A legal battle is brewing in the music world as British pop sensation Dua Lipa finds herself entangled in a lawsuit that claims her hit song “Levitating” is a copy of a disco track from 1979.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled that Dua Lipa will have to defend herself against allegations that her chart-topping 2021 song “Levitating” shares significant similarities with the disco classic “Wiggle and Giggle All Night,” penned by songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer.
People have managed to find that her song is not only similar to one but multiple different songs from various artists.
The lawsuit, which was filed in March 2022, contends that “Levitating” shares key “compositional elements” with “Wiggle,” particularly in the duplication of the opening melody. The plaintiffs argue that the two songs are so strikingly similar in terms of a “repetitive rhythm” and “signature melody” that Dua Lipa must have copied their creation.
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Dua Lipa’s legal team, as well as her record label Warner Records, have yet to provide a formal response to the lawsuit.
While defense lawyers put forth the notion that it’s implausible for Dua Lipa to have heard “Wiggle” before composing “Levitating,” Judge Failla acknowledged that the plaintiffs have presented enough evidence to suggest that the bar for proving “striking similarity” could potentially be met.
Jason Brown, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, conveyed in a statement that their objective is to ensure proper attribution and compensation when contemporary artists utilize their material. The plaintiffs’ team anticipates moving forward with discovery and eventually taking the case to trial.
It’s worth noting that Judge Failla’s decision solely addresses the plaintiffs’ claims about “Levitating” and “Wiggle and Giggle All Night,” leaving out the allegations concerning another song, “Don Diablo,” which the plaintiffs own a copyright for.
Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” featured on her album “Future Nostalgia,” held its ground on Billboard’s Hot 100 U.S. singles chart for an impressive 77 weeks and clinched the top spot on Billboard’s year-end chart for 2021.
In a separate case, a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles in late July asserted that Dua Lipa utilized a musician’s recording without proper permission in the remixes of “Levitating,” further adding to the legal woes surrounding the chart-topping track.
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