All language subtitles for Song Exploder 2020 S2E01

Maybe at some point in my career, I'll
be able to play a character and come up

with scenarios that allude somewhat to
my life that maybe aren't completely

true.

But I have to write from things that I
know.

The only way that I can truly express
myself and truly get a song that's very

honest and real.

And so, for as long as I have stories,
then I'll be telling them.

Dua Lipa is a singer and songwriter from
London who started her music career

when she was still a teenager.

In 2018, she won the Brit Award for
British Female Solo Artist, and the next

year, she won the Grammy for Best New
Artist, and her debut album went

For her second album, Future Nostalgia,
she brought back collaborators she'd

worked with before to help her create a
set of songs that looked back at where

she'd come from and looked forward to
where she was headed.

But with the song Love Again, the
inspiration began with how she was

right at that moment.

I'm Rishi Keshe, your way.

This is Song Exploder.

Okay, well, we're rolling.

Oh, yeah? Yeah, we're ready to go.

Let's go. Okay.

Can you tell me about the day that you
began working on this track?

I was going through, like, a bunch of,
like, personal shit. I don't know if I

can swear on this.

I was going through a bunch of personal
shit.

I was, like, running late and such a
kerfuffle, and I just got into the

and I was like, okay, maybe, you know,
some things need to end and I need to

manifest a new positive energy in my
life.

And does it sound like I'm talking in
code? Because I'm clearly talking about

relationship and I'm talking about love.

I was at a point in the long -term
relationship with

someone who I guess was quite dishonest
with me. And I was like, I need to

release from this and this isn't, like,
healthy for me.

I see myself as such a strong woman.

But there were so many moments where I
found myself in positions where I didn't

even recognize myself.

When you're with someone and the
relationship is so close and you're

for so long and then it's done, it's
like, this is going to be impossible for

to find or get to a space where I can
say I'm in love again.

And it felt like she had lost her power.

Coffee is an amazing songwriter who I've
worked with since I've really started

writing songs.

Coffee is like my spiritual guiding
light. We've always been there for each

other, especially when there's like
crazy love situations involved.

She's family to me, so she was
definitely going through some personal

and she really wanted to express it.

Coffee is like, you know, maybe we need
to start putting that into a song.

It all just kind of spilled itself out
into the room.

I went in early that morning and, like,
we hadn't really gotten anything the

last couple days, and I was just like, I
was like, man, we need to get something

cool.

Carl's is always, like, my number one
man that I love to have in the studio.

I feel like we always nailed the idea of
what the record was going to sound like

together. And then we bring the bridge
twice around, which I love. We'd been

talking about trying to get some stuff
that was a bit old.

She's just a cosmic duck.

Jamiroquai, Prince.

Blondie. A lot of my childhood
influences are really songs and music

parents listened to.

I wanted to play on that feeling and
create something with like a fresh,

twist. I was like, I wonder if I could
try and create a record.

that builds on that memory, and I can
make people feel what I feel every time

that I hit it, like Cosmic Girl by
Jamiroquai.

I started playing with all the analog
synths, and they kind of came up with

chord progression.

It was pretty rudimentary.

And then the guitar riff on top, and
then just the drum break throughout the

song.

This is like kind of our initial track
and how it all began.

And then my guitar.

Every time I work with Chelsea, songs
always start on a guitar.

And Chelsea's so funny. She's like, come
on, mate, let's do this song and go

have a pint down at the pub.

But more in a Liverpudlian accent.

I'll just knock him when...

I mean, for me, I'm like, any chance for
this to get a drink? I'm like, come on,

let's go and have a break.

I came into the session, and they were
just like mucking about on the guitar,

and they were just going, hot damn,
think I'm in love.

But hot damn, you got me in love again.

I don't remember why we said it, but I
know she quick, do it quickly, quickly.

She was like, no, we're not doing hot
damn.

I was like, we got to lose the hot damn.

I was like, I can't be that. She's like,
no, fam.

No, no.

It's goddamn.

But goddamn, you got me in love again.
Yeah, I think so. I love the new verse.

My respect and my love for Dua comes
from the fact that she is a boss bitch.

All right, let's do this.

She's completely in control.

Show me.

She's not closed off at all.

For me, I love that energy.

You know, when you know people and
people that you feel comfortable around,

I can be honest and talk about things
that are very personal to me.

And I know it won't leave those four
walls unless it's in the form of a song.

And then goes middle eight and then kind
of that post comes back.

Dua's always going to come from a place
of honesty.

She does wear her heart on her sleeve,
so to speak. It's a confusing one, but I

love it. You've got me in love again.
Like, everyone feels that. You know, you

have a breakup.

You know, you think, oh, I'll never feel
that way again. We started the song and

the conversation was the song.

It was about, got me in love again in
moments when I felt like I couldn't even

be myself.

