If “Don’t Start Now” is the first song you’ve heard from Dua Lipa, it’s time to discover more about the Grammy-winning star.

Dua was born in London to Albanian parents who’d emigrated from Kosovo — her name means “love” in Albanian. Her family moved back to Kosovo in 2006, but when Dua was just 15, she moved back to London on her own to get her music career off the ground.

Her 2017 self-titled debut album, featuring her hit “New Rules,” made her a global pop star and won her a slew of awards both in her native U.K. and abroad, including the 2019 Best New Artist Grammy.

“Don’t Start Now” is the first single released from Dua’s new album Future Nostalgia, which she released and promoted while in quarantine.  She says the song, which she describes as “very disco-orientated,” gives you a pretty good idea of what you can expect when you listen to the entire album.

“I felt like it was the perfect introduction,” Dua says. “The album…has quite, like, nostalgic elements to it, ’80s-inspired disco influences and it’s just really, basically, a Dancercise class all the way through. So I just want people to have fun when they’re listening to it. And I felt like ‘Don’t Start Now’ was the song to lead the way.”

As for what the song’s about, Dua says like many of her compositions, it’s an self-empowerment anthem.

“It’s about moving on and not really caring what anybody thinks and being happy in the position that you’re in and just finding confidence there,” she notes. 

Dua plans to support Future Nostalgia with a world tour were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so she’s currently self-isolating in London with her boyfriend, model Anwar Hadid.

By Andrea Dresdale
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.