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- With all my songs, I don't really know any different,
so I have to talk about personal experiences.
I guess it's not necessarily just about one person.
It's really about finding happiness
and being confident in that and not allowing anyone
to take that away from you.
Dua Lipa has become one
of the biggest names in pop.
From the moment she released her first single in 2015,
there was no limit to what she would achieve.
Her catchy pop tunes and smooth, sultry vocals
have made her music appeal to a wide audience,
gaining her fans across the globe.
Her commitment and positivity towards her goals
and music career have made her the deserving winner
of countless awards, including two Grammys.
Dua Lipa's popularity quickly expanded
between 2015 and 2018.
By 2018, she had become the first female artist
to hit one billion views on YouTube
on her hit single "New Rules."
- If you're not a female artist
that's by a piano or by a guitar,
people are instantly gonna think you're manufactured
or you don't write your own songs
or you don't make your own music,
and I feel like we have to spend a lot more time proving
to the world that this is us.
Two years on,
"New Rules" has over two billion views.
Her music brings an essence of confidence
and authenticity which her fans adore.
- When I get up on stage, I do what I feel.
I dance the way I feel like just my body moves,
and I like to perform in different ways.
I find myself headbanging and throwing kicks and jumping up
and down rather than having like a set choreography.
I feel like for me, that's way more organic.
If I just go into the studio and I write fiction,
although it's my words,
if I don't have the story to back it up with,
no one's gonna believe it.
And I think that's also a big part of my songwriting
as well and why I feel like I do it the way I do it.
With a long lasting career ahead of her,
Dua Lipa has cemented her legacy
in pop from such a young age.
- When I think of it and what I would like to say
to my younger audience is that no matter
what you decide to put your mind to,
you should always work really hard for it.
Always believe in yourself because one thing
that I know is I always had to believe
in myself first before anybody else,
and that was the one thing that I felt really carried me
and helped me build my confidence and really helped me learn
who I am as an artist and as a person.
Dua Lipa was born in London, England
to Kosovo-Albanian parents.
She has always praised her parents
for being positive influences on our life, even to this day.
- Being from two places at once,
I feel like I represent both Kosovo
and I feel like the UK at the same time.
I've seen my parents work my whole life.
I've seen them go to work during the day,
go to university in the evening, take us to school,
be parents, be there for us, at the same time,
get an education, working multiple jobs.
I've seen them adapt to whatever was thrown at them,
and, at the same time, make us feel
like we weren't missing out on anything.
And I think watching them work so hard has been so ingrained
on me that I'm I guess a little bit of a workaholic.
I feel like I can't stop until I get
what I want or I am where I wanna be,
and I actually thank my parents for that
because they've always told me that you have
to work really hard to get a little bit
of luck and you make your own luck,
and that's the best advice that I think I've been given.
She clarified with fans that,
while Dua Lipa may sound like somewhat of a stage name,
it is, in fact, her birth name,
and Dua can be translated to mean love in Albanian.
Well, I guess when I was younger,
I didn't really appreciate my name
as much as I guess I do now,
because especially when I was living in London,
I was like, "I just want a normal name."
I'm really proud of it, and it has such a lovely meaning,
and my grandmother,
it was like my grandmother's favorite name,
which is why my dad gave it to me.
And I never actually got to meet her
because she passed before I was born,
so I always feel like I get to keep a piece of her with me.
Dua's father had a large musical influence
on her as he was the lead singer
and guitarist of a Kosovan rock band.
Her father continued to play music at home,
which inspired her to get involved with music herself.
She started singing at age five.
She attended Sylvia Young Theatre School
until the age of 13 when she moved
from London to Kosovo with her family.
- It was quite exciting for me
'cause I'd finished.
All my friends are going to different schools.
I was not going to the same school as my closest friends
from primary school anyway, so I was like,
"I guess I'm just going into a different country."
And I was really excited because I have family
in Kosovo that I'd never met before.
And so, yeah, I went down.
I went to Kosovo, and it was really exciting,
but obviously, I thought my Albanian speaking
was a lot better than it was
until I started going to school,
and everyone was like,
"Okay, you're definitely talking Albanian
like an English person would, fully with an accent."
But it was an amazing experience.
It was such a different kind of life.
As a teenager,
Dua Lipa began recording herself singing covers
of popular pop songs and uploaded them to YouTube.
Although her true passion was in music,
she began a modeling career around this time
and signed with an agency.
This then helped her acquire a producer and manager,
allowing her to enter the world of music professionally.
In 2014, Dua Lipa signed a record deal
with the large production company, Warner Brothers Records.
This has been called a smart decision on her part,
as the company didn't have a large female register
at that time, which meant she captured their attention
from day one and helped to change that.
In August 2015, she released her first single
titled "New Love," which was all about her struggle
to find her place in the music industry.
Her second single "Be the One"
was released to large European success,
charting in the top 10 in over 11 European territories.
Her first tour in the UK
and Europe began in January 2016
and concluded in November the same year.
Let me see all your hands up!
On February 18th, 2016,
Dua Lipa released her third single, "Last Dance,"
followed by "Hotter than Hell" on May 6th.
"Hotter Than Hell" reached success,
particularly in the UK, where it peaked at number 15.
On August 26th, her fifth overall single,
"Blow Your Mind" was released,
peaking in number 30 in the UK.
It became her first entry on the US Billboard Hot 100,
debuting at number 72.
How excited are you
about the album, or are you bit with trepidation?
- I'm really excited.
I just got back from LA yesterday,
and I've been working, finishing it off,
and it's finally really comes together.
I got some really special surprises, so.
And you're gonna be performing some
of these tracks at festivals this summer,
I guess? - Yeah.
Well, some of the album will be out by then, so.
Dua Lipa's self-entitled debut studio album
was released on the 2nd of June, 2017.
- I'm excited for everyone to hear the new record.
I think, for me, again, it's also being able
to have that ongoing conversation with my fans
and my listeners with the music and also ensuring
that they have a safe space and a place
where they can come and listen to the music and hang out,
and that's what's really important for me.
Its sixth single, "New Rules,"
released in the following month,
became her first number one in the UK
and the first by a female solo artist to reach the top
in the UK since Adele's song "Hello" in 2015.
"New Rules" was met with acclaim
from music critics, with many labeling it a breakup
and female empowerment anthem.
As of March 2021, it is the most streamed song
by a British female in the UK,
and it broke the record for the most weeks
on the US mainstream Top 40 chart.
- I feel like I'm very much more in touch with who I am,
which was something that I was very,
especially when I started songwriting properly for my album.
Now I have a very clear idea of what I'm doing
and what I wanna say and who I am
and things I'm not afraid of.
Another successful single
from the album was to track "IDGAF."
Lyrically, the song is about an ex-boyfriend who intends
to get back with her before she sends him on his way.
- I think, with all my songs,
I don't really know any different,
so I have to talk about personal experiences.
I guess it's not necessarily just about one person.
It's more just like about experiences,
about things that I've spoken to with my friends
about their experiences as well.
It's really about finding happiness
and being confident in that and not allowing anyone
to take that away from you.
So the main the way I like to think about is like I work
on these songs and then once they're out into the world,
they no longer belong to me.
So whatever they wanna make of it, it's up to them.
I think art is subjective.
I think some people will also want
to pretend it's about them.
Several music critics
complimented the strong production
and post breakup lyrics of "IDGAF."
The song was viewed as a sequel to "New Rules."
She also performed
at the Glastonbury Festival that same year
to a large crowd of adoring fans.
- I never like to base success on accolades,
but on getting the recognition and getting up there
in front of my fans and my peers,
it does mean a lot, and I appreciate it so much,
and it makes me wanna work really, really hard,
and I'm excited for new music.
Sometimes, it's just the little things.
In December,
Dua Lipa was named the Most Streamed Woman
of 2017 in the UK by Spotify.
She had four singles reach the UK Top 10 in 2017
with "Be the One," "New Rules", "No Lie,"
and "Bridge Over Troubled Water,"
a charity single for the families of the victims
of the Grenfell Tower fire in London.
- It's been really lovely, and it's been really nice,
and it's given me the opportunity
to tour all over the world.
And I've announced some dates in the US,
and I'm just really grateful for it all,
so I'm looking forward to everything.
We're almost at that time
where we start going, "Been a good year.
What about next year, 2018?"
- Well, next year I'm really touring until April 2018,
but in between whenever I have time I'm writing
for the next album.
I'll be releasing new music, new videos.
So yeah, I'll be around.
Even as these bigger shows,
how do you feel about that step up in terms of the capacity?
- It's surreal to get to announce shows like that,
but it's really cool.
It makes me a bit nervous. I'm excited.
I've already started planning 'cause every show,
I want it to be like a step up production wise,
and I want to bring a whole new new show
every time people come to see it,
so I'm really looking forward to it.
In January 2018,
Dua Lipa received nominations
in five categories at the Brit Awards,
more nominations than any other artists that year.
She was nominated for British Album of the Year
for "Dua Lipa," British Single of the Year
and British Video of the Year for "New Rules,"
British Female Solo Artist, and British Breakthrough Act.
She went on to win British Female Solo Artist
and British Breakthrough Act.
This was the first time that a female artist
had received five nominations.
Dua took this opportunity when receiving the awards
to make a statement about women in the music industry
and show her feminist side.
- But I've always been so, so in love
with so many incredible female artists,
and I've always looked up to them and they've been there.
But I think now we're at a time where people
are really paying attention to us,
and so we're screaming real loud.
Even by seeing the nominations in different categories
at award shows, it's changed drastically.
Every year, it changes and gets better in our favor,
and I think that's a nice feeling.
For men, getting older and an industry is celebrated,
whereas for women, we're instantly being put down or,
"Surely she can't be still doing pop music
because she's getting older,"
or whatever I guess the dialogue is,
but it's quite upsetting because why can't we?
As a female artist, well, in general,
for all female artists,
when we start something in our careers,
we wanna have longevity and we don't want the reason
of us aging to be the reason we stop working
or people stop being interested in us.
We still create very interesting things.
We still have a lot to say.
We still have a lot to bring to the table.
But why is it so different for us?
And I think it's a lot to do with the conversations
that are still being made on social media
and being made online, and those aren't allowing us to grow
and aren't allow us to be ourselves
whereas we portray that very much so
when we're speaking in front of a camera.
It's as if like me coming out now and being like,
"I support women and I'm doing this,"
but then I go on social media and I'm talking about
or comparing two women against each other or why one
isn't better than the other or that kind of thing.
It's very hypocritical,
and so it's trying to get away from that.
Dua Lipa started working on music
for her second album in March 2018.
In April 2018, she collaborated with DJ Calvin Harris
to release the single "One Kiss,"
which topped the UK singles charts,
becoming her second number one.
She provided the vocals for the track
and is also credited as a writer.
When you hear that "One Kiss"
has been streamed more than one and a half billion times?
- My goodness. - That slightly mind blowing?
- You're the first person to have told me that,
so I'm like, "Oh my God."
It is mind blowing.
It's crazy, and it was one of those songs
where I know when we did it, I was like.
I constantly kept listening to it before it came out,
I was like, "I just don't know if people are gonna get it.
I don't know if people are gonna get it."
And it's that nervous, exciting,
anxious butterfly feeling that you get
before you put something out,
and I think you only get those feelings
when you really believe in something
and you really want other people
to feel the same way about it as you do.
So I'm excited that they did,
and I'm grateful that they did,
and we got a Brit for it, which is pretty cool.
The single went on
to become the biggest selling song in the UK
of 2018 and topped the chart for eight consecutive weeks.
Dua also collaborated on another track with Mark Ronson
and Diplo's newly formed super duo Silk City.
They released the track "Electricity" in September 2018,
which was extremely popular with the fans.
Dua Lipa won Best New Artist
and Best Dance Recording for her collaboration
on "Electricity" at the 61st annual Grammy Awards.
