TRACK REVIEW: Dua Lipa - Break My Heart

TRACK REVIEW:

Dua Lipa

Break My Heart

9.7/10

The track, Break My Heart, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj2U6rhnucI

The album, Future Nostalgia, is out now. Order it here:

https://www.dualipa.com/

RELEASE DATE:

27th March, 2020

GENRES:

Pop/Dance-Pop

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

LABEL:

Warner

PRODUCERS:

Jeff Bhasker/Ian Kirkpatrick/SG Lewis/The Monsters and the Strangerz/Stuart Price/TMS/Andrew Watt

__________

ALTHOUGH I have reviewed…

PHOTO CREDIT: Cameron McCool for Vogue

Dua Lipa fairly recently, the fact she has just released her new album, Future Nostalgia, means that it is a good time to reassess and revisit a great artist. The title is a very apt one for someone who mixes the sounds of the 1970s and 1980s with a very modern attitude and aesthetic. She has collected some massive reviews already – including some five-star nods -, and I am not going to review the entire album myself – as I cannot do it full justice. Instead, I am going to look at Lipa’s current single, Break My Heart. Its video was released on Thursday (26th), and it sort of highlights all the assets and facets of Britain’s greatest modern Pop artists. I have a few subjects I want to address before I get to reviewing that track but, as we are a few months into 2020, there are some seriously good albums out in the world. Everyone will have their own opinions regarding the best of the year so far, and I really do think Future Nostalgia is among them. Right now, there is a very unsure and fearful cloud that hangs over the world. Life has changed immeasurably over the past few weeks, and it is a particularly tough time for musicians, creatives and the self-employed. I am not sure whether the Government are going to inject more money into the economy to help those who are out of work at the moment, but musicians are finding creative ways to stay busy and bring their music to people – even if they cannot tour and earn as much money as they would like. Although albums will still be made this year, there are going to be far fewer than we expected. That is understandable, as we all need to keep safe and put things on hold for a little while. I do feel there is a need now, more than ever, to produce something truly uplifting and unifying.

One of the reasons Future Nostalgia is being spoken about in such heated and passionate tones is because it has an energy and kick that was more common in past decades. It is a bit early to start calling the best albums of this year, but I would be shocked if Dua Lipa’s second album was not in the top-five of every critics’ end-of-year lists. I have nothing against more reflective and downbeat music, but I think there is this very real desire to hear something that is more joyful and uplifting. When things improve regarding the coronavirus pandemic, I think a lot more buoyant Pop will emerge. Ever since her eponymous debut album arrived in 2017, Dua Lipa has spliced more confessional and pained elements together with fizz and confidence. Whilst so many in the mainstream seem plastic and formulaic, Lipa is an artist who is forging her own path and not playing it safe. I think Pop has been in trouble for a while, and it has been lacking that essential catchiness, upbeat spirit and originality that we look for. Although modern Pop artists are more emotive and less rapturous than artists years ago, I think Dua Lipa could spearhead a revival and new movement. I will talk about that more a bit later, but there is a lot of attention trained at Dua Lipa right now. We all listen to big artists who storm the charts and appear in magazines, but I wonder how many of us stop and think about the sort of life they lead. For artists like Dua Lipa, one might assume things are pretty easy-going, and she can sort of kick back at the end of the day and does not have anything to worry about. Even now, when so many people are stuck indoors, it is hard for artists like her.

She would have been promoting her new album, maybe doing some gigs; there would have been this constant cycle of promotional events that, sadly, she cannot do – and I understand she pushed forward the release of Future Nostalgia as it was leaked online. There is great pressure, and it is amazing how artists like her handle it. In this Vogue feature from last year, she was asked about success and how she deals with expectation regarding releasing new material:

“You’re up there with the most streamed female artists in the world…

“Terrifying!”

Your songs collectively have been streamed over 5 billion times. How do you think about your success in these terms?

