Radar reported court documents show Spatola claimed Derulo “unilaterally released Savage Love, without providing any credit whatsoever to Spatola for the work they jointly created together. This lawsuit is filed to right that wrong, and to ensure that Spatola is properly credited as a co-writer of ‘Savage Love’ and compensated for his contributions thereto.”

The report continued, “Although Spatola had produced at Derulo’s home studio before ‘Savage Love,’ those sessions involved a larger group of contributors and were entirely unrelated to ‘Savage Love.’ To Spatola’s knowledge, none of the music created at those earlier sessions was ever released by Derulo.”

It added, “The writing and conceptualizing of the instrumental composition and the creation of the actual recording occurred when Spatola and Derulo were the only contributors present in Derulo’s studio collaborating together to create ‘Savage Love.'”

Billboard hailed “Savage Love” as a commercial success as it reached the top 10 of the Hot 100 chart before a remix with BTS propelled it to No. 1, becoming the second No. 1 hit for Derulo since his 2009 debut single, “Whatcha Say,” and the K-pop boy band following 2020’s “Dynamite.”

Spatola’s suit claims, “At no time did Derulo or Sony ever get permission from, account to, or even enter into any contract with, Spatola for his contributions to ‘Savage Love’ and the BTS remix.”

Additionally, the lawsuit purports that not being listed as a co-author for “Savage Love” sullied Spatola professionally, preventing career growth.

“If Spatola had been properly credited as a co-author and co-producer of a hit like ‘Savage Love,’ he would have received additional opportunities that were lost due to this lack of credit,” according to the suit. “Composers credited with co-writing hit songs as writers are invited to work with other top performers in the industry, along with other lucrative opportunities.”

Radar reported Spatola seeks “unspecified damages” from Derulo and Sony Music.