Dua Lipa has been an artist since the 2010s, but it has taken her so long to reach her current level of fame. Lipa is currently on her second arena tour. However, she is not what people would consider to be a “big” artist.
She has won Grammys, Brits, VMAs, AMAs, and more, but she still continues to stay off of people’s radar.
Lipa brought her “Radical Optimism World Tour” to Atlanta for two nights on September 13 and 14. This tour is one for her 2024 album of the same name, but she does include every song on the album in the tour setlist.
Lipa performed her recent and older hits such as, “Houdini,” “Be the One,” and “New Rules.” She also surprised the crowd with a cover of the Outkast classic, “Hey Ya.” Her vocals were powerful and consistent for the entire concert, which typically ranges from 90 minutes to 2 hours depending on the amount of crowd interaction.
Inside the venue was electric. There was not one unhappy person in sight, and the fans were all so kind with one another, while they anxiously waited for the phenomenal artist to step out.
Lipa’s stage design includes a mainstage with a grand staircase on it, a runway, and a circular stage area that is connected to the runway. During the show, the circular stage is attached to cords, and lifts Lipa up, not too high, so she can see her fans better. The lights were minimal for more intimate moments, but bright and rave-esque for the fun, upbeat numbers.
The crowd absolutely understood the assignment. The cheering was deafening, the dancing was contagious, and everyone was having the nights of their lives. There was a modest crowd in the general admission pit area, but not an empty seat in sight in the stands.
Quite the turnout for an artist no one thinks twice about.
The opener, Cil, got the party started with her “hot girl anthems,” belting her heart out as the crowd filed in. However, her outfit did not exactly match her vibe, and some say it should have been a bit more sparkly. There were no apparent technical issues, and in total, nothing with Lipa’s performance and technical execution fell short.
Taking all of this into consideration, one might think that Lipa would have the same fame and popularity as Taylor Swift. Both of the performers put on an amazing show, comparable to each other, so what is making Lipa plateau in her career?
She has gained more fame since her last album, “Future Nostalgia,” she has put out a song with the legendary Elton John, and she has sold out Royal Albert Hall. She is not finding the right audiences, and her fans are not spreading her artistry as much as other fan bases do for their respective artist.
There are not many people you come across claiming to be a Dua Lipa superfan. You will, however, come across superfans for Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and other pop girls in the current music industry. These fans carry their artist of choice to superstardom, and are part of the reason they may be so popular.
I am sure that there are some die-hard Dua Lipa stans out there. However, unlike other fan bases, they are not publicly declaring their love for her music. I have come across so many people claiming to be “Swiftie influencers” or “Arianator influencers” because they love the artist so dearly. They help raise popularity in these artists, whether they need it or not.
It is hard to call Lipa “underrated” because she has many songs with over a billion Spotify streams, an achievement only occurring every so often. Some say she has something called “radio music.” You do not choose to listen to her music, but if you were to hear it while listening to the radio, you would not immediately go to turn it off.
Lipa currently has 62.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, so it is clear that people are listening to her by choice, as well as on the radio. She is bigger than some of the biggest artists of all time at this point, and yet, where is the hype?
She has more monthly listeners than Katy Perry, Michael Jackson, and Miley Cyrus, and she is currently ranked 23rd in most monthly listeners. Top-25 in the world, many, many awards and accolades and still, no talk.
Maybe she is just too unproblematic, not a bad thing, or maybe people refuse to give her her flowers for some odd reason. Either way, Dua Lipa should be having her moment, and should be getting ten times the amount of talk and hype she currently is.