“I’m just grateful that people want to listen to my songs and play them at parties or while they’re getting ready. The numbers are crazy and while I’ve been in the writing process, I haven’t thought about it for a while so it’s… amazing. It pushes me to work harder. I just want to come back and make people proud. The last show I did was in December, so it’s been eight, nine months where I’ve just been writing in my little abyss, my little cave.”

Does that add extra pressure when it comes to creating a new record?

“Of course, but at the same time there’s only so much I can do. When I make music, I listen to it over and over again and when I do videos, I watch them over and over again. But the second it’s out in the world, it belongs to somebody else. That’s the way I see it. I like for people to be able to take my songs and have it make sense for them. The music has to live by itself. I’m reluctant to explain what a song means to me because I don’t want my story to influence that”.

It must be so difficult being in the public eye and being popular, knowing there is this standard and there is always going to be this commercial weight – the new song or album has to be bigger and sell better than the last. Whilst, as I mentioned, a lot of contemporary Pop artists are producing quite sad and slow music, Dua Lipa is sort of going the other way: the tunes you hear on Future Nostalgia are, largely, the perfect soundtrack for kitchen discos and feelgood times. Of course, as a young woman, she cannot ignore subjects like relationships and deeper issues – such as empowerment and sexism -, but she perfectly blends the more serious with the fun. I think a lot of fun has escaped Pop. You just know Dua Lipa grew up listening to a lot of great Pop music. She has revealed that artists like No Doubt and Prince have inspired Future Nostalgia. Whilst mature, the album does let loose, and one gets this funky and sassy collection of songs that critics and fans alike are going crazy over! Dua Lipa has always been an advocate of making Pop music as fun as possible. When she spoke with The Guardian in 2018, that subject arose:

“You want to be as honest as possible in the music you make,” she says, thinking not so much of her smash single New Rules, which Lipa did not write herself, as of songs such as Blow Your Mind (Mwah) and IDGAF, Lipa’s blunt, sweary postscripts on unhappy love affairs. She continues: “But then there’s the other side of it, when you do want a bit of a personal life, and you get upset that you’ve opened yourself up so much.” She shrugs inside the cream jumper, which unlooses some of her hair. “I guess it comes with the territory – a figuring-out of the right balance, how to be really content, y’know, in this see-through box I’m now living in.”

Pop should be taken lightly, Lipa believes. “It has to be fun. You’ve got to enjoy it. You can’t get upset about every little thing.” Music after all is the escape – the real world has plenty of methods for upsetting us already.

And so we discuss geopolitics, and Lipa’s family history. She comes from a large family of ethnic Albanians, to whom “so much has happened”, she says, “in my grandparents’ lives, and my parents’ lives… When you try to come to it and grasp everything there, it’s a lot.” She does her best to boil down their complicated story.

Her mother, Anesa, was born to a Kosovan father and a Bosnian mother. In the 90s, war came first to Bosnia, where Anesa’s mother lived, and then to Kosovo, where by now Anesa was living with her fiance, Dukagjin Lipa. Dukagjin was the son of a well-known historian, Seit Lipa, who at that time was the head of the Kosovo Institute of History. When conflict began to brew in Kosovo, Seit’s career abruptly ended. As Lipa tells it: “Once the Serbians came in, they wanted a lot of the historians to rewrite the history of Kosovo. To change it – that Kosovo was always part of Serbia and never part of Yugoslavia. And my grandfather was one of those people who wouldn’t, so he lost his job, because he didn’t want to write a history that he didn’t believe to be true”.

