Jodie Aysha never expected that a song she wrote as a teenager would come to shape the trajectory of her adult life.
Yet the track that first brought her recognition has become inseparable from an 18-year legal battle that has left her emotionally drained and as familiar with courtrooms as with recording studios.
In 2004, Aysha was still at school when she penned lyrics about her sister’s breakup, words that would later become Heartbroken, the bassline anthem that stormed charts worldwide, hit No.2 in the UK, stayed in the Top 40 for an astonishing 46 weeks and broke into the top 10 of the US dance charts.
‘Hearing my voice everywhere was exciting and overwhelming, and it made me think I had a future. I felt like my dream had come through,’ Aysha told Metro.
What might have appeared, at least on paper, to be a fairytale success instead unfolded as a deeply troubling ordeal.
Now 37, the Leeds-born songwriter tells Metro the hit that should have launched her musical future has left her battling severe anxiety and depression while locked in a fierce legal war.
She says she has never received a single royalty from the track that first brought her recognition.
‘I’ve cried more times than I can count and there were moments I nearly gave up,’ she said. ‘But I’m still here, still standing, and able to tell my story.’
Today, she heads back to court for yet another dramatic showdown – this time against Sony Music Publishing – in the latest round of a fight she says she refuses to walk away from.
‘All of this is really having a negative impact on my mental health,’ she said, holding back tears.
‘I’m currently suffering from severe anxiety and depression. It is so unfair.’
She added: ‘A lot of people would have given up by now, but I’ve kept going because I think that’s what really matters.’
Aysha claims the saga can be traced back to a fateful meeting in 2005, when she performed the song for producer T2 inside his flat – never imagining the chain of events it would unleash.
She says her vocals were later used to create the track in a bassline style before it was released under his name.
According to Aysha, she was offered just £1,500 for the rights and flatly refused.
But despite her protests, the song was released in 2007 – lighting the fuse on a bitter legal feud that, she says, has raged for nearly two decades and shows no sign of ending.
‘I wrote that song alone as the sole author. The producer only remixed it. So, this is me defending my rights as the author. I can’t just give up my song,’ Aysha said, vowing she would not back down.
Courtroom drama
Her first real breakthrough came in 2013, when Lord Justice Colin Birss declared she was the true author of Heartbroken and that the version released to the public was effectively a remix of her original work.
The courtroom drama didn’t end there.
The England and Wales Patent County Court also ruled that the unauthorised distribution of Heartbroken amounted to an ‘infringement of Aysha’s performer’s rights.’
For Aysha, a graduate of Leeds College of Music, it seemed like long-awaited vindication at last.
But she says the battle only grew fiercer.
In 2023, while struggling financially and mourning the devastating death of her younger sister to cancer, Aysha says she signed a settlement deal handing over 50% of her copyright in the song to T2, expecting a £100,000 payout from Sony Music Publishing.
‘I wasn’t in my strongest position to be fighting court battles,’ she said. ‘I was too stressed, too bereaved. It felt like pure exploitation.’
Faced with the prospect of a costly legal bill, Aysha says she turned to her publisher for support after learning she was being sued by T2 for a share of the copyright.
‘I couldn’t go to court on my own fighting for the copyright. I needed a lawyer who knows the ins and outs of everything. I thought with a heavyweight publisher behind me, they would defend it for me. That never happened.’
Instead, discussions shifted toward settling the case – a move she agreed to because she believed she had no realistic alternative.
She claims she was told she would receive a six-figure payment, including royalties allegedly held back.
‘So, I signed the agreement and then I was told I’m due no money. It felt deceptive and unfair, like, I’d been lured into signing something and then received nothing.’
Aysha is now taking legal action against Sony in a bid to recover what she says she was promised, along with years of unpaid royalties she believes remain outstanding.
‘So currently that’s why I’m in court trying to recover the settlement that I was promised.’
‘How can you erase me?’
She says the hardest part has been watching versions of her song circulate without being credited or paid.
‘It’s like nobody cares what I say, they just release it anyway. This has been the story of my journey. It’s still happening today, which I find really sad and disheartening.’
The singer – whose real name is Jodie Henderson – claims one of the most painful blows came when a later version of the track was released, which didn’t even feature her voice and no longer carried her name, yet still racked up millions of streams.
‘How can you erase me from a song I created? Taking my voice off it, taking my name off it and releasing it as your own… I find that unbearable.
‘At this stage, people are just taking liberties.’
Aysha alleges that in the years since the dispute began, she and her family have been subjected to threats, including chilling demands that she hand over the copyright to her own song.
She says some of the intimidation has come from complete strangers in the street, leaving her shaken and fearful.
Through it all, she says faith keeps her going.
Before her sister died, she says she gave her a message she will never forget.
‘She just told me to be strong and to fight. I’ve held onto that ever since.’
Now she believes that message is guiding her through the legal storm.
‘I wouldn’t want to let her down, my family or myself,’ she said. ‘I just pray she can see I haven’t given up, that I’m still fighting for my rights and what I believe in. Because that’s only fair.’
Representatives from Sony Music Publishing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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