This interview appeared in the May 2024 issue of GAY TIMES.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TYRONE LEBON

“I saw a rainbow the other day,” Dua Lipa, ally, shares with GAY TIMES. Although the radical optimist didn’t immediately associate the multicoloured-arc-formed-by-light-striking-water-droplets with the alphabet mafia (sacrilege, really), we’ll let her off: she’s been an avid supporter of the LGBT’s since her 2016 synthpop debut ‘New Love’, performing at Heaven in her “first-ever London shows” and proudly flying the flag with performances at Pride. More recently, Dua has showcased her unrivalled painting prowess with Trixie Mattel, defended her “Vacanza Queen” title on Las Culturistas and paid homage to “Dula Peep” on SNL, all of which has officially solidified her place as an icon for the queers and, of course, a “mother”.

“It’s so important to me that the gays love it,” Dua says, smiling, of her newly released third album. The follow-up to her self-titled debut (2017) and seminal sophomore album Future Nostalgia (2020) – both of which are the most streamed albums by a female artist on Spotify, by the way – Radical Optimism is an 11-track collection of sun-drenched earworms that incorporate elements of psychedelia (‘Houdini’), disco (‘Training Season’), house (‘Illusion’) and funk (‘Whatcha Doing’). The album is Dua’s way of combating “chaos gracefully and feeling like you can weather any storm” – and, naturally, she wants the gays to groove, dance the night away or whatever: “I do think about everyone who’s listening to it in the clubs – at Heaven! – and dancing like, ‘I want to give everyone the best experience possible.’”

With the release of Radical Optimism and her Glastonbury headline slot approaching – which she describes as the “biggest show” of her career (and “life”) – GAY TIMES visited Dua in Shoreditch to discuss the ‘experimental’ sounds of her third album, which non-single will resonate the most with the gays and her coveted status as one of Drag Race’s most lip-synced artists. Without further aDua…

I was tempted to wear my Dua Lipa t-shirt today. Would that have been weird? Freaked you out?

You would’ve never freaked me out. I’d have been very chuffed. But, I’m glad you have one in your wardrobe.

It was from the ‘Houdini’ music video premiere.

I love that. The one with the tongue?

The one with the tongue. As a massive pop music fan, watching that music video on the big screen with fellow fans was pure euphoria.

When I saw it that big I was like, ‘Fucking hell!’ And you know the room we were in was where we filmed it?