Dua Lipa speaks with KISS FM about new music, Glastonbury, her secret talent, and her big secret. Watch below!
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Dua Lipa speaks with KISS FM about new music, Glastonbury, her secret talent, and her big secret. Watch below!
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In addition to featuring in ELLA USA, Dua Lipa also features in ELLE Arabia with the same photoshoot and interview. There are two covers available.
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Dua Lipa has shared a behind the scenes video of the ‘Illusion’ music video.
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Dua Lipa is on the cover of ELLE USA‘s May issue with photography by Dan Beleiu. You can read the interview below. Dua also spoke to ELLEâs resident astrologists, The AstroTwins, who discover Dua is a very âunLeoâ Leo in a lot of ways. The video of this conversation is also below!
The first time Dua Lipa went clubbing, she was just a wisp of a tween girl in Kosovo. The UK-born pop star realizes how absurd it sounds as she explains it. Seated in her home office in London, flanked by shelves teeming with books, she thumbs through her phone for a blurry image of a photo from that fateful nightâas if to prove to the two of us that it did indeed happen. At the center of the photo is a young Lipa dressed in white crochet, smiling brightly next to her much taller cousin and an entourage of stylish women.
Clubbing is a Lipa family tradition; itâs also why she wasnât fazed when, while out one night on New York Cityâs Lower East Side with Charli XCX, she ran into her parents partying at The Box. âWe celebrate everything and anything, and we just love a party,â she explains. âWhen I go to my auntâs house, it all starts off pretty tame….Then the music comes on, and weâre all dancing in the house. And thatâs a Tuesday!â
Now 28, Lipa has since made a name for herself as Britainâs leading lady of disco. On the dance floor, she plays an almighty oracle, a savvy young agony aunt for lovelorn club kids, desperate for the sobering real talk sheâs dispensed in hits like âNew Rulesâ and âDonât Start Now.â
But long before she penned feminist electro-pop smashes that now stream by the billions, her family knew her as just Dua, their precocious eldest daughter who left Kosovo as a teen to fulfill her pop star dreams by herself in London. Thatâs when she fully harnessed what she calls her âbig sister energyâ in her life and music; one can hear it now in the unshakable authority with which she sings her songs.
âShe is such a big sister,â says songwriter Caroline Ailin, who first recognized Lipaâs insightful nature when they met almost a decade ago. âYou process your feelings [with her], but you also walk away feeling empowered.â
Lipa recently announced her new record, Radical Optimism, out this month. She landed on the title after a friend introduced her to the conceptâseeking the silver linings in an otherwise challenging worldâwhich seemed to gel with her ethos, as a person and an artist. âIt struck me,â she said in a press statement, âthe idea of going through chaos gracefully and feeling like you can weather any storm.â
In the time she spent shaping her new album, Lipa decided she would first take her own advice and start calling all the shots: in her career, in her love life, and in her image. In 2022, she ended her longtime partnership with management and publishing company TaP Music, whose roster includes outsider divas like Lana Del Rey and Caroline Polachek. Lipa subsequently hired her father as her manager and bought back the rights and masters for her entire catalog.
In February, Lipa inaugurated her liberated new era at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Gracing the red carpet in a custom CourreÌges chain mail gown, her dyed red tresses cascading past her shoulders, she channeled a dauntless warrior queen. That night, she debuted the single âTraining Season,â a new song from Radical Optimism. A jaunty disco track with theatrical flourishes of acoustic guitars, synthesizers, and live drums, it shows Lipa ramping up her bravado. âDonât wanna have to teach you how to love me right,â she sings, issuing a notice to any less-than-suitable suitors looking to waste her time: Sheâs in the big leagues now. âI had gone into the studio and just said the line, âTraining seasonâs over!ââ Lipa recalls.
