In his latest ‘At Home With’ conversation on Apple Music 1, Zane Lowe is joined by Dua Lipa. She discusses her six Grammy nominations, her new song “We’re Good”, reflects on ‘Future Nostalgia’ and opening up to collaboration and exploring other genres.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About Being Nominated For Six Grammy Awards…
It’s just such a massive honour. And I feel very lucky to have been recognized by my peers and especially for a record that just means so much to me. I’m just over the moon about it. I couldn’t be happier honestly.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About Being Vulnerable…
I feel like, especially when I was growing up and trying to do this thing, become an artist, and become a musician, I feel like I had so much of this energy of like, “I can’t be vulnerable. I need to be strong. I need to stand my ground.” No one can take me on for a ride. I couldn’t be vulnerable at any point. Whereas now I’m realizing that there’s so much strength and vulnerability and being able to be so open and being able to talk about things that are incredibly important and personal in your life in whatever way that may be. So I don’t feel like people don’t want you to be vulnerable. I almost feel like people want you to be able to show that you are human because sometimes people forget.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About The Danger of Ego…
I think if you carry a certain type of ego, it’s very hard to create music that’s very honest because you’re so much about me, me, me, whereas it’s meant to be – or at least the way I see it for everyone, obviously, that my story is, but I want for them to be something that everyone can relate to. And I think when there’s too much ego attached to songs or music, or even being open to working with lots of different songwriters and understanding that this is a collaborative effort, which is what all my songs are a massive collaborative effort with all the artists and songwriters and producers that I work with. And I think it’s also acknowledging that because I think a lot of artists also sometimes get caught up in the fact that it’s me, me, me, and then it takes away from the beauty of everything coming together and the reason why it is the way it is.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About Working with Gwen Stefani, Mark Ronson and The Blessed Madonna on Club Future Nostalgia…
Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. I sat by my phone and I was literally holding my face pretty much. I was like, “Oh my God, this is crazy. This is crazy.” I was just pacing around the room. Yeah, like, “I’ve got it!” And the way it happened was so cool because we basically contacted Gwen and her team to try and clear the sample for “Hollaback Girl,” for Club Future Nostalgia. And I was like, “Maybe we should just ask, put a feeler out, see if she wants to do something.” And she loved Mark Ronson’s remix of “Physical.” And she was like, “I’d love to jump on this.” I’m like, “Hell yeah, let’s go. This is surreal.” It was just so exciting. It was such an exciting period, especially because it was that period of lockdown and the whole project came together because of everyone being at home. But it just made lockdown so exciting. I was just dancing around the house, listening to songs that I guess I’ve known for so long, that felt so new.So I was really just rediscovering the music in itself in a different way. And it was an incredible experience. Yeah, a massive shout out to Maria the Blessed Madonna, because I really couldn’t have done it without her. She was the orchestrator behind that. It was incredible to be able to work alongside her and learn from her. And she’s amazing.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About Being a Tame Impala Fan and that ‘Currents’ Is One Of Her All-Time Favourite Records…
I love Kevin Parker, loved him and Paula. I think it’s just … I’m just such a fan. You know? Currents is probably one of my all-time favourite records. And it’s always exciting for me to just see what an artist does next and the music and how they progress. But at the same time, keeping what’s so true and authentic to them. Nothing and no one can really replicate Tame Impala. And immediately when somebody tries to you’re like, “Okay, I know where the influence came from.” You know, it’s something very unique. And I think that’s also very rare to have something so distinct. And then I guess, his voice. But the sounds and the production and everything that goes with it. It’s just … It’s amazing. And I’m sure you’ve spoken to him a bunch of times, but I met him one time when I was supporting Bruno Mars in Australia. Just so nice as well. And I think I really love to support really nice people as well.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About The Importance of Experimentation…
I think musical identity evolves all the time. And I think as an artist, you don’t really want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. You want to find something that you love, obviously, and if you love it, you should keep doing it, but I do feel like experimenting is always good. And even if it’s rubbish, if you love it, put it out. You’ll grow from it. I feel like every experience and every song and every whatever you do, not even just in music, I feel like it’s always just a baby step to where you want to be or discovering yourself even further. So I think all those are good experiences.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About Opening Up To Collaboration After The Success of “New Rules”…
Well, in all honesty, when I first started, I was kind of a bit stubborn and I didn’t want that fast track, I just wanted to do it on my own and if the opportunity came and there was something, I was always just like, “No, this isn’t right for me.” Like, I need to do my own thing first before … I just felt like I had to do it on my own. It was just something that I had. Once “New Rules” happened, I was like, “Oh my God.” I was like, “I did it.” I was like, “That’s it.” I feel like I did it on my own and I was really, really happy. But I love so much is just working with all kinds of artists and artists that people wouldn’t necessarily expect me to work with. I love exploring and trying out new things from working with Miguel, to working with Andrea Bocelli, to Angèle, all of these artists, artists that I love. I just wanted to learn and to be a part of it and just to understand it in a different way. There’s not really one type of music or one genre that I’m super attracted to. I listen to all kinds of music. I really don’t discriminate and I just love that about the whole learning process of music and the beauty of it.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About Exploring Other Genres…
I like to, I guess, just think of everything in baby steps, whatever it was, that was just for me, especially when I started out because things have changed so much and streaming services were becoming so apparent that it was like, you had to put out a lot of music for a new artist to be heard. For me, I was just like, ready to … For me, it was just like baby steps. I just wanted every song to do just a little bit better than the last one. That’s all I hoped for, just like a tiny bit more momentum. I don’t know. I guess, in creativity, there is no ceiling. You can do anything and you can try everything and you can play around with it. The only thing that I think is so important is to just make sure that you love it and it feels like it represents you because at the end of the day, if it doesn’t go well, at least it was a decision that you made and you’re like, “Okay, I understood that. Maybe it wasn’t quite the right thing to do. Maybe it wasn’t what I should have been doing, but it helped me figure out who I am.”
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About Seeing Kaytranada Play The Brixton Academy…
Kaytranada … Again, I feel like I got introduced to his music through a friend quite early days, and then I really loved it. It was playing on repeat, went and saw him play the Brixton Academy. The O2. Super fun night. Like, can’t wait for shows to come back. He was always just like a producer and an artist that I loved and I admire, but I didn’t know if I could work with him or, to what capacity, or if he would even like the music or think it was cool or… You know, I think he’s really cool. And so it was cool that he wanted to do something for the Club Future Nostalgia record. And again, just like as a fan and a follower of his music, I love the album, Bubba. And I think “10%” is such a groove.
Dua Lipa Tells Apple Music About Discovering Arlo Parks…
I was just driving in London and I just put the radio on and I heard her voice and immediately I was really taken by it. And I love the storytelling in her music and I just immediately Shazamed the song and I found out the artist. And then I kind of went through a discography. But it was the first song I think I heard of hers was “Sangria.” I just loved it. I thought it was so cool and really British also. And I was just immediately attracted to her voice and I wanted to listen to more. And yeah, I loved it.