I get very excited obviously for the recognition,
especially for something like the Grammys
to be a British artist and to know
that people are listening to my songs over there
and that people are coming to the shows
and they know my name, and it means a lot to me.
Being British and having your music heard
over in the states is quite a big deal,
at least it is for me because it gives me
so much opportunity to be able to tour there,
and not only just in America but to be able to go over
to Australia and New Zealand then go
to Asia and South America,
and it's really, it just opens so many doors
to be able to tour worldwide.
I very much split my time between London
and Los Angeles or New York in order
to have my music be heard out there.
You need to dedicate a lot of time and a lot of effort
and lots of, you have to do the groundwork.
I think I really, really took the time
and especially when I was touring on my first album.
I think I went around America three times,
just as I did with everywhere else in Europe.
I worked really hard.
I'm so grateful for the recognition,
but I've still got lots of work to do.
Dua Lipa's second album,
titled "Future Nostalgia," and its accompanying tour
was announced in December 2019.
- When I kept thinking about it,
I know that everybody's like,
"The second album is always the hardest album."
But I've tried to take my mind away
from that and just have fun with it.
People are just constantly releasing songs
and releasing music.
It's just like this is the body of work
where I just wanna show this is what I love.
This is what I do,
and you can just constantly keep putting stuff out.
And it's gotta be fun. You can't be too stressed about it.
You can't get yourself in this vicious cycle of like,
"Oh, will this go on the radio. Will this be?"
So it's all about just being proud
of what you put your name to,
and that's just what I'm doing.
The first single "Don't Start Now"
was released around the same time and peaked at number two
in both the UK singles charts and the US Billboard Hot 100.
Dua's second single leading up
to the release of the album was "Physical."
It was released on the 30th of January, 2020,
and the song's music video was released a day later.
The music video for "Physical"
was nominated for Best Art Director
at the Berlin Music Video Awards in 2020.
"Future Nostalgia" was released on March 27th
to widespread critical acclaim following the release
of the record's third single, "Break My Heart,"
on March 25th.
Since March 2020 was around the time
of the beginning of the worldwide COVID pandemic,
Dua Lipa considered pushing the release date back in hopes
of being able to promote the album outside of isolation.
However, that didn't quite go as planned.
The album originally had a release date of April 3rd
but was leaked a week early,
giving her no choice but to deliver fans her new album.
- I just feel like when I was making my last album,
like towards the end of it, everything was like
or the way that I was describing, it was like,
"Oh, well my album, I make dark pop,
and that's just what it is."
I really fell in love with the whole concept of dance crying
because I was like, "I wanna make people dance."
But if you listen to the lyrics a bit more,
I feel like it could also make you cry.
It's very emotional. It's very real.
It's something that's happening in my life.
"Future Nostalgia" just came from so much happiness
and joy and dancing, and that was just the only message
that I wanted to push forward.
And I feel like it really radiates that
and the energy of it is that,
and I didn't feel like I wanted to sit
on a piano and make a ballad.
I was like, "I just wanna keep going.
Let's just keep dancing. Let's just do it."
There was nothing holding me back in that,
and creatively, that wasn't where I was at.
Releasing the album during the pandemic meant
that there would be no tour or no talk show appearances.
However, it just so happened to be the perfect time
to deliver new music.
- When I was making it, obviously,
I had the idea that it was gonna be listened to
in the club, in a bar, people going out, getting ready.
I had very different ideas for it
when I was making this record,
but I definitely feel like it still served its purpose.
It's served for me as a form of escapism, and I feel like,
although it was scary when releasing the record
'cause it was at such an uncertain time,
we didn't know how long we would be in this situation,
for how long the pandemic would last,
we never thought that we'd be a year in
and still with the same lockdown measures
and stuff like that.
But I feel like it also just came at the perfect time
for everybody to be able to have like or, in my eyes,
I hope that people had it for them be
like a source of escapism when they're at home
and dancing in the kitchen.
For one second, if you close your eyes,
maybe you think you're outside
clubbing or something.
And so I think it was perfect just the way it is.
I think some things are just meant to be,
and hopefully, when the time comes,
we can go back out and dance to these songs
whenever the time is right.
I'm grateful that it served as like a form of escapism,
at least, during this time for myself and people around,
and my whole idea behind it was to still be able
to create a fun world for people to enjoy even
while they were at home, and, and I feel lucky
that I had the opportunity to do that.
"Future Nostalgia"
became the most streamed album by a woman
and fifth most streamed album overall on Spotify in 2020.
The album debuted at number two
on the official UK Albums Chart
but then peaked at number one
on the official UK Albums Chart the following week
in April 2020 while four
of the album's singles entered the top 10
of the official singles chart.
- You always have to believe in yourself
before anybody else because that's the one thing
that's always gonna push you
in your confidence and move you forwards.
And I think that's yeah, for any young girls,
people are I guess gonna champion you
until you get to where you want to be,
and then people are gonna try and bring you down
or bring you down a couple pegs.
But I think you have to remember that hard work
and your dedication and your passion
for what you do got you to where you wanna be,
and no one can take that away from you.
The album's closing track,
"Boys Will Be Boys" showed Dua Lipa once again
demonstrating her feminist side.
As she said, she wrote the song intending
to start a conversation about toxic masculinity
and the growing pains girls experience.
- I think for women,
self policing each other is second nature.
For as long as I can remember myself going out
with my friends alone, you would always send the text
or you would always ask your friends to make sure
that they'd message you when they get home
or share your little Uber location thing
that there's always this thing where we've just had to look
out for each other and look out for ourselves a lot more.
When I wrote "Boys Will Be Boys," it's very real.
You put your keys through your knuckles.
This is something that I've done literally
on my way back from school for three-minute walk
from the bus station to the flat that I was living in.
It wasn't far at all, but because it was nighttime
and I was all on my own,
I put my keys between my knuckles like Wolverine,
thinking that just in case something was to happen,
I would be protected or I would be able
to look after myself.
Or you'd walk down the street on your phone,
and whether you were actually talking to someone
or whether you were pretending to talk to someone,
you were still trying to protect yourself in some way.
I definitely feel like having a platform
is such a privilege.
I definitely try and speak up about things
that are incredibly important to me.
I want to be able to be a voice
for those that have trusted me,
and because I talk about so much about female equality
and female empowerment, it was just a song that I felt
like writing in that day in the studio.
And I was like, "Well, this is just what happens."
And what I felt when I was making "Boys Will Be Boys"
is more so that I'm hoping that the younger generation
will start asking questions and will be like,
"Oh, why does this happen or why do you think she did this?"
What sounds like quite a pretty song, again,
you're like hearing the lyrics and you're like,
"Oh, this is something very real," and it's, again,
us masking the things that we have to do.
The lyric, they cut deep in so many ways,
but then it's, again, masking it with something pretty.
But I hope that it just starts a conversation,
and obviously, the conversation's already happening,
and I think they need to continue to do so.
At the time of the album's release,
Dua Lipa became the first British female artist
since Vera Lynne to have three top 10 singles
in a single calendar year with Lynn having three in 1952.
She eventually overrode this record
with the single "Levitating,"
which also peaked within the top 10
on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,
becoming her third top 10 in the US overall.
Dua Lipa was also featured on "Prisoner,"
a song from Miley Cyrus's seventh studio album,
"Plastic Hearts."
The single was released on the 19th of November 2020
alongside the music video.
In 2021,
after a year of COVID lockdown rules and social distancing,
the annual Brit Awards took place in May,
held with a limited audience as a part of a trial
to have a large crowd in a venue
without any social distancing.
The ceremony had a live audience
of over 4,000 key workers from London.
- It's all very surreal. It feels so nice to be home.
It feels so nice to be in a room filled with people.
It feels so nice to be celebrating British music.
It's just been really, really exciting throughout,
and I feel so honored and so grateful
to have this opportunity and to be here tonight
and for everybody to do it safely, and hopefully,
this is like the first step into the new normal,
so it feels brilliant.