Written in November 2022, âTraining Seasonâ is a reflection on a string of dates and long-term relationships, mostly set up by her friends. Lipaâs previous relationships include Bella and Gigiâs brother Anwar Hadid, and French director Romain Gavras; more recently, she was spotted vacationing in Mexico with British actor Callum Turner. âAs long as everyone knows where they stand, then youâre good,â she says with a shrug.
She speaks only obliquely of her love life these days, preferring to drop hints in song. âI was like, âOkay, Iâm going to write down what I want,ââ she says of âTraining Season.â âThe power of manifestation and writing things into existence with the power of words. When you know your worth, you know what you want and what you donât want.â
âI was talking about this with one of my dancers today, because she was going through a breakupâwhen I was single, I didnât wish it away. You learn so much about yourself, you know, whether itâs going on a date or spending that time alone. In the silence, you figure out who you really are,â she says. âIn the grand scheme of things, I was doing research.â
Radical Optimism was formulated with a crack team of co-songwriters and producers: Ailin, her trusted writer; Tobias Jesso Jr., hitmaker for Adele and Harry Styles; and Danny L Harle, PC Music alumnus and self-described ârave consultant.â As a massive fan of the Australian psych act Tame Impala, Lipa also tapped bandleader Kevin Parkerto join her crew in London. âWe called it The Band,â Parker says. âNot an old-school band, but a spiritual band. Each morning going into the studio, I felt like I was in the Beatles!â
Inspired in part by the freedom-seeking spirit underpinning UK club culture, Radical Optimism dovetails neatly with the recent resurgence of two nu-disco queens who rocked the clubs in the Y2K era: Kylie Minogue, who came back hard last year with âPadam Padamâ; and of course Sophie Ellis-Bextor, whose âMurder on the Dancefloorâ needle drop in Saltburn landed her on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time ever. In Radical Optimism, Lipa brings together live and electronic instruments to fashion her own global groove. The result is a cosmopolitan dance-pop record with a 1970s flair, and a vibrant, resounding affirmation of life.
âDua had this focus on finding this sound, which was so elusive,â Parker adds. âBut it was nice to be in the engine room of the creative process, rather than worry about being the face of it. It was the experience that Iâve been waiting for.â
âHoudini,â the first single off the album, was born shortly after Parker teased out a bass line that heâd recorded for himself, weeks before their studio sessions. Lipa was quick to put her own stamp on it, introducing a moody post-disco melody. âShe started singing, and it just immediately made sense,â Parker says. âThis feeling of early-â80s sleaze, in some strange, dark, sweaty club. Gloriously suffocating. Hypnotic.â
Ailin has worked with Lipa since before they penned, along with Emily Warren and Ian Kirkpatrick, her 2017 breakout hit, âNew Rulesââa dance-worthy laundry list of what-not-to-dos when an ex comes orbiting back around post-breakup. Venting about real life, Ailin explains, became essential to their creative process: âWe have a little yap about whatâs going on, and from that it turns into a pop song.â Lipaâs moments of unmanicured catharsis, Ailin says, are what yield her most penetrating lyrics; using the firm contralto of her voice, she imparts a pop wisdom thatâs as incisive as it is compassionate.
âThatâs her superpower,â Ailin says. âItâs hard not to feel like youâre the strongest person next to her. I think she lends a little bit of that to all of us sometimes.â
Born in London in 1995, Lipa is the eldest of three children in a Kosovar-Albanian family. Her parents sought refuge in the UK in 1992, before Dua was born, because of political instability in Kosovo at the time. Prior to their emigration, Duaâs father, Dukagjin, sang and played guitar in a rock band called Oda, and her mother, Anesa, studied law. The Lipas settled in the Camden area of London, and Dua was raised to speak Albanian at home and English at school.
Duaâs family returned to Kosovo in 2006, while it was still under the supervision of the United Nations. The country declared independence from neighboring Serbia in 2008, making it the youngest country in Europe. As she grew into her teens, Dua began to meditate on the horrific stories of ethnic cleansing and war crimes committed against Kosovar Albanians. It prompted a critical perspective shift for her, one that informs her values to this very dayâwhether that means being a fierce advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, or calling for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
âI heard stories from friends [in Kosovo] who lost family members. Houses burned. I saw them. When you have that direct communication with people who have been through [war], it opens up a completely new world, and it did for me,â she says. âI feel very close to [those suffering] injustices in the world, or inequality. Whether that be war, or coming out to your family, everyoneâs got a different experienceâŠItâs about support and learning together.â
Lipa was only 15 when she returned to London alone to pursue a music career. She moved into a flat in Camden with an Albanian family friend who was attending university. After watching her younger siblings grow up themselves, it was a move thatâs almost unfathomable to her now. âI said to my parents: âI donât know how you let me do that,ââ she admits. âBut I knew that I didnât have the same opportunities that I would have in Kosovo. I was so determined. I think my parents saw parts of themselves in me, and that allowed for them to be so open-hearted and generous with that trust.â
By 17, she completed her GCSEs, or secondary school certification, and worked as a restaurant hostess to make ends meet. Working in nightclubs as a teen inevitably steeled her for the misogyny and exploitation baked into a male-dominated music industry. If she sounds well beyond her years in her songs, itâs because she earned it. âWhen I started [songwriting], I worked at La Bodega Negra, a Mexican restaurant that looked like a sex shop,â she recalls. âIâd finish work, then go out to whatever nightclub was happening until, like, three in the morning. Then I would wake up and go to the studio until I had my shift again at, like, 8 P.M. The music I [made] was reflective of my every day, or every night.â
After ascending the charts again with 2018âs âOne Kissâ with Calvin Harris, Lipa claimed the title of Best New Artist at the 2019 Grammys. She chased her success the following year with the release of her Grammy-winning sophomore album, Future Nostalgia, which leaked early on in the COVID-19 quarantine in late March of 2020. Despite the pandemic nearly extinguishing the club scene, Future Nostalgia became the singerâs first number one album in the UK, and rendered her one of the most-listened-to female artists on Spotify. (More recently, she became the first female artist to have four songs each with over 2 billion streams on the platform.)
Upon wrapping her Future Nostalgia world tour in December 2022, Lipa finally had time to exhale, for what felt like the first time in her adult life. She embarked on getaways from the Mediterranean to India this past year, and relished dining experiences with her family and friends in tow. After she posted her vacation photos on Instagram, the internet began dubbing her the âVacanza Queenâ poking fun at her for presumably going off gallivanting for months at a time.
At first, the criticism felt dismissive of the years she spent without her family, toiling her way into pop superstardom. Yet perhaps itâs not just the glamorous photos from exotic locales, but also her efficiency as an artist that have concealed her hard work, making it seem magically effortlessâthe curse of being extremely capable all her life.
Lipaâs routine is still so regimented that it made an impression on Parker when they worked together in London. âDua is, like, the most punctual person,â he says. âFor most pop stars, itâs impossible to get to places on time. But Dua…sheâs, like, apologizing profusely if sheâs five minutes late!â
Through her media company, Service95, a weekly email newsletter-turned-podcast-turned book club, she has interviewed the Afghan American novelist Khaled Hosseini and the rockânâ roll poet Patti Smith. Sheâs also co-executive producing Camden, a new documentary in conjunction with Disney+ that showcases the history of her home borough in London and the many influential artists who grew up there, from Madness to Amy Winehouse.
âIâve been busy for almost 10 yearsâ she says. âEvery single day, Iâve had some bit of work to do. But people are going to say something anyway. People say a lot of mean things about a lot of people.â And if being Vacanza Queen âis what I’m getting, then Iâll take it. Whether Iâm performing or going out, if itâs not fun, I donât want it,â she says. âYou have to make room for joy. The world can be burning down, but goddamnâŠif you didnât spend any of your life trying to be happy, I don’t know what youâve done.â
Hair by Ali Pirzadeh at Streeters; makeup by Sam Visser for YSL Beauty; manicure by Michelle Humphrey at LMC Worldwide; set design by Jabez Bartlett at Streeters; choreographed by Ryan Chappell; produced by WA Productions.
