by Dylan Jones
Beguiling pop starlet Dua Lipa is a melding of bohemian innocence and glitchy millennial abandon. She’s young, gorgeous and full of beans, and 2016 looks set to be her year. She’s had a smattering of number ones across Europe with her single Be The One, she’s on the BBC Introducing longlist, and she’s just been announced on the bill at Glastonbury. Most importantly though, she rides down Old Compton Street in a rickshaw in one of her music videos. We’ve all been there.
She took time off from a breathless schedule to chat to Dylan Jones about gay clubbing, the creation of her psychedelically floral music videos, and the sudden surrealness of meteoric success.
Hey Dua! How are you?
Good! Still excited from doing my first ever massive gig last night!
Oh yeah! How was it?
It was amazing. It was pretty surreal! I went from doing small living room shows, literally so small, to these huge venues in such a small amount of time. My thighs hurt!
So you’re a London girl aren’t you?
Yeah! Born and raised in London.
Do you go out on the gay scene much?
I mean, Soho in general is my favourite place. So that’s always fun. All the gay pubs and clubs down there. And I’ve got loads of gay mates, it’s the most fun ever going out with them. They’re my girls!
So are you excited for Glastonbury?!
I’m over the moon! It’s so surreal. Because last year I went, and I was just in the crowd and I was like “aaw I really wanna do that one day!” And never did it go through my mind that I’d be able to do it…THE YEAR AFTER! It’s really crazy and I’m absolutely buzzing.
Do you think you’ll have time to go catch some of the other acts while you’re there?
Hopefully! I’m gonna try and have two days there so I can do the whole Glastonbury thing running around and seeing different acts and stuff.
Once you’ve done your stuff hopefully you can just put on a pair of sunglasses and walk around like a normal person.
Yeah, of course!
Have you clicked with anyone else in the music industry?
Yes! Olly from Years & Years. He’s really nice.
We love him!
He really supported me online and stuff, and then when I saw him at the Brits I went up to his table just to say hi and say thank you. He’s so nice. And he’s got an amazing voice too.
I guess his music’s a similar genre to yours.
Yes totally!
So how would you describe your sound?
I like describing it as dark pop. It’s a mixture of hip-hop and pop together. I love hip-hop a lot, and I like to include it my music.
Who are your fave artists at the moment?
Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Action Bronson, ASAP Rocky…it’s mainly rappers. But then I’m obsessed with Pink and Nelly Furtado! When I listened to their music when I was young I wanted to be just like them, and make music like theirs. I thought they were so cool. And I still do! No matter what they put out I’ll always follow it.
I was obsessed with Loose by Nelly Furtado!
Oh it’s so good! Every track! I got hooked when her first album came out, Whoa Nelly. And her Spanish albums too. I couldn’t understand a word but I was like “FUCK YEAH.”
I love the video for Last Dance with all the crazy colours and stuff. How did you do that?
That’s post-production! Crazy colours is something that I wanted to be an ongoing thing throughout most of my videos. In my show I have neon lights and stuff. I just love it and I think it’s really fun. All in all, Last Dance is a glorified performance video. It’s a modern day Alice In Wonderland kind of feel. It’s what I had in my head when I wrote the song, and when I kept on hearing it, it was what I envisioned. I used the idea with the trees and things…and then we got directors to take my treatment [script] and make it real, and do it professionally.
I always thought if I were popstar I’d want total control over what my music videos looked like! Do you get a lot of a say in it then?
Yeah! For all my music videos I write all the treatments first. So that lets them know what I want to happen. And then we give it to someone else to make those ideas come into reality. But sometimes I can write loads of crazy things and then the director will be like “this is not physically possibly.” With Last Dance they were like “hold on, so you want to throw yourself over a massive stream of sugar? You’re acting crazy now.”
Ha! That all sounds cool though!
Yeah it so much fun. I’ve been in the studio for so long now, that getting the chance to do these videos and interviews and stuff is just so…so new for me. It’s so fun. And to actually be able to perform and get my music out there finally. I’ve been holding onto it for a really long time. I can finally tell people I’m a singer. Because before, I’d tell people and they’d be like “oh cool, have you got anything out?” and I’d be like “errrm…”
Well now you can be like, “Yeah and it’s got 18 million views on Youtube bitches!
Is that how many I’ve got?!
Yup.
Oh shit!
Yeah go and have a look!
AAAH!
Do you find you’ve been recognized by people at all as you’ve started to get more well-known?
Nah. I feel like in London people are way cooler. In groups of people I know, friends of friends and stuff, they recognize me from my friends always promoting my stuff like “oh you should check her out.” I’m sure there are people who know me, but I’ve never been stopped. In Europe it’s been a bit more actually. Around Holland and Italy. We went to number 1 in Germany and Holland. We had a few number ones with Be The One. Oh my god it’s so crazy to be able to say that! It’s being pushed on the radio at the moment and people love it. It’s all so great. It’s more than I could have ever asked for.
• Dua Lipa’s latest single, Hotter Than Hell, is out now. She’s playing Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park on Friday 8th July.
