The rise and rise of Dua Lipa!

Music News Feature

Dua Lipa is the sleek and fashionable pop star who has been dominating the global charts for the last few years. From her model looks to her distinctive vocals, Dua Lipa is the perfectly crafted pop princess who has shown no signs of slowing down from being right at the very top.

Table of Contents

‘I got new rules; I count ’em…’

Is Dua the new Queen of Pop?

With hits such as ‘New Rules’, ‘Don’t Start Now’ and ‘Sweetest Pie’, Dua has gone onto achieve a whole host of accolades so let’s look back at her life and career and her most memorable moments!

Lipa’s London life

Dua Lipa was born in London as the eldest child of Kosovo Albanian parents. Her earliest experience of music was from her father who was the lead singer and guitarist in the small Kosovan rock band, Oda. Whilst growing up in London, she began taking weekend singing classes at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School before she moved back to her motherland of Kosovo in 2008 where she learned the Albanian language and became serious about pursuing a music career. She eventually moved back to London at 15 to sit her A-Levels and re-enrolled part time at Sylvia Young.

Model material

Before hitting the big time in the pop world, Dua began a modelling career signing with retailer Topshop for a number of campaigns and securing a contract with a modelling agency. This contract helped to land her a role in an ‘The X Factor’ advertisement where she played a singer covering the Sister Sledge track, ‘Lost in Music’. This caught the attention of Tap Management who helped Dua to launch her singing career, paying her a monthly salary so she could perfect her music before she was launched into the world. She eventually picked her modelling career back up toward the end of the 2010s securing a number of high-profile campaigns and brand deals including with YSL. She made her runway debut in March 2022 walking for Versace to showcase Spring/Summer 2022 at Milan Fashion Week.

Warner Bros. leading lady

Dua eventually signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. which her manager encouraged. The record label were lacking a high profile female popstar and so Dua would receive the full attention and backing of the label if she signed with them. Throughout 2015 and 2016, Dua released a slew of singles to moderate success across Europe and Australia but the best was yet to come.

She’s set the New Rules!

In 2017, following the release of her debut album, Dua turned the tide on summer when she released ‘New Rules’, the summer anthem of the year! It was her first chart-topper in the UK and she impressively became the first female solo artist to hit number one since Adele released her classic hit, ‘Hello’, two years prior. The track went onto receive nominations for Best Single and Best Music Video at the following year’s Brits as well as a nod for its intricate choreography at the VMAs. The track gave Dua worldwide success as she hit the top ten in the US and the song went onto make it on many year-end lists from publications such as The Guardian, Billboard and The New York Times.

Spotify success story

The titles kept on pouring in for Dua in 2017 when she was declared as Spotify’s most streamed female artist in the UK. She achieved four top ten singles throughout the year to help boost her streaming numbers including her contribution to charity record, ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’, the single released to raise funds for victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London.

Who will be The One?

Dua hasn’t had the best luck in finding her ‘the one’ so far. In 2013 she began a relationship with English chef Isaac Carew which lasted for four years but it wasn’t without its ups and downs as the relationship was on-off from the start. After this, Dua tried dating one of her own – a singer. Paul Klein, lead singer of American band LANY was Dua’s leading man from August 2017 to January 2018 but it wasn’t meant to be as Dua went back to ex Isaac the same month she called it quits with Paul. Eventually in June 2019, Dua dumped Isaac to date model Anwar Hadid, the brother of leading ladies Bella and Gigi. The relationship between the pair lasted a fraction over two years before it was finally over by Christmas 2021.

Future Nostalgia

In March 2020, just as the world went into lockdown, Dua brought the soundtrack for the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of her second album, ‘Future Nostalgia’. The record received universal acclaim from industry critics and insiders with its dance-disco-funk feel being the light that people needed to help them get through the new state of the world. It was a commercial success reaching the top spot in 15 countries and the top in 31. It helped to cement Dua as one of the world’s greats sitting comfortably alongside fellow chart dominators Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. It became her first album to be considered for the Mercury Prize as well as earning the Brit for Best Album and the Grammy for Best Pop Album with lead single ‘Don’t Start Now’ also receiving three Grammy nominations including for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

A club at home

With nightclubs across the world shut, Dua embraced this and created a re-imagined version of her record made for the dancefloor. Teaming up with American DJ, the Blessed Madonna they created a series of new remixes and collaborations for the record. Artists such as Jamiroquai, Gwen Stefani and Blackpink all featured along with original pop queen meets current pop queen when Madonna featured on a brand new remix of the track, ‘Levitating’.

Crushing on Robbie

Away from the music, Dua hasn’t been afraid to give her opinions on others in the industry revealing that her celebrity crush is Take That’s Robbie Williams. In a 2017 interview, she said: “My mum had a crush on him when I was really young and I saw him at the iTunes Festival and I was like yeah, he’s pretty fit”.

A Charitable Woman

Alongside her father, she co-founded the non-profit ‘Sunny Hill Foundation’ in 2016 in order to help raise funds for people experiencing financial difficulties in her homeland of Kosovo. In 2018, she self-organised a festival as a means of raising funds for the charity called the ‘Sunny Hill Festival’. Following the initial success, she reprised the event the following year with Miley Cyrus being one of the headlining performers at the event.

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