Rubber band bass line? Check! Shimmery spandex retro-synths? Check! Hokey lyrics about the magic of dancefloor romance? Check! Dua Lipa fans can relax – she may have dumped her management, but new single “Houdini” shows the 28-year-old pop star’s tendon-twanging formula remains unchanged.
The track comes bubbling up from a cauldron of distortion, before Dua Lipa takes a breath, nods a brief “OK” and that elastic bass line snaps to attention. Its stomp and phrasing half-conjures the ghost of The Jackson’s 1980 hit, “Can you Feel It?”. Aptly titled, the song finds the singer in the role of a romantic escapologist (ie easily able to extricate herself from entanglements), throwing down the gauntlet to her latest mark. “Catch me ‘fore I go… Maybe you could be the one to make me stay?”
