Olivia Dean song accused of lifting from Bill Withers' lasting 'Just the Two of Us'

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Set us as preferred A song performed by Grammy winner Olivia Dean “copied in large and significant part” from Bill Withers’ hit “Just the Two of Us,” a copyright complaint filed recently in California alleges.Grammy winner Dean’s mellow love ballad “I’ve Seen It” is at the center of a copyright infringement case brought by the music group that oversees Withers’ catalog.Mattie Music Group, doing business as Bleunig Music, accused Capitol Records and Universal Music, among other co-defendants, of one count of copyright infringement in a complaint filed Thursday in U.S.

District Court for the Central District of California.Neither Dean nor her co-writers are named defendants.

The complaint says representatives for the music group in August 2026 “came to what they considered to be the obvious and inescapable conclusion that ‘I’ve Seen It’ copied in large and significant part” the late singer’s “Just the Two of Us” after listening to Dean’s tune several times.“I’ve Seen It” is the final track on Dean’s sophomore album “The Art of Loving,” released in September 2025.

Dean is best known for her breakout hits “Man I Need” and “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” and she won the Grammy Award for best new artist in February.The British singer, 27, composed and co-wrote the lyrics with Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang, according to the song credits on Spotify.

Music At Crypto.com Arena, the Grammy-winning Dean’s songs of devotion were hard-won.Neither representatives for Dean nor Universal Music Group, which owns Capitol Records, immediately responded on Monday to requests for comment.Withers, the soul singer also known for enduring hits “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean on Me,” and jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr.

released “Just the Two of Us” in 1981 for the lat...