LOVER GIRL

DUA LIPA has LEVITATED her way to POP STARDOM by making unabashedly ROMANTIC MUSIC for a WORLD that often feels like it's ON FIRE. Here, the NEWLY ENGAGED singer opens up about FINDING LOVE, SPREADING JOY, and why she'll NEVER STOP wearing her HEART on her SLEEVE.

- KAITLYN GREENIDGE

Jacket, bralette, bodysuit, and shoes, VALENTINO. Briefs, BASERANGE.

High Jewelry necklace, BULGARI.

Tights, FALKE.

It's a beautiful spring afternoon in Munich, and the city's squares are full of bleary-eyed people, still celebrating. Scattered around park benches are the last few empties, the universal symbol of a memorable night. It feels as if the whole city is in a moment of afterglow from the night before, when Paris Saint-Germain defeated Inter Milan to win its first Champions League final and Dua Lipa played to an arena of more than 15,000 screaming fans.

I'd arrived in Munich 24 hours earlier, on a red-eye from Boston. I shuffled through customs at 7:00 a.m. and approached the weary-looking border agent slumped forward in his chair. “Purpose for visit?” he asked. I panicked, in the flush of sleep, and could muster only “Dua Lipa?” “Ah,” the agent said, leaning forward. “Of course, the Dua Lipa.” He waved me through.

It makes sense that Dua Lipa’s name is one that's able to dissolve a border. Her 2020 album, Future Nostalgia, was a global smash—a top-10 hit in more than 30 countries. It was released just as many nations were declaring quarantines during the onset of the pandemic, and its singles dominated the global pop landscape for that strange and destabilizing time. The biggest one, “Levitating,” was decreed this year by Billboard to be the top song by a female solo artist of the 21st century. Songs like “Don't Start Now” and “Break My Heart” were big, eloquent love letters to the transformative power of dance music—and, in that time, served as reminders of a better, freer world, the one we were hopefully all saving ourselves for.