Dua Lipa not only performed at the ceremony,
but she also won two awards,
one for British Album of the Year
and another for British Female Solo Artist.
Well, being back on the Brit stage,
I wanted to do something different, something special.
So there's pressure that comes with that,
but I'm very excited.
It's different and it's fun,
and just decided to go a little bit out there
with the performance would make it very London, so.
What I wanted to do with my album
was really just grow as an artist and as a performer
and create music that I was really proud of,
something that I felt like really represented me
and who I am and helped me grow in so many different ways.
And I definitely feel like I've built a lot more confidence.
I feel like I'm becoming the performer I
always wanted to be.
I feel like I've learned so much from so many experiences,
and as a songwriter, I feel like I've gotten a lot stronger,
and there's been so many moments
that they've been really important,
and this album means a lot to me.
It was a lot about growth,
and so to be awarded for this album means a lot.
At the 2021 Grammy awards,
Dua Lipa won an award for Best Pop Vocal Album
for "Future Nostalgia."
- "Future Nostalgia" is such an important album to me,
and I feel like I've really come into myself.
I feel like I've gained so much confidence.
I feel like I've learned how to be the artist
that I've always wanted to be.
I feel like I learned so much about music in general
with my first album and the process of touring
that I knew what I wanted this album to be,
and to get the recognition
for it just means the absolute world.
It's amazing. I'm very, very grateful.
When I got nominated, I was so taken back by,
first of all, I was so honored and grateful
to have been nominated, but also,
the fact that I had already seen such a change just
in the Best New Artist category
that it was predominantly women.
And it felt like I was part of a change,
and it felt like I was a part of this new era, if you will,
and more women being given all this recognition.
And given what happened the year before,
and I know Neil Putnam even came up and spoke about it
and apologized for what he had said
when he had said it, but it was still something that,
in a time when so many women were doing so much,
it felt like we weren't being given the recognition,
and we weren't being looked out for, really.
And this year felt a little bit different,
and it felt really good to just be nominated
alongside so many artists that I love
and I listen to and I think are so cool
and give out so many incredible messages,
and I feel like it just felt good, and it just felt right,
and that's just what happened.
The ceremony was held
despite the ongoing COVID pandemic
with extra measures put in place to keep everyone safe.
- Well, obviously, because it's COVID,
everybody had to stay quite far apart.
We said hi to each other. It was really sweet though.
As I was on my way to the press room off to the Grammys,
I bumped into Beyonce and Jay-Z on their way in,
and I was just like, "It's amazing what you've done."
And she was so graceful and humble and sweet.
They both were, and they were very, very nice to me,
and it was just amazing to casually bump into them
in the hallway and just have like a little chat.
I'm like.
Also in 2021,
Dua Lipa tanned up with music legend Elton John
and Australian electronic trio PNAU
for a collaborative new track called "Cold Heart."
The club-ready single seamlessly blends together a number
of Elton John's beloved tracks,
including "Sacrifice," "Kiss the Bride,"
and, of course, "Rocket Man."
The song has since reached number one
in the UK.
Dua showed her versatility as a celebrity icon
as she made her runway debut
at Versace's Spring Summer 2022 show at Milan Fashion Week,
which was soundtrack by the tracks
from her album "Future Nostalgia."
- I feel like my work life has changed a lot,
but my personal life is still the same.
I have my friends and family.
They keep me so grounded, and to them, I'm just me.
So it's all pretty normal at home, which is really nice.
Dua Lipa is only in her late 20s
and has already achieved so much
in such a short amount of time.
Her music and undeniable talent
has gained her widespread exposure and popularity.
- I think that the one thing that I'm so, so grateful for
is that it opens so many doors for me to be able
to work with so many other people that I love,
and I get to be a bit more experimental,
and I get to try out new things,
which is always very exciting.
Her self-titled debut
was the most streamed album in Spotify history.
Now she's currently breaking daily records
for plays and streams around the world.
- The world should expect a ton more pop anthems
and dance classics from Dua Lipa.