Original subtitles

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