Dua Lipa is absolutely killing it right now.
Not only is her single “New Rules” everywhere, but she also just released what is sure to be one of the hottest tracks of the summer with Calvin Harris, “One Kiss.” She’s also going to be making the festival circuit this summer. Talk about busy!
But there are so many other reasons why Dua Lipa is someone who we’ve all come to love.
1) She’s not afraid to put sexism on blast.
In a recent interview with British GQ, the singer discussed how difficult it can be for women to be taken seriously in the music industry. “For a female artist, it takes a lot more to be taken seriously if you’re not sat down at a piano or with a guitar, you know? For a male artist, people instantly assume they write their own music, but for women, they assume it’s all manufactured.”
Before, a lot of women were afraid to talk about sexism in fear of losing certain prospects. Now, artists like Dua are speaking up and working to put an end to idea that women are incapable of writing, producing or creating their own work.
She also went on to discuss how frustrating it can be for women to be objectified.
“Like catcalling. To some it might not seem a lot, but it affects your mood, people get embarrassed about the way they dress. For lots of females, be it actresses, singers, models, no matter what it is, it’s not being able to have the right to dress and wear how and what you want and be taken seriously.”
2) She’s not afraid to be single
Being single can be a huge problem for a lot of people, but for some, like Dua Lipa, it’s empowering!
“There’s so much fun in being single. When I’m single, I end up having so much more time to do a lot of other stuff,” she told Elle UK. “I think you learn so much more about yourself when you’re completely alone and you have no one to go to for help for certain things. You learn to rely on yourself in a different way.”
3) She’s young, but sticks to her guns
Even though she’s only 22, Dua told BBC that she had worked on close to 130 songs for her debut album. While she had help on some of them, she was never averse to receiving said help. She was more than willing to listen and she “learned a lot from the co-writers that were coming in to help me—the bones of how to write a proper song.”
It was that tenacity, that desire to make everything her own way, that helped her plow through the struggle of gaining recognition in a YouTube-driven world. If she hadn’t stuck to her guns and created the music she believed in, we would have a very different Dua Lipa right now and how sad would that be?
4) She’s unapologetic
While sitting down with The Guardian, Dua was asked about a minor “scandal” that had just occurred. Fans had seen her in photos with her boyfriend at the height of speculation that she had been caught out with her ex-boyfriend. One fan in particular tweeted her saying she had “broken the new rules.” Instead of ignoring it, Dua Lipa went ahead and tweeted the fan back saying, “Sis, get a grip.”
5) She followed her dreams
After elementary school, Dua and her family moved from London back to Kosovo where they had emigrated from. It’s there in Kosovo where she discovered her love for music. It’s also where she sat her parents down at 14 and told them that she wasn’t going to get anywhere living there. If she was going to make it as a singer, she had to be back in London. “I wanna go back. I wanna go to Sylvia Young [theatre school] on Saturdays. I wanna be in the place where things are happening,” she told them.
If she hadn’t told her parents that she had wanted to attend a British university, we may never have the fabulous songs we have now. Talk about dedication!
6) She puts herself in her music
In that same Elle UK interview, Dua said that she puts a lot of herself in her music, and that she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I put a lot of my life out there through music for everyone to know and see and feel. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I’m not afraid to do so. There’s strength in vulnerability and strength in sadness.”
With all of these lovely things, how can you NOT love this wonderful woman?!