Dua Lipa sued by Florida reggae band for copyright infringement over hit single ‘Levitating’

Dua Lipa's second studio album Future Nostalgia topped the charts worldwide, with the disco escapism of 'Levitating' finding particular success.

The song reached number five on the UK Top Singles chart, but now reggae band Artikal Sound System are claiming they should be sharing in her success in a lawsuit filed against the 26-year-old singer. The Florida-based act claim that similarities between the two tracks prove that it is “highly unlikely that 'Levitating' was created independently”. The suit also accuses Lipa’s label Warner Records of copyright infringement, as the band seeks profits associated with the song.

The suit contains few details as to Dua Lipa’s alleged motive for copying the song 'Live Your Life', written by Artikal Sound System. It claims that Lipa had “access” to their song, but didn't detail how the musician – or cowriters Clarence Coffee Jr, Sarah Hudson, Stephen Kozmeniuk and co-writer/producer Stuart Price would have come across it.

Artikal Sound System formed in 2012 and released 'Live Your Life' on their 2017 EP Smoke and Mirrors. The track itself is not currently on Spotify, and has 34,000 plays on SoundCloud. A new upload to YouTube attracted 12,000 views in 10 hours, presumably from listeners seeking to compare the two recordings.

In other news, Lipa recently split from her long-term management company, Tap Management. Her father, Dukagjin Lipa, will reportedly take over management duties. The Grammy winner is also finally launching the world tour of Future Nostalgia after several COVID related postponements. The London-raised star will be bringing her effervescent disco daydream to Dublin 3Arena on April 20 and 21st. Tickets for the event are available here.

Listen to both tracks below.