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Tag: Dua Lipa Madonna

  • Barcelona Baby: Dua Lipa Channels Numerous Pop Girls in Video for “Illusion”

    Barcelona Baby: Dua Lipa Channels Numerous Pop Girls in Video for “Illusion”

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    As Dua Lipa continues to build the anticipation for her long-awaited third album, Radical Optimism, she’s already brought us a third single in the wake of “Houdini” and “Training Season.” The theme of “Illusion,” as it’s called (and in keeping with a title like “Houdini”), is more closely aligned to the one in “Training Season,” with Lipa telling off any man trying to spin some false yarn. In order to help convey that message in visual form is the always impressive Tanu Muino, who has increasingly branched out into collaborating with American musicians in lieu of the Ukrainian ones she started out working for. In fact, it was, of all things, a Katy Perry video (2019’s “Small Talk”) that signaled her transition to working with some of the biggest names in American pop and hip hop/R&B music (including Cardi B [“Up”], Normani [“Wild Side”], Lil Nas X [“Montero”] and Doja Cat [“Attention”]). 

    Dua Lipa only adds to that growing list and, together, her and Muino bring one of their most elaborate music video concepts yet—one that relies on the sumptuous, intoxicating backdrop of Barcelona. Indeed, it’s as though Lipa is beckoning us to join her in “summer mode” despite many locations still being hopelessly trapped in winter mode (spring season or not). And yes, it’s apparent that Radical Optimism is vying for “album of the summer” status, not just with its release date (May 3rd), but its water-filled album cover (featuring Lipa casually swimming near/toward a shark, presented in the Jaws manner of protruding fin only). “Illusion,” too, is water-filled, thanks to being filmed at the Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc. Known for hosting major sporting events, including the 1992 Olympics, the pool’s location on the Montjuïc hill is what affords it such a glorious panoramic view of the city, complete with Gaudí’s Sagrada Família in the background. A feature that Kylie Minogue opted to exclude from her 2003 “Slow” video, during which she also relished the cinematic potential of the location, albeit solely with overhead shots of her writhing seductively around in an orgiastic heap with all the other poolside loungers on towels. Lipa, in this way, makes her first homage to a pop girl—except that she chooses to maximize the location much more than Minogue did. 

    This commences with Muino’s establishing shot of Lipa perched on the network of uniquely structured diving boards amid a sea of muscular men in matching attire (short blue shorts and white tank tops). As the men do various exercise-y poses, Lipa ascends one of the ladders while informing us, “I’ve been known to miss a red flag/I’ve been known to put my lover on a pedestal/In the end, those things just don’t last/And it’s time I take my rose-colored glasses off.” And yet, even if she’s taken them off with regard to her perception of her lover, the city of Barcelona can still be seen through rose-colored glasses even without any on. Drenched in that indelible Spanish sunlight, the cityscape steals the show almost as much as Lipa’s seemingly “Express Yourself”-inspired backup dancers. That’s right, it appears Lipa gives a stylistic nod to Madonna yet again (as she did in the “Houdini” video) with a setup that very much reminds of what M did in her David Fincher-directed masterpiece from 1989. Not to mention the scaffolding-style backdrop of Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted,” itself a recent inspiration for Ariana Grande’s “yes, and?” video. The aesthetic relationship between “Express Yourself” (which came out a month before Abdul’s single) isn’t a coincidence, what with Fincher having directed both. 

    Accordingly, each of those videos has plenty of mounting of/gyrating on industrial-looking “rigs” to help highlight the choreo. Of a nature that channels the exuberance Lipa is going for with the record as a whole, stating that she wanted to “capture the essence of youth and freedom and having fun.” The video does achieve that, even if the lyrics are indicative of someone who has been jaded by enough experience with relationships past. In fact, there is even an aura of the “Express Yourself” mantra in Lipa’s coming-of-age tone as she sings the defiant chorus, “Ooh, what you doin’?/Don’t know who you think that you’re confusin’/I be like, ooh, it’s amusin’/You think I’m gonna fall for an illusion.” This leads into her talking about how, at this juncture, she knows exactly what she wants, declaring, “Was a time when that shit might’ve worked/Was a time when I just threw a match and let it burn/Now I’m grown, I know what I deserve/I still like dancin’ with the lessons I already learned.” In other words, “Don’t go for second best, baby/Put your love to the test/You know, you know you’ve got to…” 

    But M isn’t the only pop girl Lipa conjures in “Illusion.” There’s also a clear-cut Britney Spears moment when Muino gives us an overhead shot of Lipa in the pool while lying on a floating circular object as she moves her arms up and down—in clear “Oops!…I Did It Again” fashion. For never was there a more iconic overhead shot of a pop princess lying on a circular ditty and moving her arms around than that. Spears might not have had a slew of synchronized swimmers around her while doing it, but the connection is still there. Plus, Muino is no stranger to orbiting Spears’ world, for she directed 2022’s “Hold Me Closer” (which shares many qualities with “Illusion” in that it wields a city’s—Mexico City’s—backdrop as a key character). Maybe that’s why there’s also echoes of the pool scenes from “Work Bitch,” wherein Britney stands on a circular platform in the center of the water as hammerhead sharks swim around her (this, too, perhaps some unwitting inspo for the Radical Optimism cover). 

    Talking of connections, there’s even one to Miley Cyrus when Lipa is lifted out of the water by the very “O” ring that previously encircled her, giving an immediate flash to the cover of Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation album. As the video starts to wrap up, a choreography breakdown in the 00s spirit of what someone like Lindsay Lohan did on the rooftop in the “Rumors” video occurs, with Lipa repeating, “I’d rather dance with the illusion”—than actually invest time in a full-blown, off-the-dancefloor relationship with the real, unvarnished version. Which always turns out to be so disappointing. 

