Song Exploder

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

but maybe aren't completely true.

But I have to write from things I know.

It's the only way 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 Platinum.

For her second album, Future Nostalgia ,

she brought back collaborators she'd worked with before

to create a song set 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 feeling right at that moment.

I'm Hrishikesh Hirway.

This is Song Exploder .

-Okay, well, we're rolling. -We are?

-We're ready to go. -Let's go.

So, okay…

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

I was going through, like, a bunch of personal shit.

I don't know if I can swear on this.

I was going through personal shit.

I was, like, running late and in such a kerfuffle,

and I just got into the studio, 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."

Does it sound like I'm talking in code?

Because I'm clearly talking about a relationship and about love.

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

someone who was 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 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 together so long and then it's done,

it's like this is going to be impossible for me to find or get to a space

where I can say, "I'm in love again."

And Dua 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 crazy love situations involved.

- -She's family to me, so…

She was definitely going through some personal things,

and she really wanted to express it.

Coffee was like, "Maybe we need to start putting that into a song."

-It just spilled itself out into the room. - Yeah.

I went in early that morning,

and we hadn't really gotten anything the last couple days.

I said, "We need to get something cool."

Koz is always, like, my number-one man

that I love to have in the studio.

I feel we nailed the idea of what the record would sound like together.

And then we bring the bridge twice round, which I love.

We'd been talking about getting stuff that was a bit old.

Jamiroquai, Prince, Blondie…

A lot of my childhood influences are really songs and music

that my parents listened to.

I wanted to play on that feeling and create something

with, like, a fresh modern twist.

I was like, "Could I create a record

that builds on that memory, and I can make people feel

what I feel every time that I hear, like, 'Cosmic Girl' by Jamiroquai."

I started playing with analog synths and came up with this chord progression.

It was pretty rudimentary.

And then the guitar riff on top and just a drum break throughout the song.

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

And then acoustic guitars.

Okay.

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

And Chelcee's so funny.

She's like, "Come on, let's do this song and go have a pint at the pub."

But more in a, like, Liverpudlian accent.

I'll just knock him when…

For me, any chance there is to get a drink,

I'm like, "Come on, let's have a break."

It doesn't sound good…

I came in,

and they were mucking about on the guitar and going…

I don't remember why we said it,

but I know she quick…

Dua quickly, quickly…

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

I was like, "We've gotta lose the 'hot damn.' It can't be that."

She's like, "No, fam, no. It's 'goddamn.'"

Yeah, I think so. I love the new verse as well.

My respect and my love for Dua

comes from the fact that she is a boss bitch.

Like…

All right, let's do this.

She's not closed off at all.

For me, I love that energy,

when you know people that you feel comfortable around,

that 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 that post comes back.

Dua comes from a place of honesty.

She does wear her heart on her sleeve, so to speak.

It's a confusing line, but I love it.

"You've got me in love again," like everyone feels that.

You know, you have a breakup…

You think, "I'll never feel that way again."

We started the song, and the conversation was the song.

It was about, "You got me in love again

at times 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 very much an invitation.

I thought that if I write about it, it might just happen.

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

Then it went into…

I immediately knew I wanted it on the record.

But it wasn't in your…

classic song format,

which is like verse, pre,

hook, verse, pre, hook, middle 8 hook, you know?

It was all jumbled up, but it felt good at the time.

I was like, "Maybe it doesn't need to be in that format. Fuck it."

I was reading the Studio 54 book at the time.

I was picturing back to Donna Summer,

where it had the drama off the top of the song.

It builds, and then it has one of those …

And then it goes into the song.

So, luckily, my neighbor is an amazing violinist

and all-around good guy,

-Drew Jurecka. -

Koz sent me a version with the strings.

I said, "My God, it's so dramatic. I love it."

Strings give a song such a richness and so much elegance behind it

that, when you're about to begin such a funk-driven song,

it's almost unexpected.

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

I was like, "Okay, this is perfect. This is really fun."

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

-It's pretty tough. - Yeah.

We were in the studio one night,

and Coffee started singing that riff over top of it, right?

Like…

Like, "Is this Star Wars or something?"

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

The sample, classic.

Classic.

A bit haunted also, that's what I loved about it.

Bit of eerie, kind of spooky…

I loved it. I said, "We should put it in."

I was just like, "Oh, that fits like a glove."

It's a great idea to go, "We'll throw a sample in the song after the fact."

But the song is a completely different key.

So when you put it in, it doesn't work because it sounds completely out of tune.

It was such a nightmare to put that in the song, to make it work.

I just tried every different pitch correction thing.

I was just pulling my hair out.

I was like, "Oh, my God."

But, I made it work.

The sample was actually used in 1997…

…by White Town on their song, "Your Woman."

It's a great sample. It takes me to two different eras.

Like this '20s, '30s glamour, art deco, kind of thing.

Then also like on a '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 were changing arrangements right up to the final mix.

Putting this here, putting that there.

It's hard 'cause it's a weird…

It's one of those where the parts are quite undefined, you know?

-We don't really know-- -When we wrote them, they were just parts.

-I was like, "I don't know." -It was…

For some reason, I had this crazy idea.

I was like, "You know, maybe we should just completely re-jig it and do…"

I said, "Why doesn't that become our chorus?"

I was like, "This will be great. This will be amazing."

There were so many versions. She'd be like, "Put it back to the demo."