Dua Lipa dreamed big for her new concert special An Evening With Dua Lipa, and, she tells Deadline, it’s now one of her “favorite performances she’s ever done.” The CBS special airs Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. PT.
Lipa put her whole heart into the project, which is evident in the many of the layers that make up the final product. From including the legendary Elton John as part of her performance, to reuniting with her Sylvia Young Theater School teacher Ray, Lipa was meticulous in selecting the emotional notes to hit. She also described the rehearsal process as “Royal Albert Hall boot camp.” Keep those tissues close by.
When reconnecting with her teacher, the ‘Houdini’ singer told him how a piece of advice he imparted has stuck with her til this day: that she excels most when she’s outside of her comfort zone.
“It’s also having the confidence to try new things,” Lipa said of the concert and this reunion. “He was always such a big champion and advocate of that when I was younger, of “Don’t be afraid of your dreams or let your dreams scare you” kind of thing. That’s the best advice because if they’re not making you a little bit nervous, maybe they’re not big enough.”
The special, which Lipa performed at the Royal Albert Concert Hall in London on Oct. 17, reimagined hit songs from her most recent album Radical Optimism as well as some hits from Future Nostalgia like “Don’t Start Now,” “Love Again” and “Levitating” as well as her Grammy-nominated song from Barbie (2023), “Dance the Night.”
John joined her for a performance of their collaboration “Cold Heart.” She also performed “Be the One” from her eponymouys first album as well as a cover of “Sunshine.” The full album from the live show is available to stream on Spotify, with many more songs that didn’t make the cut of the special itself.
“When you go into the architecture of a song and you strip it down, and you change it in a way that makes the song so much more vulnerable, you really hear the lyrics in a completely different way. I still wanted it to be something fun, and I still wanted it to be a pop show where I could perform, but I didn’t want it to be as — I guess the initial demos, best way to describe it was a bit more sparkly and a bit more pop,” Lipa said. “I wanted to bring a bit more timbre and a bit more darkness to it, and there to be a real richness to all the songs. We played a lot with that emotion and feeling. I wanted there to be a real depth of intensity with all the songs. That was the changes that were being made constantly. It was, how do we make this as grand and as epic and as big? It was almost like doing a film score.”
In the below interview with Deadline, the musician spoke about how much time she took to prepare for the show, the process of selecting her dresses and other details of what she envisioned.
DEADLINE: Is there someone that you saw at the Royal Albert Hall, or who you remember performing there, that you saw that and then thought, “Oh, I really want to do this,” that played into this dream?
DUA LIPA: Growing up in London and constantly driving past the Royal Albert Hall, seeing shows — I actually hadn’t been to a show at the Royal Albert Hall, but I’ve seen so many shows on TV, and so the Royal Albert Hall has always been this pinnacle place for me in my hometown that I’ve always dreamt of doing. I love the theater feeling of it, and how grand it is, and also very intimate. It’s a very special venue that, if you’re lucky enough, you get to perform there.
DEADLINE: How many rehearsals did you have for this special? What was the process like leading up to it to this one-time performance?
LIPA: We started planning and preparing this performance, talking about it around July, August time, and that was working with the Heritage Orchestra, starting to talk about the arrangements, the ideas, the thought behind how I wanted it to sound. We started getting the first arrangements probably end of August, beginning of September, and those went through quite a few different edits, and we started off with demos, and then went in with the orchestra and did all the parts. Actual rehearsal time was about a week straight with my band and the orchestra [rehearsed] separately. In the month of October, I was preparing lots of different shows at the same time. And I managed to go home to London four days before the Royal Albert show and just do nonstop. It was like Royal Albert Hall boot camp, orchestra boot camp. It was amazing. It was like four nonstop days before the show, running it with the orchestra.
DEADLINE: You have two outfits in the special, the red dress that you start out in, and then the black dress. Was it a process picking those out? Did you have more options?
LIPA: Well, performing in dresses like that was a first for me. I don’t very often get to perform in beautiful gowns because I’m so used to running around on stage and being with dancers, and a lot of what I wear on stage lends itself to being able to perform in that kind of high intensity way. I felt like the night and orchestra lent itself to being able to wear something more elegant. We always knew that we were going to do two looks, maybe we had a couple other options, but these two were the first two that, when I saw the sketches, the first one being a Jean Paul Gaultier dress, and the second being Chanel, I was like “These are the perfect dresses.” This is exactly what I want to wear, as long as I’m able to walk in them, so I can go all around the round, I’m good to go. They were perfect.
DEADLINE: Elton John performed with you. His outfit felt a little toned down as well from what he could have worn.
LIPA: You think so? I don’t know. He had, like spectacular jewelry and he was wearing a velvet suit. Anything Elton’s in is always show-stopping, so I don’t know about that.
DEADLINE: That’s true. I loved the earring. Did you consider having any other guests perform with you?
LIPA: No, I didn’t. Elton was the only person I wanted to have with me performing because he’s somebody who’s done the Royal Albert Hall so many times. I felt he was the perfect person to hold my hand through that. Knowing that he was gonna show up, gave me another surge of confidence during the performance. It was special to have him there with me.
DEADLINE: And you reunited with Ray, your teacher. Something that stuck out to me is “you excel most when you’re outside of your comfort zone.” How do you apply that still daily and how did it apply to this special?
LIPA: Every day when I do things that feel daunting or they’re a little bit more nerve-wracking, or this special in itself, which is completely different to anything else that I’ve been doing, it is out of my comfort zone. It is something completely new. It is something that people have never seen me do before. So to be able to take something on like that is nerve-wracking. It’s out of my comfort zone. But I guess that’s where it’s the most rewarding.
DEADLINE: You’ve worked with Elton John, Miley, Cyrus, Megan Thee Stallion. Is there anyone you’re hoping to collaborate with on music in the future?
LIPA: I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. I feel like I’ve really ticked off so many people off my dream list of people to work with. I don’t know right now.
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