunig Music, filed the lawsuit against Capitol Records, Universal Music, and other co-defendants. Dean and her co-writers are not named defendants in the legal action.

The disputed track, “I’ve Seen It,” serves as the final track on Dean’s sophomore album, The Art of Loving, which dropped in September 2025. Representatives for the music group stated that they examined Dean’s song multiple times in August 2026 before concluding that it clearly lifted from Withers’ classic work. Withers released “Just the Two of Us” alongside jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. for the Winelight album, with Ralph MacDonald and William Salter writing the track alongside Withers.

The complaint argues that Dean and her collaborators—Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang—had ample opportunity to encounter the original work due to its enduring popularity. The music group also enlisted musicologist Alexander Stewart to analyze the tracks. Stewart determined that the works contain substantial similarities in protectable musical expression, noting the repeated copying of a distinctively protectable melody.

Mattie Music Group previously issued a notice regarding the material musical similarities to the defendants on August 17. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants continued reproducing, distributing, licensing, publicly performing, and commercially exploiting the track despite the warning.

This legal challenge mirrors a prior dispute involving Mattie Music Group, which previously sued rapper Kendrick Lamar in 2016 over allegations that he lifted from Withers’ “Don’t You Want to Stay.” That previous case ultimately ended in a settlement.

In the current filing, the music group seeks an injunction to halt further copyright infringement, alongside an unspecified amount in damages. The demands include defendants’ profits from the alleged infringement, legal fees, and statutory damages reaching up to $150,000 for willful infringement. Neither representatives for Dean nor Universal Music Group immediately responded to requests for comment.

While the litigation proceeds in California, Dean remains on her Art of Loving tour, with scheduled performances at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

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