Did Dua Lipa rip off “Levitating” from a reggae band?
A lawsuit claims the pop star copied a 2017 song that sounds oddly similar to her 2020 hit.
Dua Lipa may have plagiarized her biggest hit to date. At least, that’s according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Court that claims the pop star copied off of reggae band Artikal Sound System in creating her 2020 smash record “Levitating.”
The Florida band claims that it was “highly unlikely that ‘Levitating’ was created independently” based on its similarities to Artikal Sound System’s song “Live Your Life.” The suit takes aim at the pop star and her record label, Warner Records, for copyright infringement, while claiming that Lipa had “access” to the song, without specifying any information as to whether or not she or her team actually encountered it.
While the song is not on Spotify, “Live Your Life” was posted on the band’s Soundcloud over four years ago, as part of their 2017 EP Smoke and Mirrors. Before news of the lawsuit hit, the song only had some 20,000 or so plays. Meanwhile, Dua Lipa’s song “Levitating” was Billboard’s No. 1 Hot 100 Hot Song of 2021 and became the longest-running Top 10 hit by a female artist ever.
On Soundcloud, as people have flocked to hear the song after the news of the lawsuit, listeners have commented about damning similarities (the chorus’s melody and instrumentals do sound strikingly close), appearing to agree with the lawsuit. Listen for yourself:
