When Dua Lipa came around the Tiny Desk, she had nothing to show — and far to dwell as much as. In spite of everything, the singer’s Tiny Desk (residence) live performance, recorded in London within the aftermath of her 2020 blockbuster Future Nostalgia, nonetheless holds the file for the most-viewed Tiny Desk live performance in historical past, her 130 million views surpassing even the likes of Mac Miller and Anderson .Paak.
4 years later, the pop celebrity lastly graced the precise Tiny Desk, this time armed with 4 heat and welcoming songs from Radical Optimism. Arriving within the first half of this 12 months — when the dominant storylines in music so typically revolved round grievances and rivalries — Radical Optimism stood out for its comparatively sunny and forgiving takes on failed and failing relationships, seduction, new love and outdated wounds. And, in fact, it disbursed a world-beating banger in “Houdini,” which joins previous Dua Lipa classics (“New Guidelines,” “Levitating,” “Don’t Begin Now”) on her personal private Mount Rushmore.
Befitting an artist whose latest songs typically replicate the pursuit of private progress — see: “Completely satisfied for You” — Lipa and her group breezed by the NPR Music places of work with a mixture of low-drama professionalism and unmistakable heat. We’ve handled loads of stars (and their groups) through the years, and as typically as folks ask us to dish about individuals who’ve been tough, we’ve principally amassed tales of people that’ve been pretty to have round. Even amongst all these, Lipa and her folks stood out: They had been variety, gracious, enjoyable and sport.
That exhibits up on digicam, too, as you’ll see right here. That is joyful music, at a time after we might all use it.
SET LIST
- “Coaching Season”
- “These Partitions”
- “Completely satisfied for You”
- “Houdini”
MUSICIANS
- Dua Lipa: vocals
- Matthew Carroll: bass
- Adam “Smiley” Wade: drums
- Alex Lanyon: guitar
- Georgie Ward: keys
- Ciara O’Connor: vocals
- Naomi Scarlett: vocals
- Sophie Galpin: glockenspiel, vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producers: Bobby Carter, Stephen Thompson
- Director/Editor: Kara Body
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Sequence Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Kara Body, Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Alanté Serene
- Audio Engineer: Tiffany Vera Castro
- Manufacturing Assistant: Ashley Pointer
- Photographer: Grace Widyatmadja
- Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
- Government Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Sequence Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
