Dua Lipa released her shimmering sophomore album Future Nostalgia earlier this year, debuting to critical acclaim and earning a spot in Uproxx’s Best Albums Of 2020 So Far list. With the record, Lipa made a decisive turn to ’80s-inspired pop music, making the reference apparent through brightly-colored spandex in her “Physical” video. Since Lipa’s Future Nostalgia era has been peppered with references to the decade, it’s only fitting that the singer collaborated with an iconic star from the time.
On Thursday, Lipa served up a remix of her track “Levitating” and it features verses from Madonna and Missy Elliott. For the instrumentals, Lipa tapped DJ The Blessed Madonna, formerly The Black Madonna, to transform the laid-back, groove-driven beat to have pounding bass and flickering synths. Lipa described how the epic collaboration came to be in a statement: “I decided to take the party up a notch with the incomparable The Blessed Madonna, who secretly helped me to craft the mixtape that would become Club Future Nostalgia and the absolute queens Missy Elliott and Madonna joined me for an epic remix of ‘Levitating.”
The Blessed Madonna echoed Lipa’s excitement about the remix, saying it was her “dream come true” to work with a team of big-name like Lipa, Madonna, and Elliott: “It is no overstatement to say that reimagining Dua’s amazing record ‘Levitating’ with Madonna and Missy Elliott was my dream come true. That’s a phrase that is overused, but in this case, it is absolutely literal…Being a part of this was not only an honour but the very best medicine for dancing feet that are stuck at home. I hope it lifts up the spirits of everyone that hears it, as much as it has lifted mine. Truly, I am levitating.”
Listen to Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” remix with Madonna and Missy Elliot above.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.