On February 21st, Dua Lipa picked up two awards, for Best British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act, at the 2018 Brit Awards. She already had the accolade of being the first female artist to be nominated for five awards in one year. Her debut, self-titled album is addictive. Tracks like “Be The One”, “Hotter Than Hell” and “Blow Your Mind” have been songs I regularly revisit since I first heard about her in late 2016. In 2017, those tracks plus more were part of the delayed debut. And one of the newer songs she worked in, “New Rules”, has become a massive smash. (I’m particularly fond of the “Initial Talk ’80s Rules Remix of that song.)
I have been lucky enough to catch Lipa perform several times including at her November 2016 taping for MTV’s Setlist show (I forget when it aired but I never saw it anyways), at Governors Ball Music Festival in the summer of 2017 and again at her headlining Hammerstein Ballroom show in fall 2017 the day after Thanksgiving. Last month, as the Grammys were coming to NYC, Lipa was in town and booked for a set at the Mastercard House (a free series of shows) on January 27, 2018. I caught St. Vincent’s set there on the first night of the series and went again for only a portion of Lipa’s set because I was photographing The Pink Room Burlesqeue’s Miss Twin Peaks Pageant at Joe’s Pub. So I missed seeing her perform “New Rules” but what I saw was still plenty fun. Check out photos below.
