Dua Lipa released “Levitating”

Levitating Dua Lipa with DaBaby

Writer(s): Dua Lipa, Clarence Coffee Jr., Sarah Hudson, Stephen Kozmeniuk, DaBaby (see lyrics here) Released: October 1, 2020 First Charted: October 17, 2020 Peak: 2 US, 17 BA, 11 DG, 13 RR, 114 AC, 17 A40, 5 UK, 13 CN, 4 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 2.4 UK, 14.84 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1361.61 video, 3163.00 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Dua Lipa released her self-titled debut album in 2017. It produced a top-10 hit in the UK with “Be the One” as well as the #1 song “New Rules,” which was also a top-10 hit in the U.S. Her sophomore album, Future Nostalgia, followed in 2020. It produced three more top-10 hits in the UK, including “Don’t Start Now,” which reached #2 in America. The biggest song, however, was “Levitating,” which gave Dua Lipa her fourth top-10 hit from the album in the UK and another #2 hit in the U.S. The song spent 41 weeks in the top 10 and become one of the longest-charting songs in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. It was named Billboard magazine’s song of the year in 2021. The ”electro-disco” WK song “incorporates elements of dance-pop, pop-funk, power pop, and space rock, as well as 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s pop and R&B styles.” WK Stephen Kozmeniuk, the producer, thought it would be cool to craft a “slinky disco track” WK and he and Lupa settled in on the idea of using old instruments, such as a Roland VP-330 snythesizer. WK When the songwriting team was crafting lyrics, they took inspiration from an Austin Powers movie, imagining Mike Myers dancing to the song. WK Lupa said the writers danced all the way through the making of the song. WK Lyrically, the title describes the idea of levitating when falling in love, using “an exaggerated metaphor of love as a spaceship to transmit radiant euphoria and happiness.” WK She said, “It’s about having fun and meeting someone and falling in love.” SF The single is actually the second remix of the song. The first was done with Madonna and Missy Elliott while the second was with DaBaby. Lipa had already added what she called her “British version of Blondie’s rapping” SF on the original to emphasize her British accent because some people didn’t realize she was from England. While some, such as Jamie Parmenter of Vinyl Chapters, expressed the “pleasure of hearing the singer’s English accent” WK there were others, such as Under the Radar’s Conrad Duncan which called it a “bafflingly unnecessary misfire.” WK DaBaby contributed a new pop-rap verse and intro over the original’s production. WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Dua Lipa DMDB encyclopedia entry for DaBaby SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 3/15/2022; last updated 10/12/2024.

Dua Lipa “Don’t Start Now” released

Don’t Start Now Dua Lipa

Writer(s): Dua Lipa, Caroline Ailin, Emily Warren, Ian Kirkpatrick (see lyrics here) Released: October 31, 2019 First Charted: November 16, 2019 Peak: 2 BB, 14 BA, 16 BA, 5 AC, 15 A40, 2 UK, 3 CN, 2 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 2.6 UK, 10.56 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.86 radio, 1205.60 video, 2651.06 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The pop singer/songwriter Dua Lipa was born in 1995 in London, England. She released her self-titled debut in 2017 and it reached #3 in the UK, generating five top-ten hits there, one of which (“New Rules”) also reached the top 10 in the United States. She released her second album, Future Nostalgia, in 2020. It was preceded by the lead single “Don’t Start Now.” The “adrenaline-fuled, dance floor anthem” SF was written by the same team who did “New Rules” in a conscious attempt to recreate its success. Critics have even cited “Don’t Start Now” as a sequel, nothing that it “proves that the rules created to get over an ex in the former track actually work in a breakup.” WK Lua said the song was “about finding confidence…and not letting anyone get in the way of your happiness.” SF The team were inspired by a disco night at a local dive bar and specifically Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 disco hit “I Will Survive.” They decided to write a disco song because “it’s the most fun to dance to.” WK The song was viewed as “the beginning of a revival for disco music…as downtempo, urban-styled music previously dominated mainstream music.” WK Lipa was praised for her “significant growth in…sound and vocals.” WK “Don’t Start Now” debuted at #2 on the UK chart, kept from the top spot by Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey.” While “New Rules” was a bigger chart hit, “Don’t Start Now” amassed 25 weeks in the top 10, making it the seventh longest-running top-10 hit in the UK. WK The song was nominated for Grammys for Record and Song of the Year. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Dua Lipa SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 1/19/2024; last updated 5/4/2024.