I didn't know whether I was talking to
myself, whether I was talking to someone

else, but it was just very much an
invitation. I thought that if I write

it, it might just happen.

But I guess to begin with, we had one
verse.

I never thought that I would find a way
out.

I never thought I'd hear my heartbeat
blow out.

I can't believe there's nothing left in
my chest. And then it went into, I can't

believe I finally found someone.

I can't believe, I can't believe I
finally found someone.

I'll sink my teeth in disbelief.

You got me in love again.

And I immediately knew I wanted to put
it on the record. But it wasn't in your

classic song format, which is like
verse, pre, hook, verse,

pre, hook, middle, eight, hook, you
know?

It was all kind of jumbled up, but it
felt good at the time. And I was like,

maybe it doesn't need to be in that
format, you know?

Fuck it.

I was reading the Studio 54 book at the
time, and...

I was picturing back to the dawn of
summer, where it had all the drama off

top of the song. It kind of builds and
builds, and it has a lot of those do -do

-do -do -do, and it goes into the song.

So luckily, my neighbor is an amazing
violinist and an all -around good guy,

Drew Jureka.

Coz sent me a version with strings.

I was like, oh my God, it's so dramatic,
and I love it.

Strings give a song such a richness.
There's so much elegance behind it that

when you're about to get into such a
funk -driven song, it's almost

It felt like it would be a great moment
on the record, you know.

I was like, okay, this is perfect.

This is really fun.

But it still needed a little bit of
work, but I couldn't quite tell what it

It's actually pretty tough. Yeah. We
were sitting around the studio one night

and coffee started singing that riff
over top of it, right? Like...

It's like Star Wars or

something.

It's a 1930s trumpet track by Al Bowley.

The sample, classic.

Classic. It's a bit haunted. Yeah. Like,
that's what I loved about it. Bit of

eerie, kind of spooky.

I loved it. I was like, OK, we should
put it in. I was just like, oh, that

like a glove.

It's a great idea to go, hey, oh, we'll
throw a sample in the song after the

fact. But the song is a completely
different key.

So when you just put it in the song, it
doesn't really work because it sounds

completely out of tune, right?

It was such a nightmare to put that in
the song, like, to actually make it

I just tried every different pitch
correction thing.

I was just pulling my hair out. I was
like, oh, my God.

But eventually I made it work.

The sample was actually used in 1997 by
Whitetown on their song,

Your Woman.

Such a great sample.

It takes me to two different eras.

I'm like the 20s, 30s, glamour, Art Deco
kind of thing.

Then also like kind of 90s, slacker
vibe.

I love when music constantly reinvents
itself.

So the song was done, but I think we did
spend quite some time trying to get the

structure of it right.

This song in particular was not obvious.
We're changing the arrangements right

up to the final mix.

Putting this here, putting that there.

It's hard because this is a weird one.
This is one of those ones where the

are quite undefined. Do you know what I
mean?

Well,

when we wrote them, they were always
just parts.

I was just like, I don't know.

For some reason, I had this crazy idea.
I was like, you know, maybe we should

just completely rejig it and do, I can't
believe, I can't believe. I was like,

why doesn't that become our chorus?

And for a second, I was like, this is
going to be great. This is going to be

amazing. There were so many versions,
and she'd be like, I'll put it back to

demo, you know?

I was so adamant that was going to work,
and I was like, just let me live with

it, let me live with it. And after,
like, three days, I called him back,

no, this is definitely not going to
work.

So many nights my tears fell harder than
rain Scared I would take my broken

heart to the grave I'd rather die than
have to live in a storm like before But

goddamn, you got me in love again

for my first record.

I felt like the easiest thing for me to
do was draw from bad feelings or things

that made me upset.

Moody.

Moody as fuck, mate.

So when I first started writing, I was
like, okay, well, Heartbreak, I can

about that.

But I never wanted to just write ballads
or slow songs or just, like, cry or

whatever. I love dancing.

And so it was kind of like putting the
two together, which then I was like, all

right, a dance crying.

The future nostalgia idea.

He wanted it to feel like two worlds
blending together, kind of sad but

at the same time.

I think that's got a lot to do with my
upbringing and feeling like I belong in

two places, but also at the same time,
nowhere at all.

I moved around so much.

Born and raised in London, I moved to
Kosovo at the age of 11 and then back to

London when I was 15.

And I'm so grateful for my dual
nationality.

It's probably why I'm so obsessed with
juxtaposition and duality.

Making happy sad songs or dance crying
songs.

I thrive the most when I'm playing with
two emotions at the same time.

Where did you record your vocals?

I did my vocals at Rack Studio in
London.

So we will start at the very beginning.

I went in with my vocal producer, Lorna.

Mary Poppins queen.

Mary Poppins queen. She helps me
visualize emotion.

