Dua Lipa wants to turn this year's Glastonbury into a nightclub

Talk about an upgrade. When Dua Lipa headlines Glastonbury this June, it will be her first appearance at Worthy Farm since playing the cramped John Peel stage in 2017.

At the time, it was the biggest crowd she'd ever played to. People spilled out of the tent into the surrounding fields.

Straight after the performance, she bounced off the stage into an interview with the BBC.

But as she sat down, she winced.

“I’ve done myself an injury," she confessed. "I mashed my tailbone.”

It was an aggravation of an old injury, caused by the whiplash intensity of her dancing.

“I was doing all sorts of crazy stuff and when I got off stage, I could barely walk,” she admitted.

Despite the pain, she was ecstatic. The gig felt like "a massive step up”.

At that point, Dua Lipa was not yet Dua Lipa: The globe-conquering, Brit Award-winning, pandemic-soundtracking, Barbie-starring purveyor of glossy disco pop.

But one month later, she released the pastel-hued video for New Rules, and her career changed overnight.

A number one in the UK, and her first hit in the US, the song's message of female solidarity propelled her into main pop-girl territory, after years of hustling behind the scenes.

Red flags
The song clocked up its three-billionth play on YouTube this January – just as Dua started ramping up the campaign for her highly anticipated third album, Radical Optimism.

It’s a record that sees her navigating life after a major break-up, and establishing new New Rules to break a pattern of dating wrong ‘uns.

“Before, I would see a red flag and be like, ‘Oh, how beautiful’,” she laughs.

“It could be anything: One sly, demeaning comment that you brush off… and then you realise it's a pattern.

“I’ve learned to not kid myself.”

Those lessons permeate the album’s punchy, keyed-up dance anthems. On the singles Training Season and Houdini, she vets prospective partners, and shows the door to anyone who falls below her standards.

The lyrics were inspired by a string of bad dates she endured after coming out of a two-year relationship with Anwar Hadid (brother of Bella and Gigi Hadid).

But how does dating work for someone at Dua Lipa’s level of fame? Are people intimidated to ask her out?

“I don't know if people feel free to approach me,” Dua muses. “Maybe?

“Dating apps, for me, I don't think would work. They might think they’re being catfished.

“I like to go on a friend’s recommendation. It makes it easier when they're vetted."

The perfect date
When a match is made, her expectations for a first date are charmingly unstarry.

“I like a walk in the park," she says.

"You can chat and walk and get to know someone. No frills. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.

“Having a good conversation is the best thing. That's how you see if you gel, if there's a spark.”

For now, at least, that's not a concern. Dua has been in a relationship with British actor Callum Turner since the beginning of the year.

And her personal life will have to take a back seat as she gears up for a busy summer.

Radical Optimism is released on Friday, with Dua hosting and singing on Saturday Night Live a day later (the last British artist invited to do that was Harry Styles).

In addition, she’s got her podcast series, the weekly arts and culture newsletter Service95, and an upcoming Disney documentary series about Camden’s music scene, which she executive produced.

But looming over everything is Dua’s return to Glastonbury. This time on the Pyramid Stage.

“I think about it all the time,” she says.

“Fifty per cent of my thoughts go to Glastonbury, then the rest are for everyday tasks.”

Her journey to the top of the bill is a story of aspiration, setbacks and tenacity that goes right back to childhood.

Dua was born in London in 1995, about three years after her parents, Dukagjin and Anesa, emigrated from Kosovo, having witnessed the beginnings of what would become the Balkan wars.

A natural performer, Dua’s enthusiasm was thwarted by her primary school music teacher, who put her through a humiliating public audition in front of the whole school.z z z z z z z z z z z

“He started playing the piano and I’m trying to hit this high note, and nothing comes out. Literally just air,” she recalls.

“Everyone in assembly laughed. I was so embarrassed. It was a big moment for me in my life.”

Salvation came at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, where the young Dua Lipa enrolled as a weekend student.

There, she was taken under the wing of singing tutor Ray Lamb. Recognising that her voice skewed towards the lower end of the mezzo-soprano range, he instantly removed her from the junior choir and put her in with the teens.

She was “mortified” to be singing next to children who were twice her height, but says Ray “helped me build my confidence”.

“He was the toughest one, the scariest one, but really soft, deep down. And when he told you that you were good, you had a real sense of validation. He was the teacher that really made me feel I had something.”