FEATURE:
Lost in Your Light
Dua Lipa: One of Britain’s Most Important Pop Icons
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ON 30th January…
PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Bailey-Gates for Rolling Stone
it will be four years since Dua Lipa released the single, Physical. The second to be taken from her as-then-unreleased second studio album, Future Nostalgia, that album came out in March 2020. I know that she is working on a third studio album. One that is almost done. The London-born British-Albanian artist is someone who, I feel, is our most important modern-day Pop icons. If the U.S. has Taylor Swift and Billie Eilih, we have Dua Lipa. I feel that she is out greatest modern Pop artist. Not only an incredible artist, Lipa is a budding actor and a magnificent live performers. One of the best of her generation. A hugely consistent and brilliant songwriter, I will bring in a couple of recent interviews with this modern-day superstar. Alongside the queens of modern music – including Lana Del Rey and Megan Thee Stallion -, there is no denying that Dua Lipa is an all-time great! Someone who will go down in the history books. In terms of her sound and influence. She is someone already inspiring emerging artists. At twenty-eight, we are going to see her in the industry for many years to come. There is a lot of excitement around a third album. Also, as they have yet to declare their headliners, many wonder whether Dua Lipa will be one of the three headliners who will take to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage later in the year. Maybe her, Little Simz and a male band will be the three names.
There are a couple of interviews that I want to bring in. Giving an insight into the creative and personal mind of Dua Lipa, I think that they go into detail as to why she is so compelling and acclaimed. In my mind, she is a modern-day Pop giant who does not get as much credit and spotlight as other artists. A queen of music, she is also someone wrestling with the public’s perception of her. In terms of who a modern-day Pop artist, do people want them to be smart and political? Perhaps something that is applied to women in a rather patronising and sexist way, should modern artists stick to music and not aspire and ideas beyond that?! This BBC article reports how Dua Lipa has reacted to a certain perception of her:
“Dua Lipa is one of the world's biggest pop stars, but the singer has voiced her frustration with the public's perception of her.
"I don't know if people believe that I like to read books," she said. "They don't want you to be political. They don't want you to be smart. There is so much more to me than just what I do."
Since her breakout single New Rules in 2017, the British-Albanian singer has launched a book club, a lifestyle newsletter and an international music festival in Pristina, Kosovo.
She has also made headlines for her political views - criticising the UK government's stance on immigration and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Speaking in a new interview with Rolling Stone, she said her worldview had been shaped by her parents' experience of fleeing the Kosovo war in the late 1990s.
"My existence is kind of political, the fact that I lived in London because my parents left from the war," she said.
"I feel for people who have to leave their home. From my experience of being in Kosovo and understanding what war does, no-one really wants to leave their home.
"They do it for protection, to save their family, to look after the people around them, that kind of thing, for a better life. So I feel close to it."
PHOTO CREDIT: EPA
The star said she saw parallels between what her parents went through and the situation Palestinians currently find themselves in, which prompted her to sign a petition calling for a ceasefire.
However, she was also critical of the atrocities carried out by Hamas during their deadly attack on Israel last October.
"I don't condone what Hamas is doing," she said. "I feel so bad for every Israeli life lost and what happened on 7 October.
"At the moment, what we have to look at is how many lives have been lost in Gaza, and the innocent civilians, and the lives that are just being lost.
"There are just not enough world leaders that are taking a stand and speaking up about the humanitarian crisis that's happening, the humanitarian ceasefire that has to happen."
'I won't spill my guts'
While the star has been vocal about her political views, she is less forthcoming about her personal life.
"I think I'm British," she told Rolling Stone, by way of explanation.
"I don't think I'm here to spill my guts on a talk show because it's going to be good for a news cycle or getting attention.
"As much as people think they know the people they support, I actually don't think they know anything about them anyway."
She was more keen to discuss her third album, which due for release later this year.
The record will be the follow-up to her Brit Award-winning disco odyssey Future Nostalgia.
The singer promised a change of direction, with Rolling Stone describing the album as a "psychedelic-pop-infused tribute to UK rave culture", inspired by bands like Primal Scream and Massive Attack.
