At each stop of her Radical Optimism tour, Dua Lipa has performed a cover of a song by an artist associated with the city or country where she’s performing, sometimes joined by a local artist. According to Variety, she’s done 56 such covers so far. Will they ever be officially released? Well, maybe.
In a chat with Variety, Dua says she got the idea to do the covers after she performed with country superstar Chris Stapleton at the ACM Awards in May 2024.
“It was so much fun that I proposed it to the band and to the team: ‘How fun would it be if every night we do a different song?'” she recalls. “And everyone was like, ‘Well that’s quite ambitious.'”
Dua says choosing the song is a “team effort” and learning all those songs is “nerve-wracking,” especially when she was touring in Europe and performed songs in French, German, Czech and other languages. She plans to do Spanish and Portuguese songs for the upcoming Latin American tour leg, as well.
Among the special guests who’ve joined her for some of those covers — a list that includes Green Day, Chaka Khan, Lionel Richie and Gwen Stefani — Dua says singing with Lenny Kravitz, who joined her in New York City for a rendition of his hit “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over,” was the most fun.
But when asked point-blank if she plans to release an album of the covers, Dua replies, “Um,” and then adds, in a fake foreign accent, “I cannot reveal the answer!”
She thinks she’s started a trend, though.
“I’m sure other people are going to be doing it after this,” she predicts. “It is really fun and really rewarding but it is a lot of f****** hard work, so good luck!”
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