Guaranteed I can blow your mind.
Influences:
If you want to run away with me, I know a galaxy
And I could take you for a ride
I had a premonition that we fell into a rhythm
Where the music don't stop for life
Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eyes
Shining just the way I like
If you're feeling like you need a little bit of company
You met me at the perfect time.
And I could take you for a ride
I had a premonition that we fell into a rhythm
Where the music don't stop for life
Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eyes
Shining just the way I like
If you're feeling like you need a little bit of company
You met me at the perfect time.
— "Levitating"
Dua Lipa (born 22 August 1995) is an English and Albanian pop singer, songwriter, model, and actress.
Born to Albanian parents (her mother is half-Bosniak) from Kosovo, the family moved back to Kosovo when she was 10 after her father found a job there. A few years later, Dua moved back to London alone to become a singer and model. She's currently signed with the UK subsidiary of Warner (Bros.) Records. Her first single "New Love" was released in August 2015.
Her self-titled debut album was released in June 2017, featuring the hit single "New Rules", which became her second #1 song in the United Kingdom (after being part of a charity cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" for victims of the Grenfell Tower fire), as well as her first top ten single in the United States. The album itself was placed in the top 20 of three websites' "Best Albums of 2017" list, even being named the 9th best of the year by Rolling Stone. Her sophomore album, Future Nostalgia was released in March 2020 to much critical acclaim. She's also had some acting roles such as in 2023's Barbie and Argylle.
Selected discography:
- Dua Lipa (2017)Singles: "New Love"
, "Be the One", "Last Dance", "Hotter than Hell", "Blow Your Mind (Mwah)", "Lost in Your Light" (feat. Miguel), "New Rules", "IDGAF".- Dua Lipa: Complete Edition (2018)
- Future Nostalgia (2020)Singles: "Don't Start Now", "Physical", "Break My Heart", "Hallucinate", "Levitating" (feat. DaBaby), "Fever" (feat. Angèle), "Levitating" (solo version).
- Club Future Nostalgia (2020)
- Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition (2021)Singles: "We're Good", "Love Again".
- Radical Optimism (2024)
- Singles: "Houdini", "Training Season".
Acting roles:
I got new tropes, I count 'em:
- An Aesop: In "New Rules", if your ex wants you back but you want to move on...
- Don't talk to them ("#1: Don't pick up the phone; he's only calling because he's drunk and alone.")
- Don't see them ("#2: Don't let him in [to your home]; you'll have to kick him out again.")
- Don't be their friend... ("#3: Don't be his friend; you know you'll wake up in his bed in the morning.")
- ...because you're just giving them a chance to make you think that you need each other ("And if you're under [them], you ain't getting over him.")
- And Then John Was a Zombie: A good version of this trope. The "New Rules" video features a group of girls that follow Dua around and stop her from having any contact with her ex-boyfriend. Halfway through, she's shown to have listened to them, and at the end, she joins the group and helps them do the same to another girl.
- Ascetic Aesthetic: The "IDGAF" video takes place in a circular white room projected with soft colored lights.
- Animated Music Video: "Levitating" (the solo version) received an anime one with a 1980s/1990s-styled music video made by Japanese studio NOSTALOOK to look like something out of Sailor Moon.
- Break Up Song: "New Rules" and "IDGAF" qualify as this.
- Clip Show: Zig-zagged and Enforced. "If it Ain't Me" was a mixture of archive footage and new.
- The Commandments: "New Rules" features three rules that Dua holds whenever she breaks up with a boyfriend: don't call him, don't let him into your home, and don't be his friend.
- Either/Or Title: "Blow Your Mind (Mwah)"
- Embarrassing First Name: While the meaning is beautiful, she had admitted that she did not like her first name when she grew up since it is an obviously ethnic name in Britain. However, her opinion changed after her rise to stardom, as its uniqueness meant that she did not have to adopt a Stage Name.
- Freeze-Frame Ending: The "Physical" workout parody video ends with Dua and her dancers in a "YEAH!" Shot.
- Genre Throwback: Future Nostalgia, fitting the title, is a big throwback to 80's music, with a few nods to the 90s ("Love Again") and 00s ("Good In Bed") for good measure.
