"They don't want you to be political. They don't want you to be smart” popstar Dua Lipa said, earlier this year. But with her political statements calling for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza, and better rights for refugees from Europe, she’s determined to buck that trend. The chart-topping Londoner, 28, whose third album Radical Optimism is out this week ahead of headlining Glastonbury next month, is unusual within the current crop of top-tier popstars in that she doesn’t shy away from talking politics.
Three weeks into the Israeli invasion of Gaza last year, she signed an open letter to President Joe Biden and the U.S. Congress to push for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and the militant terror group Hamas. “I feel so bad for every Israeli life lost and what happened on Oct. 7,” she said in an interview later. She went on: “at the moment, what we have to look at is how many lives have been lost in Gaza…. There are just not enough world leaders that are taking a stand and speaking up about the humanitarian crisis that’s happening, the humanitarian cease-fire that has to happen.”
Lipa has also spoken in support of refugee rights. Her parents fled Kosovo in the early Nineties when the Bosnian war broke out, and all three of their children were born in the UK. “My existence is kind of political, the fact that I lived in London because my parents left from the war..." Lipa has said.
"No-one really wants to leave their home” she added. “They do it for protection, to save their family… for a better life”. When then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman singled out “Albanian criminals” mounting an “invasion” of the UK, Lipa hit back, calling the comments “shortsighted and small-minded”. “I always felt London was an amalgamation of cultures. It is integral to the city” she said.
Of course, Lipa’s music itself mostly shies away from making political statements – her catchy nu-disco bangers are largely designed to keep you moving. She makes her political statements carefully, too, such as through discussions in her book club, through her cultural hub Service 95, and in interviews or speeches.
Collecting a Brit Award on stage in 2021, Lipa dedicated it to British nurse Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, saying she’d had "a stellar nursing career fighting racial injustice" as well as "protecting frontline workers". The UK was still fighting the Covid pandemic, and Lipa added: "I think what we should do, is we should all give a massive, massive round of applause and give Boris [Johnson] a message that we all support a fair pay rise for our frontline”.
The position is markedly different to Taylor Swift, who also shies away from societal issues in her songs. During the Super Bowl this Spring, many felt Swift might endorse Joe Biden over Donald Trump after becoming more vocal about party politics in 2020’s documentary Miss Americana – but she didn’t.
American star Olivia Rodrigo is a major exception: she has actively campaigned on abortion issues in the US (she brought Lily Allen on at Glastonbury to sing F**k You in response to the Supreme court repealing Roe vs Wade in summer 2022, for instance, and partnered with the Fund 4 Good initiative to distribute free contraception on her recent US tour).
Robin Denselow, author of When the Music's Over: The Story of Political Pop, says that while smaller artists are still vocal about important causes, many big stars tend to avoid politics these days. “In the 1980s, which was the most political era for popstars, you knew who your audience were and they were going to agree with you” he says.
“Now it’s a much more of a crossover audience, and you’re likely to offend people on social media – the kickback can be much tougher,” he claims. Because record labels are “only interested in making money”, Denselow thinks that people such as PRs who advise stars are “more cautious… looking at what your audience are going to do and what's going to happen to you”.
And Lipa has faced serious pushback for her political views. She first spoke out for Palestinian rights when she was dating Anwar Hadid, brother of models Gigi and Bella, who are all of Palestinian origin. In response, in 2021, The New York Times ran a full-page ad from a US Rabbi, accusing Lipa and the Hadid sisters of antisemitism. She hit back condemning the organisation’s accusations, and later invited the newspaper’s editor Dean Baquet to discuss the decision to publish something that put her “in danger”.
“It’s probably easier to be apolitical,” she has said. “I think there’s no kind of deep discussion about war and oppression. It just is something that we’ve seen happen time and time again. I feel like just being a musician and posting about something doesn’t make enough of a difference, but hopefully, just showing solidarity, which is sometimes all you feel like you can do, is important.” Whether she will follow in the footsteps of previous headliner Stormzy and bring those politics to her Glastonbury set still remains to be seen.
