Dua Lipa has had an incredible year. The 22-year-old has brought her music across the pond from her native England to the US, and America has fallen in love. Dua released her self-titled debut album this year, teamed up with Martin Garrix on their hit collab "Scared To Be Lonely," as well as worked with artists like Sean Paul and Major Lazer, among others.
To celebrate all of Dua's success, the pop starlet performed a live intimate show during iHeartRadio LIVE with Dua Lipa presented by Forever 21. During the New York City show, hosted by Tanya Rad, Dua performed music from her debut album for some of her biggest fans, who couldn't help but sing along the entire show.
Not only did Dua perform songs from her self-titled debut record, like her single "New Rules," along with songs including "Blow Your Mind (Mwah), and "Lost In Your Light," but she also sang a few of the collaborations she's been featured on this year, like "Scared To Be Lonely (with Martin Garrix) and "No Lie" (with Sean Paul).
In between performing her songs, Dua opened up to host Tanya Rad about the making of her debut album, the very real inspiration behind some of the songs, as well as what fans can expect to hear and see on her upcoming headlining tour. She told fans of all her success this year, and when she sees fans or other artists covering her songs:
"It's the best feeling in the world. I absolutely love it. I always get taken back by them because I remember being that kid, and turning the camera on, and wanting someone to hear my covers. I put them up just so the people at school could know that I wanted to sing, or that's what I wanted to do. But, it's still so surreal every time I see a new cover or even when other artists cover my songs. It's crazy."
Watch Dua perform "Genesis," "Begging," and "New Rules" live in the videos below.
"Genesis"
,quality(10),blur(50))
"Begging"
"New Rules"
iHeartRadio LIVE with Dua Lipa presented by Forever 21 Set List:
"Hotter Than Hell"
"Dreams"
"No Lie"
"Lost In Your Light"
"IDGAF"
"Be the One"
"Thinking 'Bout You"
"Genesis"
"Begging"
"Scared To Be Lonely"
"Blow Your Mind (Mwah)"
"New Rules"
Five things we learned during iHeartRadio LIVE with Dua Lipa:
1. "Hotter Than Hell" kicked off the whole album.
"That was one of the first songs I wrote that dictated what the rest of the album was gonna sound like. That helped me figure out what my sound and what my genre was. And, I guess I was going through a bad break up, and it was someone that made me feel like I wasn't good enough, or I wasn't worth it. I just wrote about my experience, and that helped me feel better about the situation and made me feel much more empowered when I switched the roles in in the song, and it made it seem like he couldn't get enough of me. That helped me and made me feel empowered. I like it when fans and people come up to me and say that that song made them feel empowered."
2. She's been learning a lot from touring with Bruno Mars.
"Bruno, I've had the opportunity to watch him night after night this past month, and he's just such an amazing performer. His showmanship, and the way he interacts with the audience, and just how seamlessly he performs and how well rehearsed everything is, there's a lot to to take from that, and a lot to be inspired by. He's a brilliant artist and I admire him so much."
3. When it comes to style, she LOVES 90s fashion.
"I love the whole 90s fashion. And as much as I can, I like to stick with that. It's kind of like a mixture of young and fresh, and pretty and cool, and a little bit of everything. But then it also depends on the day. Especially when I'm um on tour, it's whatever is really not that creased. I love getting ready and dressing up for shows and making shows also memorable by the outfit. I also remember shows by things that I've worn as well. I think it just makes it fun for everyone."
4. Her songs are inspired by her own real life situations -- even when she claims they're not.
"They come from different parts of my life and they're all very special to me, so it's really hard to choose. I feel very closely to the song called 'Genesis.' But then again, I feel the same way about the other ones. They're all kinda like my babies. All the songs that I write about, they are very personal. They are from relationships, they are things I feel very closely to, and they are really scary to write about. I've been asked whether it was about them, and I said it wasn't, and I said it was just a story I'd made up in my head. I was like, 'this is not my experience.' But obviously some things just don't work out."
5. The "New Rules" music video was inspired by an 80s Versace campaign featuring super model Naomi Campbell.
"I saw a picture online and it was like an 80s Versace campaign. It was Naomi Campbell, and she was on the back of another girl, and they were wearing these beautiful dresses, they looked amazing. But what I loved was really the story behind it, which was girls looking after each other with one thing or another. Especially with the song, I wanted to show it on the side of the story, and that's literally me with my friends."