Mark Ronson and Dua Lipa.Photo:Eric Charbonneau/Getty
Eric Charbonneau/Getty
Dua Lipawas beyond ready to “turn the rhythm up” and “come along for the ride” withGreta Gerwig’s filmBarbie.
The pop star, 28, participated inThe Hollywood Reporter’s Songwriter Roundtableand spoke about the process behind creating “Dance the Night,” herGrammy-nominatedhit off the blockbuster’ssoundtrack. The“Houdini”singer explained that, although she was out on tour when she first heard from the soundtrack’s producerMark Ronson, she was thrilled about making the collaboration work.
“Basically, the way it came to be was Mark Ronson DM’d me on Instagram, which is weird because we’re friends, so we text,” Lipa toldTHRand the other artists on the roundtable, includingBillie Eilish,Cynthia Erivo,Jon Batiste,Julia MichaelsandOlivia Rodrigo. “He was like, ‘I’m working on this film with Greta Gerwig and it’sBarbie, and it’s possibly the funniest script I’ve read, and I really want you to write the song for the big dance scene in the film.’”
“I was like, ‘This is an absolute no-brainer. One thousand percent yes,’” the hitmaker continued.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Songwriters Roundtable.Austin Hargrave
Austin Hargrave
The Grammy winner explained that she was on tour when the record producer, 48, contacted her, but made time to travel to New York City to get in the studio and speak to the writer/director, 40, about her vision.
The “Levitating” singer continued, “And so ‘Dance the Night’ was created specifically for Barbie’s best day ever, which then results in her thinking about death. So it’s really about those dualities of life and being able to merge the two together.”
The British musician added that it ended up being the perfect fit for her artistically. “And that’s what I love the most. I love dance-crying,” she said.
Dua Lipa at the ‘Barbie’ premiere.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Not only did “Dance the Night” play during a pivotal dance number in theMargot Robbie-starring blockbuster, the lead single off the soundtrack became a major hit on its own. The song peaked at No. 6 on theBillboardHot 100, where it spent a total of 24 weeks on the chart.
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Since then, the song — which marks Lipa’s first-ever original contribution to a movie soundtrack — has received several accolades. Last week, the disco-pop hit garnered two Grammy nominations for song of the year and best song written for visual media — a category in which Lipa is competing against three other songs off theBarbiesoundtrack (including Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?,”Nicki MinajandIce Spice’s“Barbie World”and theRyan Gosling-sung“I’m Just Ken”), as well asRihanna’s song“Life Me Up”fromBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Ronson previously opened up in a post onInstagramaboutwhat it was like to work with Lipaon “Dance the Night.” The recording artist shared a carousel of footage of them collaborating in the studio and opened up in the caption about how the track came together.
“I started to get goosebumps,” he said of watching the “Don’t Start Now” singer work her songwriting magic and match the lyrics up with the choreography in the clip of the film they received.
He said, “That’s why I f—ing love Dua so much: we had a whole song and she was down to spend a hundred extra hours tweaking a word and a line here of there to make not just the song but the WHOLE SCENE better.”
After her big year celebrating the release of “Dance the Night,” the star also recently kicked off her next era with the release of “Houdini.”
source: people.com
