Dua Lipa‘s new album will deliver sights and sounds inspired by her love of Funk music thanks to help she’s had from Nile Rodgers.
To celebrate, she teamed up with ‘Elle’ to deliver a spread, cover and interview which offer insight into her creative life as it is today…and her feelings towards Wendy Williams after the media mogul mispronounced her name on live television.
Read below…
On trolls…
They’re brutal. The trolls Stateside are the worst. When I was starting out, I never remember feeling hate. Then things got big, and I felt this weird expectation of being Beyonce already. Everything you’re doing gets looked at under a magnifying glass. People want to stunt your growth. They scrutinize you and tell you what you should look like or what you should do or ask, why did you cut your hair. You constantly live in fear of not being good enough. It’s crazy; you have to be really strong.
On Wendy’s accidental mispronunciation of her name?
I found it funny. Even my friends started calling me Doola Peep. I’ve learned to correct people about my name my whole life. So I’m like, Call me whatever you want. You’ll learn it soon enough, babes.I don’t watch Wendy Williams, so it was my first time experiencing anything to do with her show. I was like, Who is this woman? I try to take things like that super-lightly. You can’t take yourself too seriously, because you can get yourself into a right mess.
How Janet Jackson inspires her to look out for other women?
I was listening to Janet Jackson, and she starts pretty much all her songs with “I have control over my body and my thing. You forget that empowerment was always a big part of music, especially for female artists. We went to a comedy show last night, and Whitney Cummings was doing stand-up. She was brilliant, saying, like, women have been empowered for a very long time, but now it’s, “Oh, someone’s listening to us? Let’s go crazy!” We’re not used to being listened to. Now we’re taking full advantage of that fact and speaking about things that are really important to us.
She says Katy Perry offered her this piece of advice…
When I met Katy Perry, she was like, “I hope you don’t search your name.” She was like, “That’s what I did at the beginning of my career, and I’d get upset about every tabloid that said something about me.” She said, “Do not have notifications on. Do not read that shit, because it will stop you from doing what you love.” Chris Martin also said to me, “Be kind to yourself.” I thought it was so weird that he would say that—what does that even mean? But reading those things is a form of self-abuse. It’s this vicious cycle where you don’t want to read it, but you go looking for it, then you get yourself upset. I can’t let the opinions of others define what I feel about myself. That’s something I’m constantly telling my fans as well. Platform or no platform, musician or not, everyone’s getting bullied because everyone’s got this screen and they feel like no one can see them.
….and as for the album?
It’s a mixture of stuff, from what it felt like to grow up as a girl and be scared to walk home at night to when the whole world lets you down and what it feels like to enjoy life again. I’m hoping to get the album out by the end of this year or the beginning of next. I haven’t decided my track list yet, but they’re all songs you can sing along to. You make music so people can sing along, but you also make it to tell a story in the hopes that someone feels the same way.I don’t want to make it scary for myself; there’s no point. As a new artist, you’re competing with people who are years and albums ahead of you, way more successful. It’s tough. But I have a lot more confidence going into a room and saying what I want. You can’t be gone for too long. You have to keep putting music out. Some things will work, some won’t. I’m just going to make music I’m proud of that represents who I am. I want my fans to know they backed the right horse.
Your thoughts?