It looks like Dua Lipa may well be preparing fans for a new chapter of music, or at least, that’s what all the clues are pointing to.
The hints began dropping yesterday, when the 28-year old artist deleted all her Instagram posts and then shared a new five second video with her 88.6 million followers.
Made up of second-long snippets of her face - with zoom-ins on her lips and eyes - the focus of the clip is a tiny key on a chain which Lipa rests on her lips and then puts in her mouth.
“Tell me all the ways you need me,” sings Lipa. The video then ends by listing seven numbers: 4 8 9 9 14 15 21, which don’t seem to form a pattern or a mathematical sequence. Convert each number into its corresponding letter of the alphabet, though, and you’re left with DHIINOU - an anagram for Houdini, who famously loved unlocking things.
Adding further fuel to this particular fire, a notification popped up on Spotify today teasing a new Dua Lipa single, titled Houdini. According to a screenshot of the notification shared by Popbase, it will be released on Thursday, November 9.
In the teaser clip’s caption, she urged fans to “sign up dualipa.com”. The link takes fans to a red holding page that says “sign up for…” while the words fun, energy, happiness, passion, joy, love and optimism flash sequentially on the screen.
“Miss Lipa, mother of music is warning us,” commented one fan on the Instagram video. “Don't need to tell me twice with [a] teaser like this,” said another.
While we want to say we also immediately understand the message here - like the fans apparently do - it's really not entirely clear. But, all signs point to the Albanian-Kosovan singer imminently launching into a new era, possibly with her next album involved.
Bolstering the case is the fact that Lipa recently dyed her hair red - a major departure from her signature black locks - which also indicates the start of a brand new musical era.
Plus, back in August it was announced that the award-winning singer was finishing up work on a new album, which at the time was set to have a 2024 release.
“You have no idea what the reaction is going to be once it’s out, so there’s this nervous feeling,” said Lipa to the New York Times in August, describing the creative process as “insular and exciting”.
She didn’t offer up many more clues about the forthcoming record, but revealed that it would be “more personal”. She also added that it would be pop to prevent her fans from having “a meltdown”.
Lipa’s last studio album, Future Nostalgia, was released in March 2020, went to number one in the UK, number three in the US, won Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys and was nominated for a Mercury Prize.
Her most recent release was Dance The Night, a heady pop single created for Greta Gerwig’s July 2022 blockbuster Barbie which went straight to number one in the UK.