Lizzo Reaches Settlement Over Unreleased Song Referencing Sydney Sweeney Ad
Lizzo has reached a preliminary settlement in a copyright lawsuit tied to an unreleased song that referenced Sydney Sweeney’s widely debated American Eagle jeans campaign, according to new court filings.
In a notice filed in federal court, attorneys for Georgia-based GRC Trust said they have reached a “settlement in principle” with the Grammy-winning artist. The parties expect to file a dismissal of the lawsuit with prejudice within 60 days, which would permanently close the case and bar it from being refiled. The specific terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The dispute originated from a TikTok video Lizzo posted in August, in which she previewed a then-unreleased song titled “I’m Goin’ in Till October.” In the clip, Lizzo appears washing a Porsche while wearing a denim top and sings the lyric, “I got good jeans like I’m Sydney.” The line was widely interpreted as a reference to American Eagle’s recent ad campaign featuring actor Sydney Sweeney and the slogan “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.”
That campaign drew significant public scrutiny and debate after critics argued that its framing, including references to Sweeney’s physical traits, echoed exclusionary beauty standards. The controversy quickly spilled into broader cultural and political commentary, drawing responses from across the media spectrum and pulling Lizzo’s previewed lyric into the conversation, despite the song never being officially released.
GRC Trust filed suit in October, alleging that Lizzo’s unreleased track infringed on its copyright for the composition “Win or Lose (We Tried).” While the complaint did not explicitly name the original recording artist, the song is associated with soul singer Sam Dees. GRC Trust has previously brought similar claims on behalf of Dee’s catalog, including a past lawsuit against Kanye West that alleged infringement of another of Dee's compositions.
In its filing, GRC Trust claimed that Lizzo and her label, Atlantic Records, improperly used protected elements of “Win or Lose,” arguing that the unreleased song incorporated or interpolated distinctive musical and vocal components. The trust sought damages in the form of disgorgement of profits, even though the song was never commercially distributed.
At the time the lawsuit was filed, representatives for Lizzo pushed back on the claims. In a statement shared with Rolling Stone last year, her team said they were surprised by the legal action and emphasized that the song had not been monetized or formally released. They added that no decision had been made about whether the track would ever receive an official release.
Following the TikTok preview, Lizzo went on to release an expanded version of her EP My Face Hurts From Smiling, retitled My Face Still Hurts From Smiling. The deluxe edition included nine additional tracks, but “I’m Goin’ in Till October” was not among them.
According to the complaint, GRC Trust alleged it attempted to resolve the matter privately before filing suit, but negotiations ultimately stalled. Attorneys for the trust declined to comment further on Monday, citing the pending settlement. Representatives for Atlantic Records did not respond to requests for comment, and Lizzo’s team has not issued a new statement since the filing.
The settlement marks the latest legal resolution involving the artist and allegations of musical infringement. Lizzo previously faced a high-profile plagiarism claim over her hit single “Truth Hurts,” which she contested. That dispute ended with the dismissal of claims against her and a confidential settlement in 2022.
While the agreement appears to bring the current case to a close, it does so without a public adjudication of the underlying copyright claims, leaving the song itself unreleased and the broader cultural debate surrounding the lyric largely unresolved.
