It’s all ‘women power’ now
Dua Lipa thrilled to be headlining Glasto
POP diva Dua Lipa can’t wait to get started on her headline act at Glastonbury this year.
But there’s one thing she hopes to end at the festival. Male domination.
Glasto was criticised for having three all-male acts – Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Sir Elton John – as its biggest draws in 2023.
But Dua will help redress the balance when she steps out on the Pyramid stage on the Friday night of the three-day music festival in June.
American singer SZA will headline on the Sunday night, with Coldplay the only men topping the bill – on the Saturday.
Dua, whose first No1 single was New Rules in 2017, said: “Last year there weren’t a lot of women in cycle...but now women are dominating. It’s all woman power right now.
Amazing
And, for me, it’s amazing to be put at the top and to headline Glasto. “We’ve just got to keep supporting women and pushing them so they can see it’s possible.” Dua, 28, has performed at Glastonbury before – in 2016, when her debut single Hotter Than Hell was also released, and in 2017. But she has been dreaming of headlining for years. She said: “I like to write down plans, ideas or dreams that I have and, around the time of my first record, I wrote that, by the time I got to my third album, I’d like to headline Glastonbury.”
Dua has met her deadline. Her third long player, Radical Optimism, will be released next week.
In the meantime she has also notched up three more
No1 singles – One Kiss, Cold Heart, her duet with Sir Elton, and Dance the Night, the song she wrote for last summer’s movie blockbuster Barbie
Her 2021 album, Future Nostalgia, also topped the charts, and won her one of her three Grammys.
Dua performed at the US awards ceremony in Los Angeles in February when she was spotted with another pop diva, Beyonce.
She has come a long way from humble beginnings.
Her dad Dukagjin and mum Anesa sought refuge in London in 1992 when there was political instability in Kosovo.
Family woman Dua, who has a sister Rina and brother Gjin, recently made her dad her manager. She has also created her own management and publishing company, Radical 22.
“It’s about having control over my music, having the final say over what happens to it,” she told Music Week.
But right now Dua is concentrating on her Glastonbury gig.
She promised: I’ll make sure it’s great. It’s the biggest show of my life, so I’m gonna make sure I don’t ***k it up, basically!
“Glasto is a one-off, to be done once and never again. It’s about making it as unique as possible.
I love bringing a spectacle.”
● Radical Optimism will be released on May 3.