So far all we've heard from Dua Lipa's new album is the single "Houdini," but when the rest of the album arrives, it will apparently give us flashbacks to 1991.
According to Rolling Stone's new cover story on Dua, her third album is a "psychedelic-pop-infused tribute to U.K. rave culture" that is "heavily inspired by acts like Primal Scream and Massive Attack." Other acts she cites as inspiration for the new project are Oasis, Blur, Moby and Gorillaz.
“This record feels a bit more raw,” Dua tells Rolling Stone. “I want to capture the essence of youth and freedom and having fun and just letting things happen, whether it’s good or bad. You can’t change it. You just have to roll with the punches of whatever’s happening in your life.”
When writing the album, what was happening in Dua's life was that she'd reentered the dating world, which inspired many of the new songs. "Dating, I think overall, is just a little confusing,” she says, noting that it's "not really so straightforward when you are, I guess, a public person.”
And while Dua tells Rolling Stone that she's "trying to move with a lightness, like ‘nothing is the end of the world,’” she says she does care what the reaction will be to her new sound.
“When you put your heart and soul into something, you want people collectively to be like, ‘Oh, it’s changed sonically, and it’s been something different.’”
But one thing Dua isn't worried about is her songs topping the charts.
"They ... never get to #1, but they stay around for a long time,” she says of her past hits. "As long as the songs stick around and people are listening to them, I’m cool with that."