I wanted to include a bit about her family, as we do not often consider that when we listen to artists and the music they produce. I like to go deep when reviewing, and I feel it is important to include (in a review) different sides of an artist. Although Dua Lipa’s music has always been fun, I think there have been some changes between her first and second album. In the Vogue feature, she explained more:

“Dua’s success isn’t simply accolade and awards driven; her self-titled album was – and remains – an absolute joy to listen to. The record delivers tune after tune, from heart-bursting ballads to self-empowerment anthems, with critics describing it as “a terrific debut” and the singer herself a “legitimate pop sensation”. Dua, who phones from LA on the morning of the Vogue shoot, is both considered and self-deprecating about her success, noting she wrote many of the songs as a teenager. “For the first record all I could do really was a lot of dance-crying,” she laughs (she does this often). “It was so much easier for me to write things that made me unhappy because they were things that stuck in my mind the longest.” Having just turned 24 in August, she promises her second album will be a little more “conceptual” and “mature”, before deciding with another exclamation that it’s also “like a dancercise class. It’s just fun!”.

Not only is Dua Lipa bringing some much-needed fizz and kick back into Pop…she is also a role model that uses her platform to speak out. She has discussed sexism in the industry and how much harder it is for female artists. It can be a bit risky when it comes to talking about change and things one is passionate about, as record labels are very aware about the commercial consequences – a backlash on Twitter or a nervousness about an artist going off script or being controversial. Dua Lipa is not someone who will sit back and remain silent. She wants to see change in the industry, and this will give strength to so many artists. One of Dua Lipa’s biggest strengths is the fact that she is this big star, yet she can remain rooted and grounded. In this interview, Dua Lipa was asked about moving to London at a young age and how she managed:

“Lipa’s work ethic, down-to-earth nature and message of empowerment has made her a role model for girls and young women, and her background is just as inspiring. Her parents moved to the UK from Kosovo in 1990 after war broke out, and Lipa was born in Westminster in 1995. She lived in London until she was 11, when her father’s job took them back to the Kosovan capital of Pristina. Surrounded by an unfamiliar language and culture, she struggled to fit in but finally found a place she belonged in the city’s hip-hop scene. Determined to pursue a singing career in London, Lipa persuaded her parents to let her move back to the UK capital on her own when she was 15, where she stayed with a family friend and attended the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School – an institution which counts Rita Ora and the late Amy Winehouse as alumnae.

What was it like living alone in London at that age?

I loved the freedom I had and the fact that I could invite my friends home whenever I wanted to and without any restrictions on how late they could stay. But I hated having to take care of myself, preparing all my meals, doing my laundry and all those things because I didn’t have anyone else to do that for me.

What did you learn from the experience?

It made me become much more independent and helped me understand that if I wanted to make my dreams come true I had to get out of my shell and fight”.

Even though there have been changes and small steps regarding gender inequality in music, there is still a long way to go. Dua Lipa is someone who has experienced discrimination through her career. When she spoke with Vogue, the question of inequality came up:

“How else have you experienced gender disparity as a musician?

“There are so many incredible new female artists and so much incredible music coming from strong, amazing women that we’re making it too hard to ignore. It has been great seeing a lot more women being nominated at awards shows and winning really big. People are slowly starting to wake up but there is still so much inequality in the world. Sometimes I feel because I’ve been brought up in London I live in this little bubble. When I came to America, and travelled to other parts of the world, I saw it so much more. I get shocked that this is a reality. These are things I constantly speak out and fight for. Even when I have the understanding of inequality, it still shocks me”.

I think that Dua Lipa is a new type of Pop artist; a combination of the icons of the 1970, 1980s and 1990s, but she is doing things in her own way. I think a lot of big artists are confined and often live a very isolated life. I do not feel that is the case with Dua Lipa. It can be hard to live a ‘real life’ if you are a Pop star but, as she explained when she spoke with The Face last September, she manages to live a relatively normal life:

“But isn’t partying with the festival masses and doing everyday things tricky when you’re famous? Lipa shrugs. “I just do it,” she says, adding that she thinks it’s important to “defeat the idea” that, as a celebrity, she can’t go out and do normal things. She considers fame to be something that she can simply relax her way out of. “In the beginning, I did find it a bit weird [being recognised]. I wouldn’t know how to act or what to say. Now I’m more chilled with it, it’s easier.”

