Given the often aggressive nature of his music and his typically stoic/stern demeanor, many were surprised last week when it was revealed that Reznor was deeply moved by a song by pop star Dua Lipa. He said in an interview, “I heard my daughter, who is six years old, sing Dua Lipa the other day. She’s so into it, and it was so cool. Like, it’s his music, you know? That’s his thing… It really reminded me of the art of writing a well-crafted song. I cried listening to a Dua Lipa track the other day because it was just a really well done piece of music, you know? It was smart. It was good. It is difficult!”
It made headlines, but notably, he didn’t say exactly which of Lipa’s songs had that effect on him. This naturally led to a lot of fan speculation. Now Reznor has put an end to the confusion, so congratulations to everyone who guessed “Levitation”.
Over the weekend, Stereogum shared Reznor’s quote on Instagram, and one user commented, “I need to know what Dua Lipa song got Trent f*cking Reznor ripping.” Reznor himself responded, commenting, “It was levitating. Her execution was spot on and when she got to the ‘sugarboo’ line, it broke me.
While pop music hasn’t always been Reznor’s path, he’s no stranger to it: He and Atticus Ross produced and co-wrote Halsey’s 2021 album, If I can’t have love, I want power.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.