The pop megastar, whose recent album ‘Future Nostalgia’ is a modern classic, won’t back down from what she believes in
Under normal circumstances, it’s not notable for a pop star to begin a livestream on one of their many social media channels. But when Dua Lipa hit the ‘live’ ʙuттon on Instagram on March 23, we weren’t in regular times and her message was far from typical.
She fought back tears as she addressed her fans directly from an Airbnb in London (her own flat had flooded and her trip to New York to perform on Saturday Night Live was scuppered by the coronavirus travel ban). “I wanted to talk about my album and every time I talk it I get quite emotional,” she said, wiping away tears. “I feel like I have been welling up a lot over the past couple of weeks just because of the uncertainty over everything.”
So far, the ‘Future Nostalgia’ campaign has been quite unusual – and certainly at odds with the record’s fun, happy disposition. This is an album designed for screeching along to in the back of an Uber with your best friends, zooming off into the night and trying to dance along from behind seatbelts. From the ’80s-referencing workout pop of ‘Physical’ to enormo-banger ‘Don’t Start Now’, it’s a modern-day disco party trapped in a bottle – one you want to take sH๏τs from all night long.
It wasn’t made with the intention of soundtracking a time where it’s terrifying to set foot outside and the days and nights blur into one, when absolutely nothing happens and life is listless. “I wanted it to be something where we could go out and celebrate in clubs and bars, go dancing and go on tour,” Lipa says mournfully.
She had considered doing what a number of other artists – Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, Haim and more – have done: push back the release to a time when it’s hoped coronavirus might be out of our lives. Two days before she held that teary livestream, though, the decision was more or less taken out of her hands. The album leaked and delaying its release would mean risking sales and streams.
“We’re learning a lot about empathy right now”
Album leaks might not be quite as common as they were 20 years ago, but they still happen and can still hurt an artist. Ask Charli XCX, whose intended third album was scrapped in 2017 after it appeared online months before its release date. Lipa says she worries about having her work stolen from her like that, but tries to take a more pragmatic approach. “Sometimes leaks are just inevitable and they just happen anyway,” she explains. “In the back of my mind I’m just prepared for that and if it happens, it happens.”Now that ‘Future Nostalgia’ is out in the world, she feels a lot more positive than she did towards the end of March.
“I’m super happy that everybody gets to have [the album],” she says. “The response has been really nice and I couldn’t have wanted it to go any other way.” She sees the album as something that can help in our dark times – a kind of distraction tactic when you need to check out of reality for a little while: “Music serves as an escape and I’m hoping that this music just brings some light and joy, and takes away from what’s going on outside.”
So far, the ‘Future Nostalgia’ campaign has been quite unusual – and certainly at odds with the record’s fun, happy disposition. This is an album designed for screeching along to in the back of an Uber with your best friends, zooming off into the night and trying to dance along from behind seatbelts. From the ’80s-referencing workout pop of ‘Physical’ to enormo-banger ‘Don’t Start Now’, it’s a modern-day disco party trapped in a bottle – one you want to take sH๏τs from all night long.
It wasn’t made with the intention of soundtracking a time where it’s terrifying to set foot outside and the days and nights blur into one, when absolutely nothing happens and life is listless. “I wanted it to be something where we could go out and celebrate in clubs and bars, go dancing and go on tour,” Lipa says mournfully.
She had considered doing what a number of other artists – Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, Haim and more – have done: push back the release to a time when it’s hoped coronavirus might be out of our lives. Two days before she held that teary livestream, though, the decision was more or less taken out of her hands. The album leaked and delaying its release would mean risking sales and streams.
“We’re learning a lot about empathy right now”
Album leaks might not be quite as common as they were 20 years ago, but they still happen and can still hurt an artist. Ask Charli XCX, whose intended third album was scrapped in 2017 after it appeared online months before its release date. Lipa says she worries about having her work stolen from her like that, but tries to take a more pragmatic approach. “Sometimes leaks are just inevitable and they just happen anyway,” she explains. “In the back of my mind I’m just prepared for that and if it happens, it happens.”
Now that ‘Future Nostalgia’ is out in the world, she feels a lot more positive than she did towards the end of March.
“I’m super happy that everybody gets to have [the album],” she says. “The response has been really nice and I couldn’t have wanted it to go any other way.” She sees the album as something that can help in our dark times – a kind of distraction tactic when you need to check out of reality for a little while: “Music serves as an escape and I’m hoping that this music just brings some light and joy, and takes away from what’s going on outside.”
Her voice cracked when she referenced her internal conflict at releasing music when “people are suffering”. Her news, she revealed, was that her second album was being brought forward by a week and would be released in just a few days’ time. It was hard to tell if she was OK with this.
“I was definitely having a testing day with corona and what was going on, whether I should be releasing – or even talking about – music,” she says two weeks later from that same Airbnb. “Trying to think of it as something to celebrate was quite difficult for me, especially on that day.”
Like most people, Lipa has found being in lockdown a trying time. “Some days you wanna sit down and just cry,” she sighs. Also like most people, she’s been spending her time (when she’s not on the pop star business of interviews and live-streams) binging Tiger King and testing her culinary skills. But when everyone else is making bread, she’s been making jerky.