So there are certain parts, although
they're sad, she's like, sing it with a

smile.

Yes.

Can you hear the smile in your voice? I
can hear the smile because the god damn

is more like god damn.

So the smile helps you get to that
point.

Dua has the most amazing timbre.

It's just so instantly recognizable.

It's just so deep, you know, and I love
when it gets high, too, because it just

breaks up.

It's not too nice. It's not a perfect
pop voice, but it is a perfect pop

My talking voice, even in, like, little
kids' videos, it's almost like I smoked

cigarettes my whole life.

I'm just, like, from a kid.

When I was about nine years old, I would
go to a theatre school every Saturday.

My singing teacher was like, well, your
voice is really low.

You know, as a kid, sometimes you'd get
bullied or picked on or man -voiced or

whatever, but that was fun and it made
me stronger.

Have I ever met somebody like you?
That's the trifecta. You can hear a

bit of Chelsea's voice. You can hear a
bit of coffee.

You got me in love again. It's always
great to sprinkle vocals in there. You

me in love again. And again. And again.
And again.

And again. Oh, my God. It's what makes
the song so special.

There's a lyric in there.

I sink my teeth in disbelief.

I sink my teeth in disbelief because
you're the one that I want.

I felt so many emotions at that point
that I really felt like I was taking a

bite. It was so visual for me, almost
like the crust of the universe. And I

like, this is so tasty and I can really
feel everything and every emotion in my

body was like ringing.

I describe moments before I go on stage,
almost like that.

because you're so excited and you just
can't wait to go out and you're almost

like so nervous that you might be sick.

So fun and it's like that whole rush of
adrenaline.

Coffee and Chelsea were a little bit
questioning me on my decision for this.

can't remember exactly who was fighting
against this line.

But yeah, Dua fought really hard for
that line.

I was like, well, I'm really sorry.

I don't know if you love it. I don't
know if you hate it. But this is one

that I have to keep because it was just
a feeling.

And when Dua hears something that like
gives her that feeling.

Dude was going to go with it.

Right at the end of the bridge, we
added, like, two extra beats.

We wanted to build that moment where you
could, like, suck the energy out.

And then have that big string run back
in.

And let it explode again. That dramatic
hit.

What about the drama, babe?

I think that's one of the cool things
about working with Dua is you're allowed

to do that.

It's a pop project with real, you know,
artistic ambition.

Can you tell me about these vocals?

The last thing I kind of do on tracks is
ad -libs.

Again and again and again and again and
again.

Sometimes I get nervous because I'm
like, oh, I'm going to go off pitch.

I get scared to just like let my voice
go. But when I'm in the booth, I've got

the headphones in and you've got all
that reverb. It's just like you're in a

school bathroom and you're just like,
wow, acoustics are amazing in here. And

whatever you sing will sound great. You
got me in love again, again.

Having written this song, do you think
that it ended up serving a purpose in

your life beyond the context of music?

For me to be able to go into the studio
and be that vulnerable and open up about

that experience was hard in itself.

But I felt so much strength in myself
that I was able to use music in a way to

aid me to feel better.

This was a moment in my life that I
thought that I could never break out of.

I feel like during the whole process of
creating this song, I went through so

many different chapters in my life. I
learned so much about myself.

It was important for me to be able to
put it down onto paper and tell myself

things that I needed to hear.

Find, like, the dance in me when I
thought that I could never dance again.

It's finally finding that person,
that... seeing that moment in your life

fills you with so much pride and
strength and confidence that you're

do this.

I'm finally, I'm in love again.

It's all those endorphins, that
excitement, the butterflies.

And Love Again is very much a testament
to the strength and the fire that I feel

like I had that needed to be found
again.

And for that, I'm really grateful.

And now, here's Love Again by Dua Lipa
in its entirety.

I never thought that I would find a way
out.

I never thought I'd have my heart beat
so loud.

I can't believe there's something left
in my chest anymore.

But God damn, you got me in love again.
I used to think that I was made out of

stone. I used to spend so many nights on
my own.

I never knew I had it in me to dance
anymore.

But goddamn, you got me in love again.

Show me the heavens right here, baby.

Touch me so I know I'm not crazy. Never
have I ever met somebody like

you. Used to be afraid of loving what it
might do.

But goddamn, you got me in love again.

You got me in love again.

You got me in love again.

You got me in love again.

Again.

So many nights my tears fell harder than
rain.

Scared I would take my broken heart to
the grave.

I'd rather die than have to live in a
storm like before.

But goddamn, you got me in love again.

Show me the heavens right here, baby.

Touch me so I know I'm not crazy.

Never have I ever met somebody like you.

Used to be afraid of what it might do.

But goddamn.

You can't

would find a way out i never thought i'd
hear my heart beat so loud i

can't believe there's something left in
my chest anymore but god damn you

got me