The pop star spoke about the magician, who inspired her latest single “Houdini,” during an appearance on ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’
Despite releasing a new single called “Houdini,” Dua Lipa wasn’t sure how the actual Harry Houdini died.
While appearing on Wednesday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers for a “Day Drinking” segment with the show’s host, the pop star was informed Houdini reportedly died after getting punched in the stomach — as he apparently believed physical strikes had no effect on him.
“We’re going to do, in honor of Houdini, whose spirit Dua has stolen without his permission,” joked Meyers, 49, introducing their next round of drinks before asking the Grammy winner, 28, “Do you know how he died?”
Unaware of the reason behind Houdini’s death at age 52 in 1926, Lipa responded, “How?”
“He got, like, punched,” said Meyers. “His whole thing was, ‘You can put me in a safe, throw me in the water, I’ll get out.’ But he also had this weird thing where he was like, ‘You can also punch me as hard as you want, and I’m fine.’”
“That has to be a kink,” said Lipa with a laugh. “It’s a kink, for sure.”
Meyers’ explanation of Houdini’s death is somewhat accurate, but the details are a bit more complicated. According to Yale University Press, the magician was punched in the stomach by McGill University student J. Gordon Whitehead backstage at the Princess Theatre in Montreal on Oct. 22, 1926.
Houdini died about a week later, but Yale University Press states that he was already feeling ill with abdominal pain before the punch and continued performing shows despite doctors’ advice to cancel. His appendix had burst by the time he received an operation on Oct. 25, causing peritonitis, and he died on Oct. 31.
It’s unlikely Houdini’s death was directly caused by the punch, but it is true that he died after facing the brunt of Whitehead’s fist.
Elsewhere in the Late Night segment, Meyers and Lipa crafted a beverage called the “Hou-tini” — which contained vodka, tequila, white rum, blue curaçao and lemon. “Everybody’s got this at home. Don’t feel weird if you’re at a house party. Feel free to order the ‘Hou-tini,’” joked the talk show host.
Released last month, Lipa’s single “Houdini” is an upbeat pop song featuring lyrics comparing exiting a relationship to Houdini’s famous disappearing tricks. “I come and I go / Tell me all the ways you need me / I’m not here for long / Catch me or I go Houdini,” she sings on the track.
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In a recent interview with Audacy’s Check In podcast, the pop star opened up about how the song was inspired by “the fun parts” of being single — presumably before she was first romantically linked to French filmmaker Romain Gavras in February 2023.
“You’re discovering yourself, you’re figuring out what you like, what you don’t like, what you deserve, what serves you and doesn’t in certain instances,” said Lipa of how her past single status influenced the song, as well as “learning to read red flags and just being like, ‘OK, this actually isn’t for me,’ and then choosing when to stay and when to ‘Houdini,’ essentially, in all those situations.”