- "I Am Great!" Song: "Future Nostalgia" is about how she's an "alpha female" and she needs a man who can handle how awesome she is.
- Intercourse with You: A few, but among the most obvious are "Physical", "Pretty Please", and "Good In Bed".
- List Song: Dua lists her new rules about her lover in "New Rules".
- Love Is a Drug: "Hallucinate" describes a love that is like a (hallucinogenic) drug, one that Dua is addicted to.
- Magical Girl: The video for "Physical" is very Animesque all around and she becomes one of these, with a transformation of course.
- The Masochism Tango: "Good in Bed" is about a woman's dysfunctional relationship with a man, with the only thing keeping them together being that he's a Sex God.
- New Sound Album: Future Nostalgia is, as the name suggests, a mash-up of modern hip-hop-inspired pop music and 80s Synth-Pop, and sounds completely different than her debut album.
- The Oner: The beginning of the "New Rules" music video is shot in one take.
- One-Word Title: "Genesis", "Begging", "Cool", "Dreams", "Garden", "Hallucinate", "IDGAF" (well, not really, it's an acronym), "Levitating" and "Physical".
- Precision F-Strike: Two songs on her self-titled debut album (IDGAF and Blow Your Mind (Mwah)) and one on Future Nostalgia (Good in Bed).
- Remix Album: Club Future Nostalgia is a remix compilation of various tracks from Future Nostalgia, both as individual songs and as a megamix by The Blessed Madonna.
- Retraux:
- "Levitating" is a Pastiche of 1970s footage, with period-appropriate fonts, although it's 1980s in sound, so it's a sort of composite of both eras! It includes dancers Alexandra "Alex" Clark and Aud Wiley as bellhops in the video. Bordering on Stylistic Suck to accurately represent the era portrayed.
- This is much more blatant in the Animated Music Video for "Levitating" which was done by a Japanese studio in the style of eighties and nineties Shōjo Demographic anime, especially the Magical Girl and Idol Singer genres IN SPACE!. The animation being modeled after older anime mixed with science fiction therefore acts as "Future Nostalgia" on the accordingly titled album, and also pays homage to the song itself being inspired by eighties and nineties pop music.
- The Runner-Up Takes It All: "Levitating" peaked at #2, yet due to its staying power on the charts would be the top-ranked single of the year 2021.
- Sampling:
- "Physical" interpolates the line "Let's get physical" from the Olivia Newton-John song of the same name.
- "Love Again" prominently samples a horn sample from "My Woman" by Al Bowlly, one made popular (and frequently misidentified as coming from) White Town's "Your Woman".
- "Break My Heart" samples the bass line and some guitar work from "Need You Tonight" by INXS.
- Seamless Scenery: In the "New Rules'' video, Lipa rips open the curtains in her room, the next shot is Lipa opening the curtains to a booth at the pool outside.
- Self-Titled Album: Her debut album is named after her.
- Stock Footage: Enforced due to Real Life Writes the Plot; the COVID-19 Pandemic; her video for "If It Ain't Me" was new footage spliced in with older singles' music videos, as it was recorded during the pandemic and social distancing and three lockdowns meant making new videos wasn't possible.
- Stylistic Suck: Downplayed. The video for "Levitating" (the version featuring DaBaby) is intentionally done to look like 1980s-style special effects, and the outfits are as Period Piece as you can get although it's a Satire/Parody/Pastiche.
- This Is a Song: "Boys Will Be Boys" contains the lyric, "If you're offended by this song, you must be doing something wrong."
- Updated Re Release: Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition is the base version of the album with nine additional B-sides.
- Walk on Water: Does this in her music video for "New Rules". In reality, it was a platform placed in a pool.
- Workout Fanservice: The "Physical" workout video again.
- "YEAH!" Shot: The end of the "Physical" workout video.
Feel your eyes, they all over me
Don't be shy, take control of me
Get the vibe, it's gonna be lit tonight
Hypnotized, pull another one, it's alright, I know what you want
Get the vibe, it's gonna be lit tonight.
Don't be shy, take control of me
Get the vibe, it's gonna be lit tonight
Hypnotized, pull another one, it's alright, I know what you want
Get the vibe, it's gonna be lit tonight.
— "No Lie"
