Dua Lipa

She has been compared to Amy Winehouse, is starting to heat up the Fashion Week front row, and – even before launching her debut album – has already hit the one-million-followers mark on Instagram. Dua Lipa: millennial pop star, or a powerhouse diva who will stand the test of time? Imran Jalal gets up close.

- Imran Jalal

Dua Lipa is fixated with a pair of denim Givenchy booties, and not in a good way. Here we are, at the NCO Club of JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach on an early May morning. Just a day before, the 21-year-old had held a private showcase for her fans in the same building. Today, it’s become the HQ for our exclusive shoot, and she’s getting into a pair of strappy pumps (also Givenchy), but those boots – resting atop a huge wooden table nearby – are bothering her big time.

“Could we take them off the table, please? It’s bad luck,” she blurts out. “I’m really superstitious. I’m into that whole seven-years-of-bad-luck-with-broken mirrors or no-black-cat-crossing-me kind of stuff.”

It’s possibly the last thing you’d expect coming from a celebrity right on the cusp of Gen Y and Z (to think I was more worried about diva tantrums over wardrobe, which didn’t quite happen, but more on this later). This is in light of her rebel-cool persona and brazen music.

The London-born and -based performer often describes her songs as “dark pop” – catchy, dancey, progressive pop tunes turbo charged with raw, tell-itlike-it-is lyrics big on attitude. One just needs to listen to her hit singles Hotter Than Hell (I’m the realest it gets/You’d probably still adore me/With my hands around your neck), and that up-yours rouser Blow Your Mind (Mwah) (If we don’t f*** this whole thing up/Guaranteed I can blow your mind) to get the drift.