TOP 3 Questionable Hits by Dua Lipa

I was given the idea of writing about this topic by a video by Rick Beato as a reaction to the viral videos on TikTok in which people play a piece of a Dua Lipa song followed by an original song by another artist, where one can hear the obvious melodic or production similarities that anyone can recognize without being a music expert. How is this possible? Is there an intention or is it a coincidence? And most importantly, do performers whose song or melody was used (copied) in a contemporary hit get any compensation or at least recognition of co-authorship? Let's take a look at three controversial tracks which are nothing to brag about for Dua Lipa.

1. Levitating (2020)

The 2020 hit remains one of Dua Lipa's most successful, but also most controversial tracks. Despite "Levitating" topping the Billboard Hot 100 Songs chart in 2021 and holding the record as the longest-played song in the history of the Women's Hot 100, three lawsuits have been filed against the song.

In August 2023, music producer Bosko Kante filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in Los Angeles seeking over 20 million dollars in compensation from Lipa. He claimed that Dua Lipa and Warner Music Group used his talk box recording in several remixes of "Levitating", which he alleged was not part of the agreement.

Grammy winner Bosko Kante is citing an agreement made between him and the song's creators and is seeking compensation for remixes including a remix by DJ The Blessed Madonna and another remix with rapper DaBaby, and for Lipa's performance at the American Music Awards. Lest we think of Bosko Kante as a gold-digger, he was at first interested in settling the matter out of court, but it was only the lack of cooperation and the reluctance of the defendants that prompted him to take the case legally.

Another lawsuit against the chart-crushing single was filed by songwriters L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer. They mention that "Levitating" took musical elements from two of their songs. The first is the signature melody in "Levitating", which they say is a duplicate of their theme in 1979's "Wiggle and Giggle All Night", and other themes from 1980's "Don Diablo". Brown and Linzer also cited interviews with the pop star, where she reportedly admits to deliberately emulating previous musical eras and that retro was the inspiration for her 2020 ​​​Future Nostalgia album.

Third to the plaintiffs' party was reggae band Artikal Sound System who claimed that Levitating copied the central theme of their 2017 track "Live Your Life" and that it was highly unlikely to have happened independently or accidentally. The complaint was filed in federal court in Los Angeles in March 2022, claiming that Lipa had access to their track even though the track was not available on Spotify, but was freely available on SoundCloud, where it had just under 34,000 plays.

However, the court ultimately ruled that there was no evidence that Lipa had access to the band's music, and Artikal Sound System walked away with nothing. In this case, quite deservedly, as their lawsuit did not stand on musical merit. "Live You Life" used rhythmic Charleston motifs and a harmonic four-chord progression that had been common in music for many years. What should say for example Outkast, whose 1998 track "Rosa Parks" has all the harmonic and melodic aspects to a far greater extent than a song by Artikal Sound System?

2. Break My Heart (2020)

I am particularly sorry for the accusation of plagiarism with this song, as I was absolutely entranced by the bass line and made a cover version on my YouTube channel out of excitement. However, the guitar riff is basically identical to the theme in INXS' 1987 song "Need You Tonight". But justice has been served and both Andrew Farris and Michael Hutchence (keyboardist-songwriter and vocalist for INXS) are listed as co-writers of "Break My Heart".

I guess they have very good lawyers or it was just so obvious on first listen that there was no backing out. Whatever the truth is, I'm glad that the situation in this case has been cleared up and INXS have, albeit unwillingly, but fairly, become co-writers of another pop hit.

3. Prisoner (2020)

Here we are dealing with a guest appearance on a Miley Cyrus track that went to number one on the charts in Bulgaria, Croatia and Malta, as well as top ten in ten other countries and top forty in nineteen other countries. But this success was built on three accusations of plagiarism. Not only were the song's writer-producers "inspired" by two iconic songs of the past but even the music video for the hit was contested for copying ideas. Where to start, right?

Let's start with the verse, which is a complete rip-off of the melody of the chorus of "I Was Made For Lovin' You" by KISS (1979). And the chorus was again copied from Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" (1981). None of the songwriting team for either song is mentioned in the credits for "Prisoner". Only Wikipedia has a small mention of Olivia Newton-John's "interpolation" of the melody.

Do you know what the term interpolation means in the music industry? It is the playing of the original melody with new lyrics when for some reason the original or sample cannot be used. A bit steep, huh? So you steal the melody, change the lyrics and call it interpolation? This is probably a topic for a more specific legal discussion, but this logic boggles the mind.

To make matters worse, the British pop punk band Dream Wife have accused Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa of stealing their ideas for the music video for the song "Prisoner". In fact, both videos feature a shot of an open mouth framed by teeth, the leads are dressed as punk stars and we see them performing at a concert, all in a strikingly similar parallel to the Dream Wife video. The band even shared several side-by-side shots from both videos on their Instagram account, accusing both Cyrus and Lipa of stealing their work.

Questions of originality and disputes over plagiarism are very sensitive. I would guess that with the advent of AI, they will become even more pressing and sensitive. There aren't really that many catchy combinations of melodies and chords, and if you're composing and producing in the pop business, you're always on shaky ground.

I'm all for maintaining as much freedom as possible in terms of production, there's no need to copyright an Em chord or to pick on Ed Sheeran for using a few notes in a chorus that match a song from the past. It's always better to have fewer rules and lawyers and maybe more cliched songs. In the end, it's up to us what we listen to and support.