Less than a week after Dua Lipa was filed with a copyright lawsuit over her “Levitating”, a second lawsuit was filed on Friday from another group of songwriters, accusing Lipa of stealing their song for their 2020 single as well. of the year.
Lawyers for songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linser, in a lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan federal court, allege that the song “Levitating” infringed the rights to their 1979 disco song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night”, originally performed by Corey Day, as well as a song by Miguel Bose in 1980. Don Diablo song. (The latter track also infringed on “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and was subsequently sued by Brown and Linzer.)
“Infringing works have compositional elements that are largely similar to those [Brown and Linzer, or BL in the lawsuit] songs,” according to the lawsuit received by Rolling Stone. “Most importantly, the first and defining melody (“signature melody”) in the infringing works is a duplicate of the opening melody from BL songs. The signature tune is repeated six times in “Levitating” and three times in “Levitating (Da Baby)”.
As evidence of infringement, the lawsuit also cites several examples of music journalists’ reviews of “Levitating” comparing it to “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and a 363,000-view TikTok video that pointed out the songs’ similarities.
Linzer co-wrote the Four Seasons hits “Working My Way Back to You”, “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby” and “Let’s Hang On”, while Brown wrote songs for artists such as the Partridge Family , Tony Orlando and Dawn and Four Seasons.
The new lawsuit includes music notation as evidence that “Levitation” is similar to both “Shake and Giggle” and “Don Diablo”. “Clearly, all three versions of the tune are essentially similar,” the lawsuit says. “Notes move in the same direction at the same intervals or ‘steps’ and almost the same rhythm.” The lawsuit also cites an interview with Dua Lipa in which she admits she mentioned INXS in the Future Nostalgia song “Break My Heart” to avoid a possible lawsuit.
The lawsuit also lists DaBaby (who is featured on the song’s remix), its producers, songwriters, and Universal Music Group as defendants. Dua Lipa’s representatives did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
“Our clients are legendary songwriters who have written some of the best rock and roll standards for bands like the Four Seasons, Four Tops and Tony Orlando and Dawn,” said Jason T. Brown, one of Brown’s lawyers. and Linzer. Rolling Stone Sunday Statement.
“Even before the lawsuit, people were posting on Youtube about the similarities between ‘Levitating’ and original songs written by our clients. We look forward to confirming this in court and that today’s artists are properly paying tribute to the greats who preceded them.”
Earlier this week, Florida reggae band Artikal Sound sued Dua Lipa over “Levitating”, claiming the track was copied from their 2017 song “Live Your Life”. After the lawsuit, Rolling Stone consulted with musicologists to make sure the copyright argument made sense in this case: