Star Says Nobody Can Copyright Viral Catchphrase

GloRilla wants to end lawsuit claiming she stole the lyric “natural, no BBL” from a viral catchphrase, telling a judge that nobody can copyright that kind of short and “cliched” expression.

The case, filed this summer, claims that an Instagram user named Natalie Henderson coined the phrase — a reference to “Brazilian butt lift” surgery – and that GloRilla (Gloria Woods) later stole it for use in her 2024 song “Never Find” without permission.

But in a Monday motion asking the judge to dismiss the entire case, the rapper’s lawyers say there’s one big problem with the lawsuit: That copyright law doesn’t even cover such a “commonplace” series of words.

“The phrase ‘natural[e], no BBL’ —referring to a person with a natural body who has not undergone the ‘Brazilian Butt Lift’ cosmetic procedure—is too common, everyday, trite, and cliched to be protectable by copyright,” her lawyers write in the filing, obtained Billboard.

GloRilla’s attorneys cites seven other songs that have featured similar expressions about BBLs over the past two years, including by rapper Real Boston Richey: “The phrase at issue in plaintiff’s song is not original and thus not copyrightable.

And even if Henderson’s alleged catchphrase was copyrightable, GloRilla’s lawyers say her song didn’t copy it. They say there’s no evidence that she ever heard Henderson’s phrase, and that she used a markedly different one in “Never Find”: “Anyone who listens to the two songs should easily reach the conclusion that these songs are not substantially similar.”

“Never Find,” featuring K Carbon, was featured on GloRilla’s debut studio album Glorious, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and ended up as the top-selling female rap album last year. The song itself, a bonus track, did not chart.

Henderson (@slimdabodylast on Instagram) filed her lawsuit in June, citing not only her viral phrase but also a song that she wrote, which featured the lyric “All natural, no BBL/ Mad hoes go to hell.” GloRilla’s lyric reads: “Natural, no BBL/ but I’m still gon’ give him hell.”

“There are unmistakable similarities between the two works,” Henderson’s attorney wrote at the time.

But as Billboard reported at the time, such claims always likely faced an uphill battle in court. Copyright law does not cover short phrases, including slogans and taglines, nor does it cover commonplace material that’s been widely used by others. That’s exactly the argument that GloRilla’s lawyers made on Monday.

Over her brief career, the star has already faced several copyright cases – something of a rite of passage for any rising artist.

In 2023, she was hit with a lawsuit claiming she used unlicensed samples in her hit songs “Tomorrow” and “Tomorrow 2”; the case was dismissed last year. And last year, she was sued alongside Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B and others over claims that the 2024 song “Wanna Be” featured an uncleared sample from Plies’ 2008 track “Me & My Goons.” That case was voluntarily dropped earlier this year.