"This record feels a bit more raw," she said.
"I want to capture the essence of youth and freedom and having fun and just letting things happen, whether it's good or bad. You can't change it. You just have to roll with the punches of whatever's happening in your life."
It will be the star's first record since splitting with TaP Management, who discovered and developed her as an artist.
She said legal agreements meant she "couldn't talk much" about the separation, but confirmed she had bought back the publishing rights to her biggest hits, and cautioned young musicians to educate themselves on the the business side of the music industry.
"Pay attention early on... I don't think enough people tell young artists that," she said.
"Everything feels so exciting in the beginning, and of course it is, but it's good to have the knowledge, and good to take care of yourself."
The star will next be seen at the Grammy Awards on 5 February, where she will perform alongside acts like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo.
She is one of the nominees for song of the year, thanks to her Barbie song Dance The Night. The tune could also pick up an Oscar nomination when the shortlists are revealed on 23 January”.
Tomorrow (23rd January) could indeed she Dua Lipa Oscar-nominated. I also think that she will be a festival headliner this summer. A third album due soon, this is a moment when Dua Lipa ascends to new heights. A supreme talent, she is also someone who holds a lot of influence and importance. I think that there are sections of the public and media who may balk at her political side. Maybe not pay as much notice to her book club and other projects. She should not be deterred. It is these various sides and assets that makes her such an amazing and rounded artist. Touching lives around the world, I do hope Lipa is not disheartened. This year is shaping up to be one of most successful and important. Rolling Stone featured Dua Lipa earlier this month. Discussing, among other things, influences on her third album, her dating life and acting projects, it is a deep dive into an artist who is one of the most astonishing in the world. And someone I feel is still underrated:
“She’s slightly jet-lagged, having landed from London a few days earlier. Two days before her flight, she released her new single, “Houdini,” a neo-psychedelic dance-floor rager. The next morning, Grammy nominations were announced, and she found out her Barbie hit, “Dance the Night,” was up for two awards, including Song of the Year. “I didn’t even know they were coming out that day!” she says. She celebrated by going to her friend’s DJ set, and admits she was kind of hungover for her flight.
But in between such big moments and celebrations, Lipa has been figuring out a lot about herself. Her highly anticipated third album is due later this year, and it captures a period of major changes in her life, including the end of a relationship and her forays into dating. She also parted ways with the management firm that represented her for a decade and bought back the rights to her music. Beyond that, she’s been planting seeds and piling up projects that include her Service95 newsletter, movie roles, and a production company, plotting out exactly what she wants to do in the future.
“I’m being thrown into learning lessons of resilience,” she says, “lessons of maybe not having to be so strong all the time and being OK with that.” She searches for the words a bit. “I don’t know.… I’m learning so much about myself.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Bailey-Gates
Lipa may have already been more resilient than she realized. Look no further than her origin story: At 15, she famously persuaded her family to let her leave Kosovo and moved back to London, where she was born, completely alone. She finished school, passed her A-levels, and began waiting tables and modeling while seeking out a team and label to get her music career off the ground. Before she turned 20, she was signed.
In the years leading up to and following the release of her 2017 self-titled debut, Lipa hustled in the studio and on the road, playing festivals and opening for Troye Sivan, Bruno Mars, and Coldplay. The work paid off with hits like “New Rules” and a Best New Artist Grammy Award. Then, in 2020, her hyper-glam disco revival Future Nostalgia became a pandemic blockbuster that climbed the charts and launched her into main-pop-girl territory.
The album was a rebel yell for Lipa. It became an unlikely soundtrack for millions of people during lockdown, and made disco a ubiquitous trend in pop for the next few years. And with her warm, soulful voice, mixed with her undeniable self-assuredness, Lipa became the pop diva ready to meet an uncertain moment.
While she’s one of the most-streamed artists in the world, she’s also your favorite rock star’s favorite pop star: When Elton John isn’t calling her up for lavish dinners, Mick Jagger is busting a move with her at his Christmas party. “We had a full dance party, dancing with Mick Jagger in his living room,” she says, laughing. She breaks into a light impression of Jagger: “He’s like, ‘All right, babe! Let’s go, darling!’”
