Did Dua Lipa rip off her biggest song? A new lawsuit claims the answer to that question is "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."
Artikal Sound System has filed a lawsuit against Lipa, accusing the pop star of ripping off their song "Live Your Life" for her massive hit song "Levitating," TMZ reports.
The band's lawsuit accuses Lipa of copyright infringement, claiming it's "highly unlikely that 'Levitating' was created independently," per Billboard. The Artikal Sound System song came out in 2017, while Lipa's "Levitating" debuted in 2020. It's a part of her second studio album Future Nostalgia, which was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys, and it topped Billboard's 2021 Hot 100 songs chart.
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According to TMZ, the lawsuit is asking for damages and for any profits Lipa, Warner Records, and others have made off the song. The claim comes after Taylor Swift was similarly hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit over her hit song "Shake It Off," though that case has more to do with the lyrics rather than the sound. Songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler claimed Swift ripped off their song "Playas Gon' Play," which like Swift's track includes the phrases "players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate." Swift's team has dismissed a lawsuit, but a judge has said it may proceed to a trial.
Pop star Olivia Rodrigo has also faced allegations of plagiarism, leading her to add songwriting credits for artists including Swift, whom she has cited as an influence. Rodrigo told Paper magazine it's "disappointing" when people take "things out of context" to try to "discredit any young woman's work."
You can listen to the original song Lipa is accused of ripping off here.
