In London, on August 22, 1995, Dua Lipa (yes, that is her birth name and not a stage name created for allure like so many in the past have done) was born to her parents who had fled Kosovo in 1992 at the start of the Bosnian War. Spending her early years in London, she later moved back to Kosovo with her family when the nation declared independence in 2008. In her childhood, it did not take long for her to recognize her passion for music. She started singing at age five, learned to play the cello, and eventually auditioned for her school choir to where the teacher told her that she “could not sing”. That teacher must be looking back with regret in today’s world, because Dua Lipa has become a musical phenomenon of the late 2010’s and early 2020’s. In fact, Dua Lipa’s two albums are the two most streamed albums by a female artist in Spotify history. Details, right?
Between working as a cocktail waitress and being signed to a modeling agency, Dua Lipa started uploading covers of Alicia Keys to YouTube as a teenager. Her first recognition came when she landed the role of “singer” in a commercial for competition show, The X-Factor. In 2013, an agent offered her a recording contract and a year later she signed with Warner Bros. Records. She released a few songs like “Be The One” and “New Love” which saw commercial success in Europe, peaking at number 1 in Belgium, Poland, and Slovakia. It wasn’t until the release of “New Rules”, that Lipa became a global sensation. The song was her first number 1 in the UK and reached number 6 in the US. Currently, the music video has amassed 3 Billion views.
The release and success of her self-titled debut album earned her a Grammy nomination for “Best New Artist” in 2019 which she ended up winning. Several of the past winners of the award for Best New Artist unfortunately ended up having short-lived careers and faded away. This occurrence has been noted in pop culture as the “Best New Artist Curse”, suggesting that winning the award had brought upon the curse itself. Some notable examples of this could be Meghan Trainor, Alessia Cara, and Macklemore, artists whose success and relevance usually was greatly known at one point, but have since become frozen in that time period. Of course, there are exceptions to this as some of the winners have gone on to cement their names in history like The Beatles, Adele, and Maroon 5.
Winning this award meant that all eyes were going to be on Dua Lipa’s next move. People were curious to know if she would fall victim to the “curse” or come back stronger. Many music professionals have noted that an artist’s second album has much higher stakes than the first one. The sophomore album is what classifies the artist as a true star versus a one-hit wonder who got lucky the first time around. With this, the pressure was turned up for her second album.
Around the same time, a meme had gone viral of a comment under Dua Lipa’s 2018 performance at the BRIT Awards. The comment read “I love her lack of energy, go girl, give us nothing!” sarcastically poking fun at her stage presence that seemed to be scarce. Also, another meme surfaced of Dua Lipa dancing to her Calvin Harris collaboration, “One Kiss”, where people said she danced like a pencil being sharpened. Dua Lipa had become ridiculed and commonly laughed at for her dancing and stage presence, which she later said affected her mental health deeply. She told Rolling Stone, “I found it really painful because I was like, ‘I’m finally getting to do something that I love to do, and I’m being shut down, that I just can’t seem to do anything right.”
On October 31st, 2019, Dua Lipa released “Don’t Start Now”, the 80’s disco inspired anthem that was the lead single for her upcoming album. The song became a smash hit, earning the longest top 10 charting song by a British female artist in history. Numbers aside, the real success came when she was slated to perform the song at the MTV European Music Awards. At the final section of the song, Lipa and the crowd of dancers that accompanied her ventured off into synchronized choreography. It was clear that her dance skills had drastically improved, which is crucial if you are a performer wanting to release a dance album.
The following songs she released, “Physical”, and “Break My Heart” made it clear that Lipa was taking the disco-pop route. Described by herself as “That 80’s disco sound but with new modern elements”, the album title was announced as “Future Nostalgia”, the same name of her tour that saw 91 different stops around the world.
On March 15th, 2020, a day we all remember, the COVID-19 lockdown was put into effect. Dua Lipa’s album was set for release just days later on March 27th. A dance album set to arrive at probably one of the worst times in history to release a dance album left Lipa lost and confused. With no clubs, parties, or concerts being open it was hard to fathom releasing an album meant for places with the energy of a crowd. Her tour was postponed.
Lipa went ahead and released the album. With all the bad news and turmoil, she wanted to give listeners a place to escape and dance, even if it was just in their bedrooms. Rather than being deemed “insensitive” or “tone-deaf”, the album was met with huge success and became many peoples comfort blanket. The album reminded people of what they longed for; the day when they could go to a crowded dance floor again.
Almost 2 years later, she embarked on the Future Nostalgia Tour which was described as “triumphant, ambitious, and impressive.” At the end of her concert, Lipa and her dancers gather to do the “pencil sharpener”, the dance that she was meme-ified for and laughed at for so long, but now she is one of the strongest dancers in the industry.
Since the end of her tour, Dua Lipa has had various different ventures, from landing a small role in the blockbuster Barbie movie and additionally lending her hand to create one of the movies biggest songs, “Dance The Night”, being a Co-chair at the 2023 Met Gala, and developing her own weekly lifestyle newsletter, Service95. She recently opened the Grammys with a performance of her songs “Houdini” and “Training Season”, the two lead singles for her upcoming album “Radical Optimism”, out on May 3rd.
Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people this year, Dua Lipa is here to stay. Aside from her music status and outfits, there is something deeper to be learned from watching her career trajectory. From a disapproving choir teacher, an internet meme, and even a global health crisis, Dua Lipa has shown that when she is faced with a challenge, rather than turn her cheek the other way, she takes the criticism and becomes better. Taking control of her narrative and proving people wrong, Dua Lipa is a prime example that we should not let others doubt or hatred stop us, instead, we should use it for motivation to make strides and grow.
