The Secret Studio Session That Exploded into a $20 Million Copyright War

The global music industry is watching in stunned silence as one of the most explosive copyright battles of 2025 moves from social media gossip to the cold, hard reality of the courtroom. At the center of the storm are two powerhouse artists: Karissia Brownlee, known to the world as Yung Miami of the City Girls, and the Grammy-winning South African pop sensation, Tyla. The stakes are astronomical, the allegations are venomous, and the dollar figure—$20 million—has sent a shockwave across both sides of the Atlantic.

According to legal filings shared by insiders close to Yung Miami’s team, the rapper is suing Tyla for a staggering sum, claiming that Tyla’s new single, “Chanel,” is not an original work but a calculated infringement that copies “protected elements” from Miami’s own unreleased track, “Take Me to Chanel.”

This conflict is more than just a clash of musical ideas; it’s a searing betrayal, allegedly stemming from a casual, unguarded moment of collaboration. Yung Miami claims she privately shared her unfinished demo with Tyla during a mutual studio session organized by an unnamed producer in Los Angeles over the BET Awards weekend in 2024. The trust, Miami alleges, was shattered when Tyla later previewed her song, which bore a striking, and ultimately litigable, resemblance.

The dispute ignited publicly on October 16th, when Yung Miami took to X, posting cryptic yet pointed tweets. “Take me to Chanel is greater than Put Me in Chanel,” she wrote, before dropping a series of posts that accused a “certain girl” of running off with her record. “Mind you, I played this song for this girl,” she lamented. Within hours, the unnamed culprit was identified as Tyla, the star whose recent track was titled, “Say You Love Me, then Put Me in Chanel.”

The stage was set for a vicious, high-stakes battle that would test the sanctity of creative trust and reshape the rules of collaboration in the digital age.

The Paper Trail: Metadata, Melody, and the 68% Overlap

For Yung Miami, this lawsuit is not merely a promotional stunt for her solo career, as some critics suggest; her legal team has reportedly assembled a formidable case built on cold, hard data.

The core of Miami’s complaint hinges on chronological proof of creation. Her lawyers are asserting that her composition predates Tyla’s release by over seven months, a claim supported by studio metadata from ProTools Cloud files dated March 4, 2025. This digital timestamp serves as prima facie evidence of ownership, establishing her claim before Tyla’s track was widely known.

The similarity between the two songs is where the case truly heats up. Musicologists hired by Miami’s attorneys have allegedly submitted compelling evidence of infringement:

Lyrical Overlap: An alleged 68% lyrical overlap in the song’s hook, highlighting phrases like “Take me to Chanel, buy me what I like,” which are strikingly similar to Tyla’s chorus: “Say you love me, then put me in Chanel, you know what I like.”
Cadence and Structure: An identical cadence pattern in the hook, paired with a nearly identical BPM (beats per minute) and key signature, which is allegedly the signature of a South African producer Tyla frequently works with.

These elements, her lawyers argue, constitute “substantial similarity”—enough to warrant a full-fledged trial on charges of copyright infringement, unjust enrichment, and emotional distress. The $20 million in damages sought is intended to cover the commercial benefit Tyla’s label allegedly gained, including early streaming projections and, crucially, brand partnerships with Chanel, which Miami believes would have been hers had she released the single first.

Tyla’s Defense: The NDA Firewall and the Frivolous Claim

On the other side of this legal maelstrom, Tyla’s camp has adopted a strategy of cool, public defiance and fierce legal counter-attack. While Tyla herself has avoided direct statements—a calculated “classy clapback” where silence is deployed as a power move—sources close to her team view the case as “frivolous and opportunistic.” They reportedly issued a cease and desist letter to Yung Miami days before the lawsuit went public, warning her against “defamatory innuendo” and unverified claims of theft.

Tyla’s legal defense, however, is intensely focused on jurisdiction and the nature of the alleged sharing. Her lawyers plan to challenge the California venue, claiming that the alleged session took place in a private Airbnb without a formal contract or a binding Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in place. If the judge agrees, the case could be dismissed or moved to an international copyright tribunal, a prolonged, messy process that could sideline the dispute for years.

The stakes for Tyla are immense. As a global star with enormous momentum, her team worries that litigation could stall her critical brand partnerships with corporations like Pandora and Coca-Cola, particularly if court documents are allowed to suggest “commercial exploitation of stolen work.” She continues to double down on promotion, with her single “Chanel” still slated for an October 24th release under Epic Records—a bold move in the face of a pending legal threat.

The Business of Litigation: Strategy, PR, and Industry Precedent

The legal maneuverings in this case reveal as much about modern music business strategy as they do about artistic theft.

Firstly, the $20 million figure is strategically significant. Legal analysts view it as a high “negotiation anchor.” In copyright cases, high claims often lead to settlements around 5% to 10% of the initial ask, meaning Yung Miami could walk away with a significant sum—potentially $1 to $2 million—along with co-writing credits and a percentage of royalties, if Tyla’s label chooses peace over a lengthy court battle.

Secondly, the lawsuit is proving to be a highly effective PR move for Yung Miami. Beyond her City Girls status, a verified legal battle instantly elevates her credibility as a serious solo artist fighting for her creative craft. In contrast, for Tyla, the case threatens to tarnish her Grammy momentum and global brand appeal.

The most profound impact of this lawsuit, however, is the precedent it sets for the entire industry. Unfinished music often travels faster than paperwork, shared in casual sessions and across cloud platforms. This case forces industry executives behind closed doors to grapple with the reality of how to protect demos and raw session stems in a collaborative environment where NDAs are often overlooked.

Yung Miami’s team is now pushing for discovery access to Tyla’s studio project files—a crucial step that could reveal metadata from Tyla’s side and definitively prove who composed the melody first. Meanwhile, Miami’s team is allegedly filing for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to halt the song’s promotion entirely. If the judge grants the TRO, Tyla’s scheduled release could be blocked in the U.S., a devastating blow to her global rollout.

Ultimately, the resolution is likely to fall into one of three high-impact scenarios: a private settlement involving a massive payout and joint credits, a courtroom victory that costs Tyla millions and pauses her career, or a dismissal that frames Yung Miami’s actions as a failed publicity stunt. Whatever the outcome, the case between Yung Miami and Tyla will change how US and international artists share their music, reminding the world that in the modern music business, every collaboration is a high-stakes, unwritten contract of trust.