Radical Optimism came out on the 3rd of May 2024, four years after her previous album, Future Nostalgia.

Radical Optimism was her third studio album, and the critical acclaim was backed up by huge record sales. It entered the UK charts at Number One, and topped charts all over the world. It is a record on which she took some risks, with more complex sounds and production – but it still kept that feel-good pop freedom at its core. It’s a bouncy, energetic album that was a huge hit with fans.

Where do we start?! Perhaps, we should start with a song that isn’t Dua Lipa’s…? She first burst on the scene in the UK charts when she featured on Sean Paul’s song, No Lie, in 2016. It reached the UK top 10, and was the first time that we really became aware of her (she had already had some chart success in Europe, Australia and New Zealand before this though).

New Rules was the song that really established her in this country though. It’s just an absolute banger, made it to Number One (the first solo female artist to do so since Adele two years earlier), and it was the first of her tracks to really cut through.

Then there’s Don’t Start Now, a dance classic that you can’t help but enjoy, and of course the global smash hit Levitating – featuring DaBaby – in 2020. The upbeat antidote to the difficult circumstances the world found itself in.

And what about Cold Heart? The unexpected collaboration with Elton John which became Lipa’s biggest hit in the UK (so far), spending six weeks at number one.

Recently, Houdini, from 2023, has received rave reviews from critics and fans alike – a psychedelic-pop masterpiece.

Errr… Yes! In terms of nominations, she has 16 Brit nominations, ten for the Grammys and seven NME awards. Her first major award was in 2017 when she won the British Breakthrough Act award at the Brits (she’s won another six Brits since!).

Her first Grammy was won in 2019 (Best New Artist), the same year that she won Best Dance Recording for Electricity. In 2021 she won Best Pop Vocal Album for Future Nostalgia. In 2020 she broke the Guinness World Record for “Most tickets sold for a live-streamed concert by a solo female artist” – a record you can’t imagine will be broken any time soon (global pandemics notwithstanding).

We’re just scratching the surface here, she’s won all kinds of awards all over the world – MTV VMAs, Vogue Woman of the Year awards, YouTube Creator Awards, Latin American Music Awards. The eclectic mix of accolades highlights just how her music translates all over the world.

Dua Lipa has always been around music. Her father was the lead singer of a Kosovan rock band called Oda, and he would play music at home for her – everything from David Bowie and Bob Dylan to Radiohead and the Stereophonics.

She went to school in London, and took music lessons there, including learning the cello. However, she didn’t get in the school choir, as she was told she couldn’t sing… There’s a lesson there about perseverance. She took singing lessons from the age of nine, and when her family moved to Pristina, back in Kosovo, her love of music grew even more.

Aged 15, she moved back to London to do A-Levels, and from there she attended a Theatre school part time. She started uploading videos of herself covering songs from artists like Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera – and she started getting noticed. She was modelling for Topshop at the same time, and got an acting job for an advert for The X Factor, in which she played a singer… her first taste of fame. From there she got a manager and a producer. She was up and running.

She was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar (not a joke), when she signed a record deal with Warner Bros. in 2014. She started releasing music in 2015, mainly in Europe. She had number one hits in Slovakia, Poland and Belgium. She was spotted by DJs at the BBC as well, appearing on the long list of artists to watch in 2016. From there, everything took off.

If you are lucky enough to get Dua Lipa tickets you can expect a night of unrelenting fun. Yes, Dua Lipa is cool, and yes, Dua Lipa’s song writing touches on serious and emotional subjects, but that’s all packaged in a show that is unashamedly focused on making sure every person in the venue has an amazing time.

Expect confetti cannons, lasers, a catwalk, a stage suspended in the air, dances and a set list packed full of catchy dance numbers that will get the audience on their feet and moving. If the Future Nostalgia Tour was anything to go by, you’ll be in for a treat.