Even though she’s a mainstay of pop, only now does it feel like Lipa is unleashing the full force of her personality on the public. Beyond her engaging socials, compare her 2018 Billboard Music Awards and 2019 American Music Awards performances on YouTube and they seem worlds apart. A stiffer, more self-conscious performer has transformed into a fist-pumping powerhouse. More dramatic yet was her show-stopping, sapphic duet with St Vincent at this year’s Grammys, described as “really fucked up and sexy” by the American musician.

Lipa is something of a rarity right now as a British woman making global pop moves. She won a BRIT award earlier this year with Calvin Harris, for their summer banger One Kiss. Many singers in today’s charts only get a featuring on a producer’s track, but on One Kiss (as well as on the piano house single Electricity with Ronson and Diplo), Lipa isn’t a featured artist: she shares top billing with the producers. “As a featured artist, I’m there to add something to someone else’s sound, whereas I prefer to be able to create something with someone,” she says firmly.

Women in pop, unless they’re literally sitting at a piano – and often even then – are rarely given the credit they deserve as songwriters. “For so many years, people have claimed that pop is manufactured,” Lipa says, taking on a fighting tone of voice that indicates this is an axe she’s regularly been grinding. “But there have also been so many incredible pop artists. Gwen Stefani, P!nk, Alicia Keys – all these artists that were the it-girls of pop in the ’90s and ’00s, but were very much writing themselves. I would have hoped that the whole stigma of manufactured pop would have disappeared a long time ago, but it still exists. As women, I do feel like we always need to prove ourselves a little bit more, to earn our place”.

It is clear Dua Lipa is a role model for so many people. She has this powerful voice that asks for change; she writes incredible, exciting Pop, and she has this very relatable personality – not normally what you’d expect from a major artist.

I will come to discuss Break My Heart in a just a moment but, to end this section, I wanted to talk about Dua Lipa and her changing fashions. I am not into fashion myself – as it would be obvious to anyone who ever saw me! -, but I do think that fashion and identity are less prominent in modern music. I think Pop artists of the past were much more conscious about crafting a look, whether it worked or not. Not that modern artists are bland, but I do feel like there is less personality and colour in the modern scene. This article from earlier this year explains Dua Lipa’s changing trends and fashions:

“We may have just entered the ’20s, but it seems fashion is still largely stuck in the ’90s. After making a huge resurgence last year, the decade is set to inform much of spring/summer 2020’s style agenda, with trends like chain necklaces. Bermuda shorts and clean nineties lines all proving prevalent on the runways.

The appeal spreads far and wide—from fashion editorial to Instagram—but if there’s one person who’s a poster girl for the movement, it’s without a doubt Dua Lipa.

In addition to her award-winning music, the songstress has long been impressing us with her sartorial wild streak, too. From mesh and thigh-skimming sequins to elegant ballgowns and sharp suiting—much like Sarah Jessica Parker or Alexa Chung, it seems there's no trend Dua Lipa can't turn her hand to.

While many of her archival outfits err on the ‘80s side of things, her latest ensembles are each in their own a tribute to the ’90s. From bucket hats and puffer jackets to bright eyeshadow and hair tendrils, Dua looks are becoming just as iconic as the ones that actually inspired them”.

I do feel there is some great Pop out there but, as Future Nostalgia shows, there is nobody quite as strong as Dua Lipa! Look online at the reviews that have come in, and they are all four or five-star pieces! I shall now move on to reviewing Break My Heart – a song that I wanted to focus on as it is fresh off the press.

