Dua Lipa faces new 'Levitating' lawsuit over use of 'talk box' recording in remixes

Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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Dua Lipa is facing another lawsuit over her hit song "Levitating."

Musician Bosko Kante filed a multi-million dollar federal lawsuit in Los Angeles Monday against the British pop star and her music label Warner Music Group claiming they never received his permission to include his "talk box" recording in "Levitating" remixes.

Kante said in the lawsuit that he came to an oral agreement to allow Lipa to use his "talk box" recording, made with a device worn around the neck to shape synthesizer or guitar sounds through the mouth, for the original "Levitating."

Dua Lipa is facing another "Levitating" lawsuit.
Dua Lipa is facing another "Levitating" lawsuit.

Lipa's "Levitating" earned the No. 1 spot on Billboard's 2021 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart after spending 68 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, according to Billboard.

Kante claims the song's creators did not have to right to use the recording in three "Levitating" remixes, like the popular version featuring rapper DaBaby as well as DJ The Blessed Madonna's remix featuring Madonna and Missy Elliott, which was the lead single from the Lipa and Blessed Madonna remix album “Club Future Nostalgia.”

Previous suit: Dua Lipa wins in court as 'Levitating' lawsuit from Florida reggae group dismissed

“All three remixes sampled and incorporated a greater amount of plaintiff’s work than that used in the original version,” Kante's lawsuit claims. “Defendants did not seek or receive any authorization or permission to use the composition or sound recording of plaintiff’s work from plaintiff.”

The lawsuit calls for Kante to receive $20 million in damages.

USA TODAY reached out to representatives for Lipa and Kante for comment on Thursday.

The new case is the third copyright lawsuit filed over "Levitating." In June, a March 2022 legal complaint from the Florida reggae group Artikal Sound System was dismissed. An additional lawsuit by songwriters Sandy Linzer and L. Russell Brown was filed in March 2022 and claimed Lipa borrowed the track's melody from their 1979 song “Wiggle and Giggle All Night” and their 1980 song “Don Diablo.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dua Lipa's 'Levitating': Singer hit with a third lawsuit