The freeze of the mainstream – mostly the domination of sad pop – is finally breaking free. Courtesy of pop’s brightest upstart Dua Lip, radio is becoming fun again. On her new song “Don’t Start Now,” she mingles her “New Rules” swagger with glittering throwback disco and offers a real, unfiltered charmer.
“Did the heartbreak change me? Maybe / But look at where I ended up,” she sings. The musical flamboyance is worthy of Donna Summer as filtered through a Madonna lense and Lipa’s own shimmering magic. “I’m all good already / So moved on, it’s scary / I’m not where you left me at all, so…” she coos on the pre-hook. Then, the groove drops even more, and she sheds the heartbreak that once took her hostage and takes a spin on the dance floor.
Everyone has a myriad of influences that are innate to their work, but Dua Lipa manages to fuse the past in calculated drops as to never distract from her own totally bomb aesthetic. “Don’t Start Now” is a co-write with Emily Warren (Shawn Mendes, The Chainsmokers), Caroline Ailin (who lent her gifts to the No. 1 smash “New Rules”) and Ian Kirkpatrick (Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez), who also acts as producer here.
The song serves as the first taste of Dua Lipa’s second album. Will she have a slump?
Listen to “Don’t Start Now” below.