Let’s put the pieces together! First, a timeline.
March 2020
Reflecting on his future in the National Football League, six time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady makes the most daring decision at this point in his 20 year old career. Leaving the team that gave him a chance as a sixth round draft pick, Brady and his family pack their bags to move from the snow and stubbornness of New England to the sun and slackness of Tampa Bay.
Coming off her 2019 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Dua Lipa releases her sophomore album Future Nostalgia. With the help of two additional remixes featuring Madonna and DaBaby, the song “Levitating” became the anthem of 2020.
February 2021
Tom Brady levitates Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl victory over Kansas City.
Dua Lipa reissues her 2020 album titled Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition.
February 2022
Tom Brady retires from the NFL.
March 2022
Dua Lipa is sued twice for stealing “Levitating”.
Tom Brady announces he will return for another season as the quarterback for Tampa Bay.
After Tom Brady retired, boy did his future look comfortable. Brand deals, personalized products — he had the post career life that any professional athlete would dream of.
BUT: It’s no secret Tom Brady is a huge music fan.
Just as Alien Ant Farm’s “Smooth Criminal” was responsible for Brady's first Super Bowl win and SpongeBob's “Goofy Goober” the same for his 2005 Super Bowl win, it was Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” that launched Brady to his 7th Super Bowl victory in 2021.
Tom Brady’s playing days were behind him. That was until Dua Lipa was the victim of two lawsuits that accused the English-Albanian popstar of stealing the likeness of “Levitating” from two songs — one released in 1979 (old!) and some 2017 song that is not even on Spotify (so how could anyone steal it if it’s impossible to find??)
As the events of March 2022 unfolded it became clear Brady could not stand on the sidelines. Dua was facing millions of dollars in wasted litigation, Russell Wilson was now on the Broncos, and Dan Snyder was somehow still the owner of the newly named Washington Commanders with their newly acquired franchise QB — uhhh, Carson Wentz. By returning he knew he wasn’t just saving football… but the music industry too.
We all owe Tom Brady our thanks. Not only is he continuing to be the quarterback of our childhood dreams, but he is allowing me to write yet another hot take on random coincidences between music I like and the greatest professional athlete of all time.
Thank you Tom Brady.
