Dua Lipa kicked off 2021 with a bang, appearing on the cover of British Vogue for the second time in her career.
Along with a stunning series of photos of the blonde pop star was a candid interview, in which she opened up about the highs and lows of her meteoric rise to fame, bolstered by the success of her sophomore album Future Nostalgia, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Compared to her self-titled debut album, Future Nostalgia is much more carefree, with disco-tinged tracks meant for dancing. “I had to fight inner demons,” she explained to British Vogue of her album-making thought process. “I wanted to write songs that were more sad, more about heartbreak, because I thought that writing happy songs would turn into cheesy songs. I had to fight that because I was like, ‘I am happy. I deserve to be happy.’ I should be able to write about that without the fear of feeling like I’m compromising my authenticity because I’m not crying about something or someone.”
Part of her happiness stems from her heart-melting relationship with Anwar Hadid, whom she gushed over in the cover story. “We have all these incredible memories and experiences, and if there’s something that we want to share together, then OK, that’s fun,” she says of posting couple moments on Instagram. “But at the same time, we’re quite private – we’ll only show you as much as we want you to see. It’s a little bit of give and take, trying to find the right balance of being so excited and being in love, and wanting to share that with the people around me, but at the same time not wanting to put too much out there. I want to be able to just be happy in this relationship without having other people’s opinions.”
Read the full interview here, and see the cover photo via Twitter below.
Kicking off 2021 like the true chameleon that I am! Thank you @Edward_Enninful I will never forget all the love & support you have given me throughout my career and for giving me my 2nd @BritishVogue cover!! pic.twitter.com/UxlLivUXEm
— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) January 4, 2021