    For one of her big finishes, Lipa mounts a “tower of men” (with some women peppered in between), making her way to the top for another overhead shot where she’s “chillin’ on a circle.” Obviously, it’s a metaphor for how she’s overcome all the necessary emotional obstacles to become secure and confident in knowing exactly what she wants—and what she doesn’t. As for the former, it definitely includes taking dips in Barcelona and repeating the mantra, “Dance all night, dance all night” (not so different from what she said in “Dance the Night”).

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • No Smoke, Just Mirrors: Dua Lipa Offers Up Some Madonna-Inspired Magic on “Houdini”

    No Smoke, Just Mirrors: Dua Lipa Offers Up Some Madonna-Inspired Magic on “Houdini”

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    By now, it’s not exactly “undercover” (despite any “spy movies” a certain pop star is about to be in [*cough cough* Argylle]) that Dua Lipa is heavily inspired by Madonna. Just as most pop stars are, and will likely continue to be whether they’re aware of it or not (such is the power of being a progenitor). For, as listeners already witnessed on her sophomore album, Future Nostalgia, Lipa went all in on emulating the disco-fied but modern sound that Madonna cultivated for 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor. She even went so far as to tap Madonna for a collaboration on a remix of “Levitating” for Club Future Nostalgia (the twenty-first century’s answer to You Can Dance…apart from Finally Enough Love). But now that Lipa has mastered the sound of Madonna’s mid-00s era, she appears determined to do the same for its aesthetic. 

    Enter the video for “Houdini,” the lead single from her forthcoming third album (the title of which has yet to be revealed). While Gen Z might not be aware of Harry Houdini’s renown as a master of “magic” (or even Madonna’s)—or, more to the point, escape artistry—they could be forced to look into it now thanks to Lipa’s analogy. One that she chooses to carry out within the confines of an empty dance studio à la, that’s right, Madonna in the “Hung Up” video. Directed by Emmanuel Cossu, Lipa’s visual accompaniment to “Houdini” starts out, as “Hung Up” does, with Lipa working out some moves in an empty dance studio, complete with a full-length mirror that serves as an entire wall. The opening notes to the song then immediately confirm that, yes, it’s produced by Tame Impala (a.k.a. Kevin Parker). Along with Danny L Harle of PC Music repute. So it is that Lipa wants us to know that, although she’s “veering away” from the 70s disco sound in favor of a 70s psychedelia one (which makes Tame Impala the perfect collaborator), she’s still very much in full Madonna Confessions on a Dance Floor mode. Even if it’s minus the hot pink leotard with coordinating sparkly purple belt. 

    Indeed, Lipa opts for more “sexy-comfortable chic” (think: a riff on what Sporty Spice was already doing) in dark blue track pants and a black mesh tank with a flesh-colored top underneath. The latter deliberately giving off the “is she topless?” vibe (Madonna, in contrast, never left that as a question mark during her Erotica era…or any era, for that matter). As she walks with sultry panache along the length of the mirror, Lipa’s reflection proceeds to do its own thing on the choreo front (and yes, the video’s choreography, Charm La’Donna [how coincidental that her last name rhymes with Madonna] is a key part of what makes it so captivating). Thus begins the “magic” (i.e., optical illusion) portion of the program that one would expect of a song with such a title. A brief “blackout” of the lights in the studio then allows for the “magic” of materialization, for that’s when a bevy of shirtless dancers subsequently appear all around Lipa in an orgiastic mise-en-scène. One that also mimics certain portions of the “Hung Up” video—specifically, when all of Madonna’s dancers are writhing around on and near each other in a club (one that also apparently has arcade game options, including the then-pervasive Dancing Stage Fusion…just an upgraded version of Dance Dance Revolution, really). 

    While Lipa never leaves the dance studio for any “slice of life” purposes, the undeniable visual connection between “Houdini” and “Hung Up” (oh, look at that—both songs start with an “H”) is further heightened by the lyrics themselves. For a start, that comes in the form of Lipa declaring, “Time is passin’ like a solar eclipse…/It’s your moment, baby/Don’t let it slip.” This is like her version of Madonna saying, “Time goes by so slowly for those who wait/No time to hesitate.”

    Additional similarities in the lyrical motifs also occur via Lipa’s own warning that she won’t stick around very long for someone who isn’t worthwhile. As manifest in the lines, “Tell me all the ways you need me/I’m not here for long/Catch me or I go Houdini/I come and I go/Prove you got the right to please me.” This not only mimics Madonna’s sentiments when she says, “I can’t keep on waiting for you/You’ll wake up one day/But it’ll be too late,” but also mirrors who she was as a person during her early days of trying to make it/“be somebody” in New York. A journey that was slightly more circuitous than Lipa’s, who had the “London advantage” of attending schools targeted specifically toward singing and acting. And clearly, all that education has paid off…as one can see by watching Lipa own the rehearsal studio. Whether or not the dancers she’s only seeing in the mirror are “actually there” or mere phantasms (how Black Swan) of a magical nature depends largely if one believes in magic in general, and hauntings in particular. 

    Appearing multiple times and in multiple ways throughout the video, the dancers (all sporting the same shade of red-hued hair as Lipa), at the zenith of the song’s musical breakdown, multiply in such a way as to give an “in da club” effect before Lipa is shown once again entirely alone in the studio. After all, half the work of being a creative person is having the imagination to envision how the final product will turn out once the necessary collaborators become involved. 

    The indelible images from both “Houdini” and “Hung Up” are the ones of each pop star watching themselves in the mirror as they perform (and, at one point, Lipa’s barrage of mirrored images become quite funhouse-y). As though that reflection they see is the performer self, while the one watching is the “mere mortal” self who yearns to be seen the same way (/live up to impossible expectations) the performer is by her fans.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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