Levitating (song)

"Levitating" is a song by English singer Dua Lipa from her second studio album, Future Nostalgia. The song was written by Lipa, Clarence Coffee Jr., Sarah Hudson, and Koz, who produced the song with Stuart Price, and stemmed from a Roland VP-330 synthesiser sample played by Koz. The song is an electro-disco and nu-disco track with several disco tropes. It incorporates elements of dance-pop, pop-funk, power pop and space rock, as well as 1970s, 1980s and 1990s pop and R&B styles. The lyrics describe the idea of "levitating" when falling in love, with several outer space references. It was crowned as the biggest female lead song of the 21st century by Billboard and as the ninth-biggest song overall in this century, as of 2025.
A remix of "Levitating" by American DJ the Blessed Madonna featuring Madonna and Missy Elliott was released for digital download and streaming on 13 August 2020 as the lead single from Lipa and the Blessed Madonna's remix album Club Future Nostalgia. It was categorised as an EDM, electro-disco, electro house, future bass, and techno track, with a throwback disco and trance vibe, and an increased tempo from the original. A second remix featuring American rapper DaBaby was released for the same formats on 1 October 2020 as the fifth single of Future Nostalgia, appearing on the bonus edition of the album. The remix impacted contemporary hit radio formats in the United States on 6 October 2020, serving as the album's third single in the country. The remix has the same production used in the original, with DaBaby adding a pop rap verse and intro.
"Levitating" reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart and number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Lipa's seventh top-five single in the UK and second in the US. It also achieved top-five charting in many countries including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, and New Zealand. Despite not reaching number 1 in the United States, "Levitating" was named the top song on the 2021 year-end chart, becoming the fourth single to accomplish this feat and the first single to do so since Lifehouse's "Hanging by a Moment" in 2001. It set new records as the song by a female artist with the most weeks spent in the Top 10 and the longest-charting non-holiday song by a female artist on the Billboard Hot 100, spending forty-one weeks in the Top 10 and seventy-seven weeks on the chart overall. It ranks within the Top 40 on the list of the greatest Hot 100 hits of all time. In 2023, the song was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. On the Billboard Global 200, it peaked at number 2 and was named the top song on the 2021 year-end chart. The song was awarded a triple Platinum certification in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry.
"Levitating" was promoted with the release of two music videos, one for each of its respective remixes. The Will Hooper-directed music video for the Blessed Madonna's remix was filmed in London and Atlanta and has a theme of "love conquers all". It sees many people under the influence of a mysterious planet and being obsessed with a maze-like symbol. The DaBaby remix received a music video that was directed by Warren Fu and created in partnership with social media platform TikTok. The video is centred around Lipa and DaBaby dancing in an art deco-styled elevator, with many TikTok users in the cast. Lipa promoted the single with live performances on The Graham Norton Show, at the American Music Awards of 2020, and on Saturday Night Live.

Background

After figuring out the title of her second studio album, Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa began working backwards, figuring out the sound she desired. Shortly after, "Levitating" was written, which is the first track recorded that appears on the album's final track listing. The song was written by Lipa with her longtime collaborators Clarence Coffee Jr. of The Monsters & Strangerz, Sarah Hudson and Stephen Kozmeniuk, the latter of which also handled the production. Before going into the studio, Kozmeniuk spent a few weeks coming up with ideas to play in the studio, eventually thinking it would be cool to create a "slinky disco track." Lipa sent him some notes and stuff that she was inspired by, which became the idea of blending old with new. Kozmeniuk thought the best way to create this idea was to use old instruments, one of which was a Roland VP-330 synthesizer, which he had been looking for, for seven to eight years. After shipping the synthesizer from Tokyo to Toronto, he immediately plugged it in and began playing. The first thing he played, which he described as a "synthetic choir sound", later turned into the synth line from the song. He looped the sound and began building a song around it, including creating an analog string sound, also using the Roland VP-330.
"Levitating" was written and recorded in a one-day studio session at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London between the four writers on 28 August 2018. They started the session by Hudson doing a Tarot card reading in order for the writers to open up about what was happening in their lives. Lipa recalled it "changing the energy in the room." Kozmeniuk then began playing some tracks he had created with Lipa in mind. "Levitating" was one of the first tracks he played, which the collaborators all agreed that it would be the one to write onto. Lipa took out the voice memos app on her phone and began leading the song by singing a melody, making it up on the way with Coffee later elevating it. They had the visuals of being in an Austin Powers movie, with Mike Myers doing a random dance to the song, which helped give them a mood while writing the lyrics. The session ended up with the collaborators ordering doughnuts and 'levitating' from the sugar rush. They immediately began writing after that, with a good feeling going into it. They decided to include the "sugarboo" lyric as an ode to their friendship as it was something they called one another as a joke. Lipa also decided to add a rap in order to get her British side across, because she often gets mistaken from where she is actually from.
Lipa began by recording the lead vocals, and later some backing vocals and vocals with all the collaborators. They would create different personas with different vocals every time they recorded them. Lipa recalled that she and her co-writers were dancing all through making the song, even if they were experiencing writer's block or working on the production. After finishing the song, Lipa enlisted the help of Stuart Price for some additional production. He brought more "bounce" to the song and helped with the bass groove. He also incorporated a high drone synth as a disco trope, and a string part in the pre-chorus. Koz later also enlisted the help of Bosko "Electrospit" Kante to play a talk box. "Levitating" helped dictate what the rest of Future Nostalgia would sound like and where Lipa thought everything made sense, where she had both the "future" and "nostalgia" elements. She called it the "starting point" of the album.

