Song was a massive hit during pandemic
Dua Lipa is facing two lawsuits over her massive hit “Levitating.” Earlier this month, a Florida reggae band and two disco-era songwriters sued the singer for alleged plagiarism, according to Billboard.
On March 1st, Florida-based Artikal Sound System filed a claim against the British pop star in Los Angeles federal court saying “Levitation,” which has spent 68 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart since its 2020 release, was a blatant rip off from the band’s 2017 single “Live Your Life.”
“‘Levitating’ is substantially similar to ‘Live Your Life,'” the short complaint reads. “Given the degree of similarity, it is highly unlikely that ‘Levitating’ was created independently from ‘Live Your Life.'”
A few days later, L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer filed a claim in Manhattan federal court that the opening melody to “Levitation” was a “duplicate” of their 1979 song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night,” record by Cory Daye, and 1980 song “Don Diablo,” recorded by Miguel Bosé. They accuse the 26 year old Lipa of repeating the opening melody six times in the original song and three in a remix featuring DaBaby.
“The notes move in the same direction with evenly matched intervals or ‘steps,’ and almost identical rhythms,” Brown and Linzer claim.
The songwriters also state that “Because video creators frequently truncate the already brief snippets of sound on TikTok, the signature melody often comprises fifty percent or more of these viral videos.”
In their suit, Brown and Linzer point to press interviews in which Lipa “admitted that she deliberately emulated prior eras” and “took inspiration” from earlier music to create a “retro” sound. They brought that to the court’s attention so the defending parties “cannot wiggle out of their willful infringement.”
All plaintiffs are asking for unspecific damages. Both suits name Lipa, DaBaby, Warner Records and others as defendants.
No parties have commented publicly on the matter.