Last summer, Trent Reznor said that he found “Levitating” so “well-crafted” it made him tear up. (“That was too, too cool,” Lipa says, smiling widely.) Recently, for her Service95 book club, Lipa spoke to Patti Smith, one of her heroes. Smith shared that she had seen a picture of Lipa in a chain-mail dress at the Barbie premiere and instantly thought of Joan of Arc. “Sometimes when I’m talking about things like this, I’m like, ‘It feels weird that I am even talking about myself,’” Lipa says.
PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Bailey-Gates
Lipa is everywhere, but many critics feel they have barely cracked the surface of who she is. She slipped so easily between genres that her sound, and personality, came off as inscrutable earlier in her career. Glimpses into her life outside of the spotlight would come in frequent but well-curated waves on her Instagram, the only social platform she runs herself. For her, music is a job — and her personal life remains just that. “I like to just live my life, do my photo dump, write my songs, and dip,” she explains. “I’m not interested in trying to be controversial or do something for a reaction.”
Her poise and disinterest in drama often leads people to cast her as a guarded, too-perfect pop bot. Jokes and criticism that she’s not trying hard enough, not giving enough, have hurt her. In the middle of all this self-discovery, Lipa’s been figuring out how to create more distance from the noise around her.
The truth is, you can’t be as ambitious and precise as Lipa is without giving a fuck. “I really care about how the fans respond,” she says. (After “Houdini” was released, she was frustrated that people said it still sounded “disco” when none of her influences come from there.)
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care about what the critics thought.… When you put your heart and soul into something, you want people collectively to be like, ‘Oh, it’s changed sonically, and it’s been something different.’”
She’s noticed a pattern with all of her singles so far, how they don’t start at the top and “gradually grow” over time. “They take so long and never get to Number One, but they stay around for a long time,” she says. There’s no irritation or anger in her voice when she says this; while a Number One in the U.S. would be nice, the longevity feels like a hard-earned win.
“As long as the songs stick around and people are listening to them, I’m cool with that,” she says.
When it’s time to leave, London is a darker shade of gray. Lipa walks me to the door, holding open my jacket for me to stick my arms into. She tells me about her dinner plans at BRAT, a Michelin-star restaurant in Shoreditch where she’s meeting up with a primary-school friend. After she recommends the negroni at the restaurant where I’m heading to meet friends, the gates close behind me. Like she promised, the negroni is delicious.
LIPA CAN TRACE her meticulous nature back to when she was a child. As a kid, she ran a blog called Dua Daily, a Service95 prototype where she would share her style tips and recipes. And as the oldest of three, she’s taken her job as a big sister as seriously as she has taken her gigs as both tastemaker and pop superstar. Her siblings were in school when Lipa’s career started taking off, and are now forging their own paths; her sister wants to be an actress, while her brother is producing music.
“It’s cool to just see them have their goals,” she says, grinning proudly. “I’d be like, ‘Oh, you guys want to come over?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, no, I’m busy. I’ve got a studio session.’” Lipa sees their parents, Anesa and Dukagjin, as her blueprint: Anesa had been studying to be a lawyer and Dukagjin was both a musician and a dentist in Kosovo before they fled their homes in the early Nineties when the Bosnian war broke out. The couple completely started over in the U.K., where their three kids were born”.
I am going to end with an essential and career-spanning Dua Lipa playlist. I feel it was a moment when I needed to salute a modern great. Maybe not only one of Britain’s greatest-ever Pop artists. In a modern landscape where incredible women like Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey have such success and this gigantic fanbase, I think Dua Lipa stands alongside them. I can see Lipa in more films and T.V. projects in years to come. A third studio album that will get great acclaim and will be award-nominated. She is likely to be Oscar-nominated for her Barbie song, Dance the Night. I have a feeling there will be some Glastonbury news. In any case, there are few as compelling and important as Dua Lipa. This is an immense talent that we should hold…
CLOSE to our hearts.