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Dua Lipa appeared on the Zach Sang Show to talk about ‘Radical Optimism’ and the creative process behind it. She talks about being a perfectionist, her music being “dance crying genre,” manifestation, live performances, songwriting, the dumbest thing she’s done for love, the meaning behind certain songs, and more. Watch the full 48 minute interview below:
“I must have loved you more than I ever knew / I’m not mad, I’m not hurt / You got everything you deserve”
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Dua Lipa shares behind the scenes of her ‘Illusion’ music video in Billboard’s How It Went Down series.
“Dua Lipa talks about an illusion she faced during the talking stage of a relationship, how it led to the creation of her new track ‘Illusion’ and the Spanish twist in her music video..”
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Dua Lipa covers the latest issue of Music Week, which will be released next week on April 23rd. The magazine have shared some highlights (below) ahead of the full cover story becoming available both digitally and online upon its release.
Dua Lipa on making Radical Optimism
âIt was about being able to dictate. Before, I wasnât as confident in my craft. I definitely feel so much better about who I am as an artist and a songwriter, what I want to do and say and how I want to say it.âDua Lipa on taking control
âI think I trusted that other people knew better than me, and in some ways they did because they were more experienced. But Iâve just been learning to follow my gut and do the learning myself, rather than rely on other peopleâs knowledge.âDua Lipa on Radical22
âItâs about having control over my music, having the final say over what happens to it. As an artist, itâs important to understand that this is a business.âDua Lipa on Glastonbury
âGlastonbury has always been the pinnacle. Itâs my favourite festival. Iâm so grateful for the trust that Emily [Eavis] has put in me and Iâll make sure itâs great. Itâs the biggest show of my life, so Iâm gonna make sure I donât fuck it up!âDua Lipa on Joe Kentish
âI wouldnât have been able to do this without him. I love it when he comes into the studio â heâs someone who I really want to impress, so every time I play Joe music, I hear things differently and realise what needs to change without him even saying anything.âDua Lipa on being a âpop starâ
âPeople want you to speak out about things that you believe in, create a safe space for fans, or talk about current issues or activism. But at the same time, a lot of people want you to not do that and they want their pop stars to just be very quiet, like, âJust sing your song and donât get involved in politics.ââDua Lipa on the music business
âI think that people mistake artists as being away with the fairies, because we are preoccupied with the creative side and thatâs the only thing we really want to be doing. People take advantage of that a lot. People are proper charlatans and theyâll try it!â
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Dua Lipa has released new merch for ‘Radical Optimism,’ including clothing, a necklace, and a mirror. Visit the store to see what’s available.
the real deal !! pre-order radical optimism đđ https://t.co/DxYeUnlzt9 pic.twitter.com/R8YzOlvVxZ
— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) April 16, 2024
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For her Service95 book club, Dua Lipa has chosen âSwimming in the Darkâ by Tomasz Jedrowski as her pick for May.
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Singer-songwriter Patti Smith has written a short tribute to Dua Lipa for the 2024 TIME 100 Magazine. You can read it below or on the TIME website here.
She moves with a lightness in a heavy worldâbold, playful, and self-aware.
She is thoughtfully outspoken for the oppressed and displaced. She founded an influential editorial platform, Service95, to cover cultural topics and address humanitarian concerns. She believes in family, is grateful to her parents and supportive of her siblings.
She left home at 15 to propel her musical dreams into action. She is driven, independent, and possesses a desire for knowledge. She appeals to future artists to be mindful of the world around them.
She is herself, striving to redefine the pop-genre cosmos. She is Dua Lipa. DuaâAlbanian for love.
She introduced her song âHoudiniâ with an image of a small key on the tip of her tongue. One can easily imagine her holding a ring of such keys, the master of her everâŻevolving kingdom.
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