Dua Lipa says new album was inspired by Gorillaz and U.K. Rave Culture

Dua Lipa says her forthcoming album is a “psychedelic-pop-infused tribute to U.K. rave culture” inspired by several notable artists

Dua Lipa recently revealed that her forthcoming album will be filled with “psychedelic-pop elements”, inspired by music greats such as the Gorillaz and Massive Attack.

Dua Lipa was recently a guest of the Rolling Stone magazine for an interview. During the uplifting and informative interview with Brittany Spanos, she talked about how she was inspired by many musical greats while working on her upcoming album. Here she highlighted names such as Massive Attack and Primal Scream. But she also mentioned others like Gorillaz, Moby, Oasis, and Blur.

“While all other songs on the album are quite distinct, they share an overarching psychedelic vibe”, said Dua Lipa. As an example, she noted Houdini, which follows this sound design. The example track, “Houdini”, which is the first song from the album was released in November 2023 and was produced by Kevin Parker and Danny L Harle with Dua on vocals. In 2022 Dua Lipa collaborated with Grammy-winning Scottish producer Calvin Harris, who recently took his 14th single to the Billboard Dance charts. This collaboration was “Potion”, on which Young Thug also worked, and the track was also featured on Calvin Harris’ “Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2” LP.

Danny L Harle (who also helped on New Rules), who collaborated on the first single, said “Dua likes going to a rave”. To which Dua Lipa, justifying the statement, responded “I love being on the dance floor, and being the first on the dance floor if nobody else is dancing”. So the fact that she is inspired by UK rave culture for her next album couldn’t be better confirmed than by working with Harle. Harle has been an absolute presence in the UK rave culture since the beginning of his career, his sound is known simply as “Harlecore”.