Dua Lipa is an English pop singer-songwriter. Born in London in 1995 to Kosova Albanian parents, Lipa began posting videos of herself covering songs on YouTube while in high school. She also signed with a modeling agency, later modeling with Topshop while simultaneously waitressing in a cocktail bar.
After landing a role as a singer in an advertisement for The X Factor in 2013, she acquired a producer and a manager. Her managers encouraged her to focus on recording music, with a series of songwriting sessions leading to a record deal with Warner Brothers Records in 2014. Her first single, “New Love,” was released in August 2015, with a second single, “Be the One,” releasing in October of that year to European success.
She toured the UK and Europe for the first time in 2016. Her fourth single, “Hotter than Hell,” was released in May 2016 to continued chart success, peaking in the UK at No. 15. Her fifth single, “Blow Your Mind (Mwah)”, was released in August 2016, peaking at No. 30 in the UK while becoming her debut entry on the US Billboard Hot 100, debuting at No. 72. It also topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.
Lipa’s eponymous debut studio album was released in June 2017. Its sixth single, “New Rules,” was a smash hit. It became Lipa’s first No. 1 in the UK and the first by a female solo artist to reach the top position in the UK since “Hello” by Adele in 2015. It remains her best-selling single to date, charting in the top ten of multiple countries, including Australia, the U.S., and Canada.
Lipa was named the most-streamed female artist of 2017 in the UK by Spotify, with four singles reaching the UK top 10 in 2017 -- “Be the One,” “New Rules,” “No Lie,” and Grenfell Tower fire charity single “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” She later received five nominations at the 2018 BRIT Awards, winning the awards for British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. Her historic nominations marked the first time a female artist had received five nominations.
Lipa enjoyed continued success throughout 2018 and 2019, with “One Kiss,” a collaborative single with Calvin Harris, topping the UK Singles Chart for eight weeks. It went on to become the best-selling song of 2018 in the UK. Her collaborative single with Mark Ronson and Diplo’s Silk City, “Electricity,” peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, spending 20 weeks on the chart.
In October 2018, Lipa released Dua Lipa: The Complete Edition, an expanded version of her debut, including a collaboration with South Korean girl group Blackpink, “Kiss and Make Up.” The year 2019 saw Lipa winning her first two Grammy awards, including Best New Artist and Best Dance Recording for “Electricity” with Silk City.
She announced her second album, Future Nostalgia, alongside its lead single “Don’t Start Now” in December 2019. “Don’t Start Now” peaked at No. 2 on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100. Subsequent singles “Physical” and “Break My Heart” became Lipa’s eighth and ninth UK top 10 singles, respectively.
Future Nostalgia was released in March 2020 to critical acclaim, debuting at No. 2 and peaking at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. She became the first British female artist since Vera Lynn to have three top-ten singles in a calendar -- a record she broke with the single “Levitating,” which also peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The year 2020 also saw Club Future Nostalgia, a remix collection of the album featuring collaborations with The Blessed Madonna and Mark Ronson. Lipa also featured on the single “Prisoner” with Miley Cyrus on the latter’s Plastic Hearts album. Future Nostalgia was named the most-streamed album by a woman (and fifth most-streamed album overall) on Spotify in 2020.
In 2021, Lipa released the single “We’re Good” alongside Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition, an expanded version of her 2020 release. Future Nostalgia earned Lipa her third Grammy Award, this time for Best Pop Vocal Album. She collaborated with Elton John again on “Cold Heart (Pnau remix)”, releasing in August 2021 and reaching the No. 1 spot on the UK Singles Chart.
In 2022, Lipa launched a weekly lifestyle-centric newsletter, Service95, in addition to a podcast, Dua Lipa: At Your Service, and toured Future Nostalgia worldwide.