Music and lyrics

"Levitating" is an electro-disco, nu-disco, pop-funk and space rock song, with dance-pop and power pop elements. The song incorporates music styles from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s pop and R&B. Constructed in verse–chorus form, the song runs for 3 minutes and 23 seconds and is composed in time and the key of B minor, with a tempo of 103 beats per minute and a chord progression of Bm⁷—Fm⁷—Em⁷. It is built around a wonky synth hook, with 1990s choruses and several campy disco tropes. The rest of the production consists of funky synth disco beats, a "squelchy" bass, "rubbery" basslines, syncopated handclaps, nu-disco rhythms, "wonky" and "bizarre" synths, an EDM groove, funky guitars, talk box vocals, a "hypnotic" synth line and disco strings. The bass, guitars, and talk box give off a disco-funk feeling. Following the first chorus, the instruments are stripped back. On his remix, DaBaby adds a new pop rap verse and intro, over the original's production, with him serving as an additional writer on the track.
Lipa's vocals range from F₃ to B₄. The middle eight includes a Blondie-influenced rap, where Lipa exerts her British accent, before she performs an a cappella ahead of the final chorus. "Levitating" has many outer space references, using an exaggerated metaphor of love as a spaceship to transmit radiant euphoria and happiness. Lyrically, the song sees Lipa exposing her feelings for a significant other and singing about moments with them in which she is her best self. For NME, Rhian Daly stated she sings about "a love 'written in the stars'", while 411Manias David Hayter, labelled it an "intergalactic ode to orgasms". The song received many comparisons to the works of Chic, Daft Punk, Debbie Harry, the Jackson 5, Kylie Minogue, Moloko, Kate Nash, Outkast, Katy Perry, the Spice Girls, Tinie Tempah, the Weeknd, and Super Mario 64 sound effects.

Release and promotion

"Levitating" was released on 27 March 2020 as the fifth track on Lipa's second studio album, Future Nostalgia. In August 2020, Lipa confirmed that the song would serve as the album's fifth official single. It was promoted to Italian and British contemporary hit radio formats on 13 August and 23 September 2020, as a promotional single. On 25 September 2020, DaBaby confirmed in an interview with Capital FM that he had a collaboration with Lipa coming out soon. Later that day, Lipa announced that a remix of "Levitating" featuring DaBaby would be released a week later. The remix's cover art was shot by Joseph Ford. It premiered on 1 October 2020, being released for digital download and streaming. The remix was later added to the three editions of Future Nostalgia: the bonus edition which was released alongside the song, the digital edition released on 29 October 2020, and the 20 November 2020-released French CD edition.
The remix was serviced to contemporary hit radio formats in the United States on 6 October 2020, serving as the album's third single in the country. It was also serviced to contemporary hit radio formats in Italy and the United Kingdom on 2 and 9 October 2020, respectively. The original was serviced to adult contemporary radio formats in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2020. The remix was also scheduled to be serviced to adult contemporary radio formats in the US on 19 October 2020, but was ultimately replaced with the original. Due to its music video partnership with TikTok, the app launched a worldwide advertising campaign with promotion on several digital and social media channels, as well as New York City's Times Square and prominent sites in cities across Europe. The app also launched the #Levitating challenge, where Lipa invited fans to use TikTok's slow-motion feature to show off their levitating skills. The song was promoted with an Instagram filter on the app. Lipa and Koz did an interview about the creation of the song on music podcast Song Exploders 194th episode, released on 7 October 2020. It was also included in Morrisons' 2020 Christmas TV Ad. The song was used during the 46th People's Choice Awards on 15 November 2020. The song was included in a promotional video for the 2020–21 NBA season made by NBA on TNT. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris used it in a playlist supporting their inauguration.
A remix of the track by KUU was released on 20 November 2020. It is a four on the floor-styled song with a simple and hypnotic sound design that makes use of tropical synths, Balearic beats, a rolling bassline, and funky piano chords, all layered with Lipa's vocals.
Over the 2020–21 Premier League season, a video clip of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola dancing, with part of the track overlaid on it, surfaced on Twitter. The clip was later posted by Manchester City's official Twitter account on 4 February 2021 and again on 7 February 2021 following Manchester City's 4–1 victory over Liverpool, which was their first victory at Anfield in 18 years.
In February 2021 after Lipa was honoured as a Time 100 Next "emerging leader", she performed a stripped-down version of "Levitating" with a live ensemble including Panic at the Disco bassist Nicole Row.