Wednesday, July 14, 2021

The Beauty of Song, Part Eight: Dua Lipa

If your idea of a great female rock and roller is Suzi Quatro (an earlier honoree on this blog) or Janis Joplin, you're probably not going to be all too impressed by Britain's Dua Lipa.  Her musical style is strictly pop and dance music.  But after only two albums, her impact on popular music at this time can't be denied.


After releasing her self-titled 2017 debut album, Ms. Lipa followed up with a single with Scottish disc jockey Calvin Harris, "One Kiss," which topped the UK Singles Chart longer than any number-one single for a female artist in 2018. The record didn't do so well on the Billboard singles chart, peaking only at number 27.  But better results for the young singer were to come.

Her 2019 single "Don't Start Now" peaked at number two on both the British and American charts, and it was the most successful song by a female artist in  America for all of 2020. Her second studio album, 2020's Future Nostalgia, won the Best Pop Album Grammy for 2021 and yielded another big hit single in Britain and America, "Levitating" which made the top five in the both countries (and peaked at number two in the States).

Dua Lipa is on a roll.  And while fans of traditionalist popular music may grumble, her success speaks for itself.

Fun fact: Though British, Ms. Lipa is an Albanian ethnic.

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