Songwriter says Paramount refused to pay him for Rihanna's ‘Smurfs’ song

February 2

RØMANS (Sam Roman) says he wrote "Anyone” used in the movie, but was never paid because Paramount is "mad at Rihanna" over budget overruns.

He claims Paramount approached him in 2022 about writing a song for the Smurfs. They told him that “Anyone” would be performed by Rihanna, be heavily promoted, and that he would retain “significant backend royalties.”
But later Roman was told that his song would not be released commercially – a change that caused negotiations to be halted. With no deal in place, without his permission and without “paying him a dime,” the studio decided to release Smurfs anyway, with his songs featured in key scenes. He claims the movie also features his song — “Always on the Outside” by James Corden — without his permission.

The studio has refused to fix the problem and instead has “pointed its finger at Rihanna,” saying “outlandishly” that it’s her fault that he hasn’t been paid for his work.

The studio allegedly told him it was "very frustrated by the money it had supposedly spent on Rihanna's participation" and that it felt it had "not gotten an appropriate return from her."

"Paramount explained that Rihanna had supposedly required Paramount to waste a lot of money and go over budget on the movie and because of that, Paramount explained, plaintiff was just out of luck."

Smurfs, released last year to largely negative reviews, was a box-office flop, reportedly losing $80 million for Paramount.

Rihanna is not named as a defendant or accused of any wrongdoing.