So far, the ‘Future Nostalgia’ campaign has been quite unusual – and certainly at odds with the record’s fun, happy disposition. This is an album designed for screeching along to in the back of an Uber with your best friends, zooming off into the night and trying to dance along from behind seatbelts. From the ’80s-referencing workout pop of ‘Physical’ to enormo-banger ‘Don’t Start Now’, it’s a modern-day disco party trapped in a bottle – one you want to take sH๏τs from all night long.
It wasn’t made with the intention of soundtracking a time where it’s terrifying to set foot outside and the days and nights blur into one, when absolutely nothing happens and life is listless. “I wanted it to be something where we could go out and celebrate in clubs and bars, go dancing and go on tour,” Lipa says mournfully.
She had considered doing what a number of other artists – Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, Haim and more – have done: push back the release to a time when it’s hoped coronavirus might be out of our lives. Two days before she held that teary livestream, though, the decision was more or less taken out of her hands. The album leaked and delaying its release would mean risking sales and streams.
“We’re learning a lot about empathy right now”
Album leaks might not be quite as common as they were 20 years ago, but they still happen and can still hurt an artist. Ask Charli XCX, whose intended third album was scrapped in 2017 after it appeared online months before its release date. Lipa says she worries about having her work stolen from her like that, but tries to take a more pragmatic approach. “Sometimes leaks are just inevitable and they just happen anyway,” she explains. “In the back of my mind I’m just prepared for that and if it happens, it happens.”
Now that ‘Future Nostalgia’ is out in the world, she feels a lot more positive than she did towards the end of March.
“I’m super happy that everybody gets to have [the album],” she says. “The response has been really nice and I couldn’t have wanted it to go any other way.” She sees the album as something that can help in our dark times – a kind of distraction tactic when you need to check out of reality for a little while: “Music serves as an escape and I’m hoping that this music just brings some light and joy, and takes away from what’s going on outside.”
Lipa shares her commentary on the world through her songs, interviews and social media, but you’ll no longer find her tweeting things like, “ҒUCҜ THE PATRIARCHY I AM DONE WITH THIS BULLsнιт HANDMAIDS TALE sнιт WHAT THE ҒUCҜING ҒUCҜ”, as she did after the state of Alabama pᴀssed a bill to ban abortion last year.
She no longer goes on Twitter (her management runs her account) for the sake of her own mental health, although you will still find her on Instagram. “I feel like on Instagram, I post as if I’m on a blog and I can just separate myself from it whereas, on Twitter, after I tweet I try and check all the comments,” she says. “That was obviously getting quite unhealthy ’cause I would just get really upset about [the response].”
The 24-year-old is a big champion of the need for social networking spaces to be made safer for all and says it’s key for the companies behind them to realise the consequences of their platforms. “I know if there’s any abusive content or blah blah blah, they take it down,” Lipa says. “But I don’t think they see certain things or types of cyber bullying as seriously as they are. Those things need to be monitored a little closer.”
“Vote for the party that represents everyone, and not just the few”
She says that the anonymous nature of social media makes hurtful comments “a little more piercing”, adding: “You know they wouldn’t say the same thing to your face. It’s a mixture of confusion and upset that gets to people the most because one, it’s people that don’t know you and two, they’re essentially faceless offenders.”
Last year, from her safe haven of Instagram, Lipa urged fans to vote in the December general election. She is a staunch Labour supporter. It has been suggested that she’s not a fan of Jeremy Corbyn, though today she declines to give her opinion on him. She also rebuffs questions about newly elected Labour leader Keir Starmer – one time when she checks her outspoken nature. She says she feels that the paramount political goal should be to remove the Tories, and not obsess over the ‘likeability’ of the leader of the opposition.
“In an ideal world we’d have both – somebody that we really feel we can get behind, someone where we can stick by everything that they do,” she offers. “But with everything going on, we always need to take the one step in the right direction and vote for the party that represents everyone and not just the few. That’s how we’ll see a better future.”
In her own future, Lipa wants to use her privilege to help others. The pop star might be reluctant to share her views on political leaders, but she’s putting her money where her mouth is when it comes to bringing about social change.
She plans to develop the Sunny Hill Foundation by opening an arts and innovation centre in Pristina (though plans have been delayed by the current pandemic) and by continuing to hold its annual festival in the city (Miley Cyrus headlined last year). She also wants to work with different charities – “especially on the refugee crisis” – and aims to start her own label “to help new artists”. She sees this as part of how the world will change when the coronavirus nightmare is over.
“We’re learning a lot about empathy,” she says, “and that patience is important. It’s about learning to not take things for granted, and to make the moments you have with your family and friends really count; making sure you have meaningful conversations and that everything you do has purpose. You wanna make sure what you say is good and that you spread kindness and empathise with people’s different situations.”
In the face of the current turmoil, Lipa is staying true to herself – determined and hopeful. “I really think this is gonna change people,” she says. “We’re definitely gonna learn a big lesson.”
