UPDATED 3/6, 7:53 p.m. ET: Billboard reports another copyright infringement lawsuit was filed Friday against Dua Lipa over her song “Levitating.”
The second suit in less than a week comes from songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer, who claim the opening melody of “Levitating” contains a “duplicate” of the 1979 song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and the 1980 track “Don Diablo.”
“Defendants have levitated away plaintiffs’ intellectual property,” their complaint reads. “Plaintiffs bring suit so that defendants cannot wiggle out of their willful infringement.”
Brown and Linzer accuse Lipa of copying their songs to create the “signature melody” where she starts singing, “If you wanna run away with me…” Their complaint argues that this “signature melody” sparked its prominence on TikTok.
“The signature melody is the most listened to and recognizable part of the infringing works and plays a crucial role in their popularity,” their attorneys wrote. “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.”
The two also allege the singer “admitted” in interviews that she “deliberately emulated prior eras” and “took inspiration” from music in the past to craft a “retro” sound.
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Dua Lipa is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over her hit song “Levitating.”
Released in 2020, the single peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, spending 41 weeks on the chart en route to becoming the longest-running top-10 hit by a lead female artist.
TMZ reports a reggae band from Florida called Artikal Sound System has sued the pop star, claiming that “Levitating” is a ripoff of their 2017 song “Live Your Life.” Arkital Sound System names Lipa and her label Warner Records in the suit, alleging that they’re owed profits they could have made off the success of “Levitating.”
According to court documents obtained by the outlet, the suit claims that Dua and the people she was working with heard “Live Your Life” and then proceeded to make a copy of it by creating “Levitating.”
Back in October 2020, Dua Lipa joined forces with DaBaby for a remix to “Levitating.” This past summer, the controversial rapper was removed from the track in the wake of his homophobic comments at Rolling Loud Miami.
“I’m surprised and horrified at DaBaby’s comments,” Lipa wrote on her Instagram Stories at the time. “I really don’t recognize this as the person I worked with. I know my fans know where my heart lies and that I stand 100% with the LGBTQ community. We need to come together to fight the stigma and ignorance around HIV/AIDS.”
Complex has reached out to a Dua Lipa rep for comment.
