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She left her family at 14 – now she’s shattering records as an international popstar
When this megastar was only 14, she sat her parents down for a serious chat at the kitchen table.
The Albanian-English girl had moved with her family from London to Kosovo when she was 11 and starving for stardom, she begged her mom and dad to return to England, where she planned on becoming an international pop sensation.
Despite her parents being “terrified” of sending their girl on a solo adventure, the future superstar returned to London, the place that served as a launchpad for her stratospheric rise to stardom.
Keep reading to learn about this model-singer who continues to shatter records!
As an 11-year-old girl, Dua Lipa’s parents sat her down at the kitchen table in their London home and told the young girl that her father, Dukagjin, was offered a job in Kosovo, where her family lived until 1992, when they left as refugees.
“My best friends were all going to different schools,” said Lipa, who at the time was completing primary school. “And I told them, ‘Um, I’m going to Kosovo.’”
Over the next couple of years, Lipa lived in Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo, and spent her free time listening to American rap and catchy pop, oftentimes singing along and mashing the two genres of music.
When she was 14, she was ready to move on and find her place in the world.
‘A really good kid’
Summoning her parents for another kitchen table chat, Lipa told them that she wanted to return to London and “be in the place where things are happening.”
“I didn’t think I’d be able to do this on a global scale, living in Kosovo,” the 29-year-old star tells the Guardian.
After using the excuse that she wanted to go to a good British university, her parents agreed and sent their daughter off to London, where she would be watched by some friends.
Over the weekends in London, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School and started recording songs that she uploaded on YouTube and SoundCloud.
“I was a really good kid. I knew how terrified my parents were to let me do my thing. And I didn’t want to let them down, partly because I didn’t want them to move to London to look after me,” says the Grammy Award-winning singer, whose first name means “love” in Albanian. “And I felt confident. Self-assured. I had a good relationship with my parents. They trusted me.”
‘Eclipsed everyone’
In 2015, she dropped her debut single, “New Love,” a song she quickly followed with her next hit, “Be the One.”
Rolling out hit after hit, the ambitious young woman experienced a rapid rise in popularity, and she became a multiplatinum superstar.
“[Dua] has just eclipsed everyone,” said Ed Millett, the co-founder of London-based Tap, the music management company that oversees Lipa. Tap also manages stars like Lana Del Ray. “She has left everyone in her wake and that’s partly because she’s worked so hard and is always looking to improve. Every day she gets better which is why things have moved really quickly for her.”
Record-breaking career
Shattering records with her her distinctive voice with infectious beats, the “New Rules” singer continues to deliver chart-topping hits, engaging fans across the world.
In 2020, her song “Levitating” became the longest-charting Billboard 100 hit ever and the same year, her Thanksgiving weekend Studio 2054 livestream – a nod to New York’s short-lived Studio 54 Nightclub – also broke records with over 5 million views. She also broke the Guinness World Record for “the most tickets sold for a livestreamed concert by a solo female artist.”
And in 2023, the music sensation released “Dance the Night,” the lead single for the Barbie soundtrack, a film that she also made her acting debut as Mermaid Barbie.
Most Influential People
More recently, the “IDGAF” singer, who told Time in 2017 that she’d “like to take over the world,” was named one of Time’s Most Influential People in 2024.
“Since I was very little, I’ve jotted down things I dreamt for myself,” the English-Albanian singer and songwriter tells Time of “manifesting” her dreams. “I’ve always planned ahead. Although surprises arise that I evaluate in the moment, there’s always a long-term goal.”
One of the long-term goals she’s working on is to bring more artists to Kosovo and shattering the image that it’s a war-torn country.
“When people think about Kosovo, I don’t want them to be like, ‘Oh, war-torn Kosovo.’ There’s so much more to it,” says Lipa, who in 2022 was granted Albanian citizenship.
“We do a festival in Pristina, me and my dad, that’s about getting people from all over the world to come down and see how different it is to what they expect, whether that’s artists from all around the world, or fans that come in to see artists they love from neighboring countries.”
She adds, “I know when I was living in Kosovo, none of my favorite artists were coming there. It is my biggest dream to be able to bring that to the kids there.”
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