Dua Lipa is firing up Club Nostalgia with the release of the Blessed Madonna Remix of Levitating featuring Madonna and Missy Elliott.
Levitating has been a fan favourite since Lipa's Future Nostalgia dropped but now it's been given a renovation, replacing it's airy instrumental with a four-to-the-floor club beat provided by Blessed Madonna.
Pop remixes have come back into vogue in the past year or so. They mostly consist of an extra verse over the original instrumental but this one delivers a completely different vibe. Madonna adds background vocals to the first verse before delivering her own while Missy Elliott offers a whole new portion of the song.
Madonna doesn't add a lot to the song but given Future Nostalgia's ties to Confessions On The Dancefloor it feels like a fitting nod. Missy's part is the most charismatic of the track with the only verse that truly benefits from the song's new beat.
Despite its highlights, the remix doesn't eclipse the original. The post-chorus, in particular, loses its buoyancy over the new beat while Lipa is unable to dance effortlessly across the instrumental like she does on the OG.
It's admirable what she's trying to do here though. The intro and outro suggest the song will be mixed into a grander set on Club Nostalgia and that's exciting. The idea of a pop album being completely remixed with large-scale guests dancing in and out hasn't been explored in modern pop much. It's clear she's going for the title of the dancefloor's favourite popstar and she might just achieve it with Club Nostalgia.
Best Part: Missy's verse comes just as the beat is beginning to feel monotonous, adding some much needed punch to the tail-end.
Worst Part: The post-chorus is so good on the original that it's hard to ignore the fact that it lacks here.
Best Lyric: "If you wanna run away with me I know a galaxy and I can take you for a ride," remains an excellent opening line.
Worst Lyric: There are no duds here.
