After her original Tiny Desk performance, on 25th October, the gorgeous and iconic singer Dua Lipa hosted a proper Tiny Desk concert at the NPR office in Washington.
When you’re already number one you can take some chances. Secure that her 2020 pandemic home NPR Tiny Desk concert still holds the record for the most-seen Tiny Desk ever with more than 130 million views, Dua Lipa was back in the crowded public radio offices on Friday (Oct. 25) when her second stripped-down show highlight tracks from this year’s Radical Optimism album after four years since her original Tiny Desk concert. Speaking to NPR’s Ari Shapiro in an interview before the four-song episode dropped, Dua explained that she flipped the up-tempo album track ‘Happy For You’ into a stripped-down piano and voice ballad that represented the song in its ‘purest form,’ stripped of the bubbling electronic production.
‘It is what it is in the moment, and I think you just feel that song differently,’ she said. ‘You listen to the lyrics in a different way, and it was really fun to think about it and take it back to the basics.’ The mini-concert opens with an unplugged, meditative take on ‘Training Season,’ highlighted by acoustic guitar and electric piano and a gently thrumming bass and angelic backing vocals before the singer’s seven-person band picks up the pace and (gently) rocks the office with a jazz-pop take on the Radical Optimism single. ‘I’ve always wanted to come down and be by the desk,’ a smiling Dua told the assembled NPR staffers.
‘We did an at-home Tiny Desk in 2020, so this feels really, really special,’ she added, cheekily wondering if anyone had seen that little record-setting show. She then slipped into the chilled-out ‘These Walls’ before setting up ‘Happy For You’ by saying she’s always been inspired by the way artists reimagine their songs for the series. This is why she also switched up the arrangement for the song about her being happy that her ex has a new girlfriend, swapping the original’s wistful pop-dance vibe for a skeletal, emotion-forward keyboard and voice arrangement that brought new poignancy to the wish-you-the-best lyrics.
‘I’ve always wanted to come down and be by the desk,’ Lipa said in between songs. ‘I’ve loved watching ‘Tiny Desks,’ and I love the way that artists come in and reimagine their songs and their music, and it’s always really inspiring.’ Watch Dua Lipa’s Tiny Desk Concert below. In addition to stopping by the NPR office, Dua Lipa just capped off a busy couple of weeks in the United States. She headlined both weekends of the Austin City Limits festival in Texas this month and performed ‘Believe’ alongside Cher for the latter’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction last week. Meanwhile, Lipa is gearing up for a run of shows in Asia next month and will celebrate 2025 with even more tour dates. The ‘Radical Optimism Tour’ hits the US next fall.
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