The video for Break My Heart is pure 1980s. The song’s title (and Dua Lipa’s name) are on the screen, as we pan down to see her standing on a car roof. The entire video is full of giddiness, bright colours and these wonderfully cinematic scenes. A bad or unimaginative video can actually dent a song, and yet Break My Heart’s video is awash with beautiful colours and filters. The cityscape and sets look wonderful as the heroine moves around with this concentrated, slightly resigned look. With a bass line that reminds me of Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust; there is actually a sample from INXS’ Need You Tonight. One of the big strengths of Future Nostalgia is that it can splice in these samples here and there to beautifully add something familiar and bygone to a very modern and of-the-moment artist. Break My Heart is Dua Lipa assessing love and whether trusting again is such a wise idea. “I’ve always been the one to say the first goodbye/Had to a love and lose a hundred million times” shows the sense of defeat and exacerbation; that hyperbole and lack of clarity signals someone who has been messed around but wants to give her heart. She is falling, and the sweetheart says her name like she’s never heard before – and she wants to know whether he is falling too. The pre-chorus adds some tension, and one feels the composition shift and the scenery change. The heroine lets the guy know she can get whatever he wants from her, and there is this devotional and trusting nature that sits alongside history and a realisation that things can go wrong. All of this builds up to the chorus, which is as catchy and strut-worthy as any for many years. Using the bones of that INXS sample, you are helpless to resist its pull and allure. “I would’ve stayed at home/’Cause I was doing better alone/But when you said “hello”/I knew that was the end of it all” is delivered with that static rhythm and spring that makes the words pop and groove.

I think a great song can be taken to new heights with a brilliant chorus and Break My Heart’s compelling chorus definitely lodges in the head! It is great to see how the song shifts sonically and emotionally; the song continues to bump and shimmer as Dua Lipa rides the wave and goes deep. A lot of modern Pop is quite emotionally vacant, yet Lipa genuinely invests the listener. “I wonder, when you go, if I stay on your mind” she asks in the second verse; she looks at the past and its heartache but seems to be committed to this moment – even if giving herself fully could result in hurt. Whilst the lyrics are interesting and are personal, I think it is the combination and vocal and composition that really makes Break My Heart fly. The production is big, the beats are firm, and there is that glossy-cum-sexy underbelly that is aided by that nod to INXS. Right from start to finish, you are moved and kept moving by what is happening. The video is an experience in itself, and it is pretty amazing seeing all the different scenes hang together – it is almost like a mini film; so much is packed in! I wanted to select Break My Heart for review, not just because it is the latest single from Future Nostalgia, but I think it is the best song on the album and the one that hit me hardest – do check out every track on the album, as there is so much variety and quality. When you hear Break My Heart once, you will want to go back and spin it again and again, as it has that incredibly addictive nature. At a time when we all need a boost and some cheer, Break My Heart, whether it intended to or not, provides just that.

PHOTO CREDIT: Charles Dennington for Vogue Australia

I cannot add too much to what has already been said regarding Future Nostalgia. Dua Lipa has produced a visceral, emotional, fun and colourful album that blends together Pop from the 1980s and 1990s; it puts in some Disco, and mixes that in with something that is distinctly Dua Lipa’s. I think Future Nostalgia is one of the year’s best albums, and it will remain in that position for a very long time. I would encourage people to buy the album – there is a link at the top of this review – and there are tour dates that you can check out. Of course, things may well change given what is going on, but there is no reason to suggest Dua Lipa cannot fulfil the dates she has announced. There will be no/very few festivals this year, so do go and see her perform if you can. Whilst Dua Lipa’s second album is out in the world, I feel it gives other Pop artists an opportunity to look at what they are producing and, at this difficult time, ask whether they should be providing music that is more fun and together. We all need something uplifting, and you get that with Future Nostalgia. There is also a lot of personal revelation, some great attitude and plenty of confidence. Even though there are a few writers and producers in the kitchen, it is very much the command and force of Dua Lipa that shines through. It will be interesting to see where she goes from here, and how she moves on from her latest album. Right now, she will want to get back on the stage as soon as possible and ensure Future Nostalgia reaches as many people as possible. Although there is a lot of uncertainty in the air right now, the brilliance of Dua Lipa’s music strong and assured. It is great to have such a great album out from…