10 Dua Lipa: bringing the disco to our kitchens
boffins analysed our Spotify playlists that included the words ‘Feel Good’, in order to work out which songs are making us happiest. Because, boy, do we need them now. Stuck inside all day with only a kitchen to have a disco in, there has never been a more important time to put on some upbeat music and shake our anxieties free. On this list? Walking On Sunshine, of course, which might actually cause divorces, plus Mr Blue Sky and, at number two, Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa. Never has the latter – I Will Survive for the Hinge era – been more appropriate.
Then, last Friday, in response to the nationwide lockdown and general sense of impending doom, Dua released her second album, Future Nostalgia, a week early. What a tonic it is, packed with instant hits you already love, like Don’t Start Now and Physical. If the 24-year-old’s eponymous debut was a blast, this one feels like an explosion – music to make you feel good and, hopefully, forget that you probably won’t leave your house for weeks and have already run out of cheese.
‘I’ve been a little bit conflicted about whether it’s the right thing to do during this time, because people are suffering,’ said Dua about the album’s early release. ‘I’m not sure if I’m even doing the right thing. But the thing we need the most at the moment is joy. I hope it makes you smile and dance.’
Dua is right. A coronavirus vaccination aside, music and the power that can accompany it is exactly what the world is after. Last weekend, she told me in an interview that, right now, ‘We just need songs to help us get out of bed and make the day a little easier. Things don’t have to be miserable all the time.’
It is funny what you miss when it’s gone and, with cinemas and theatres closing down, recorded music has found a place to shine. Gigs and festivals, of course, are on the back-burner, but streaming songs is something you can do from the comfort of your own home, where the only thing that’s contagious is a fantastic chorus.
Hence Future Nostalgia a week early. And Childish Gambino – aka Donald Glover – delivering his album 3:15:20 from nowhere. The latter was long-awaited, perhaps even forgotten about, given it was supposed to have come out in late 2018, and it is not too much of a reach to imagine Glover quarantined, flicking through the files on his Macbook, finding the songs and thinking, ‘Why not?’ The album is urgent, anxious and perfect for now.
The next few months continue this trend. Given there is no chance of things being back to normal in April, thank God for The Strokes, The 1975, The Killers and Gorillaz, who all have new music planned. We can also expect artists to drop random tracks they’ve been working on in their own living rooms. We are, after all, in this together, trying to do whatever we can to keep each other’s spirits up. Has pop music ever been more necessary?