Dua Lipa was only one week removed from being hit with a copyright suit over her actions. “Levitating,”Friday’s lawsuit was second from another set of songwriters. Lipa is also being accused of copying their song for her 2020 single.
Sandy Linzer and L. Russell Brown, the lawyers representing them, claim in a lawsuit filed Friday at a Manhattan federal judge. “Levitating”Their 1979 disco song was infringed “Wiggle and Giggle All Night, originally performed by Cory Daye, as well as Miguel Bose’s 1980 song “Don Diablo.”(This track is also infringed upon). “Wiggle and Giggle All Night,”Brown and Linzer obtained the rights to it via a lawsuit.
“The infringing works have compositional elements substantially similar to those of the [Brown and Linzer, or BL in the lawsuit] songs,” the lawsuit — obtained by Rolling Stone — states. “Most significantly, the first and defining melody (the ‘signature melody’) in the infringing works is a duplicate of the opening melody from the BL songs. The signature melody is repeated six times in ‘Levitating’ and three times in ‘Levitating (Da Baby).’”
As proof of the infringement, the lawsuit also cites a few examples of music journalists’ reviews of “Levitating”Where it was compared to “Wiggle and Giggle All Night,” as well as a TikTok video with 363,000 views that pointed out the songs’ similarities.
Linzer was one songwriter behind the Four Seasons hits “Working My Way Back to You,” “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby,” “Let’s Hang On,”Brown wrote songs for artists such as the Partridge Family and Tony Orlando, Dawn and the Four Seasons.
The new lawsuit contains musical notation that is used as evidence “Levitating”Both are similar “Wiggle and Giggle” “Don Diablo.” “It is apparent that all three iterations of the melody are substantially similar,”The lawsuit states. “The notes move in the same direction with evenly matched intervals or ‘steps,’ and almost identical rhythms.”In the lawsuit, Dua Lipa also admits that she credits INXS for the interview. Future Nostalgia song “Break My Heart”Avoid potential litigation
The lawsuit also lists DaBaby (who appears on the song’s remix), its producers, songwriters and Universal Music Group as defendants. Reps for Dua lipsa didn’t immediately respond. Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
“Our clients are storied songwriters who wrote some of the great standards of rock & roll for groups like the Four Seasons, Four Tops, and Tony Orlando and Dawn,”Jason T. Brown, one the lawyers representing Brown & Linzer, stated in a statement Rolling Stone Sunday.
“Even before the lawsuit, individuals commented all over Youtube about the similarities between ‘Levitating’ and the original songs composed by our clients. We look forward to vindicating this in Court and for the artists of today to properly pay homage to the greats that preceded them.”
Dua Lipa was sued earlier this week by Artikal Sound in Florida. “Levitating,”Argumenting that the song was lifted from their 2017 song “Live Your Life.”After the lawsuit Rolling StoneTo determine if the copyright argument in this instance was valid, we consulted musicologists: