Dua Lipa: ‘So now finally it’s like, it’s time, it’s a fresh start, new music’

Dua Lipa released her new song ‘Houdini’ on 9th November, and she joined Fleur East, James and Matt on Hits Radio Breakfast to talk about her new album and the first version of ‘Dance The Night’ which hasn’t been released.

Earlier this year, Dua released her huge hit ‘Dance The Night’, which was featured on the popular movie Barbie. Mark Ronson, who wrote the song with her, then revealed that they actually re-wrote the song after seeing the scene from the film.

Back in August, Mark Ronson shared some videos on social media along with more details on the production of the song, revealing how they re-wrote the song despite Dua being on tour.

He explained: ‘We saw the scene and Dua was like “f**k, this is so good and so fun, we need to rewrite the whole thing to complement what’s going on”.’

Continuing: ‘We got back in the studio even though she was in the middle of a massive world tour.

We asked Dua about the original song, and if she would consider releasing it. She explained: “It’s not that it’s not good. It’s just like I think, you know, the song happens on Barbie’s best day ever, and she starts having conflicting thoughts of death.

“Basically. And I think in the initial version, I think we were going too much on the sadder side, rather than having it be like the really fun dance number and then with little moments of having those thoughts of, you know, the dance crying element but leaning more into the dancing than the crying.

“Whereas the initial version was leaning more into the crying than the dancing, I think I prefer, well not I think, I know that I prefer the version that it’s at right now, so I just have no desire to put the original out. I feel like ‘Dance The Night’ is the original.”

There has been a lot of talk about Dua’s upcoming album, which is looking at a 2024 release date, however she hasn’t confirmed it yet. The singer has previously said that the album is sonically different from her previous music, but she doesn’t want to alienate her fans.

Dua told Fleur and the team: “I’m so, so excited, I’ve just been waiting for so long to finally start releasing music. I’ve been in the studio for ages and especially like last year on tour, every time between legs I went to the studio to finish it. So now finally it’s like, right, it’s time, it’s a fresh start, new music.

“It definitely has, like quite a clear sonic departure from the last record and it has kind of a darker, more psychedelic influence throughout.

Chatting to us, Dua also revealed why she called her new single ‘Houdini’, saying: “I just love to play on words I loved… Houdini is an escape artist. And I think you know, for me at least, like the underlying story with it is like knowing your worth, knowing what you deserve, knowing when to stay and knowing when to ‘Houdini’.”

She continued: “It definitely is difficult to have that strength (to leave). You have to just like have the confidence in being like this doesn’t feel good for me. You have to go with your gut instinct you have to follow. ”