You need some real chutzpah to name your sophomore album Future Nostalgia. Dua Lipa can talk it, walk it, sing it, dance it.
The British pop artist is creating future nostalgia with a swag of hits including “Levitating”, “Physical,” her “Cold Heart” collaboration with Elton John, and others.
Despite the pandemic keeping most of us locked up and distanced from our buddies, Lipa has had it all her own way in pop music. In recent years, she’s bagged three Grammy Awards, winning for Best female Solo Artist, and Album of the Year at the Brit Awards, and “Levitating” triumphed as the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s 2021 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart.
With her delayed Future Nostalgia Tour rebooted and ready to hit the road, Lipa will get to exercise those hits to patient fans around the globe.
On Thursday night (Feb. 3), Lipa stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to discuss her live show, wearing next-to-nothing when Elton called to do business, and more.
The forthcoming world tour is “massively different” to the trek that was planned for 2020, she tells Colbert. For starters, the album dropped in March 2020, around the time when the WHO declared the pandemic. Lockdown, it turned out, was a good time for millions to do little else but stream Future Nostalgia. “This time I’ve done a lot of audience research and I feel like I know what songs people like…it’s the very best of,” she says of her live show.
“Cold Heart” returned Elton John to the top of the charts in the U.K. and Australia after a long absence. The song, remixed by Aussie electronic production trio Pnau, had an awkward origin.
Lipa was hanging in Los Angeles, writing songs for a new album when Elton called, pitching the song. On Facetime. “I was in a bikini and a cowboy hat,” she recounts. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was perfect.”
During the chat, Lipa flipped the script and played host for a moment, engaging with Colbert in a deep-and-meaningful about how his faith overlaps with comedy.
Watch below.
