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Yeah, I'm definitely sweating under my eyes, which I don't think I felt sweat there before. So, I'm feeling it.
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Hey, what's going on everybody?
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For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
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It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
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And today, we're joined by Dua Lipa.
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She's a two-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and her latest album, Future Nostalgia, is breaking all kinds of streaming records during quarantine.
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But today, it's a simple date with destiny against the wings of death.
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Dua Lipa, welcome to the show.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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I know that you're not much of a Plan B person.
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What's going through your mind right now before we dig in for lunch here? Just got to go.
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You just you go, you do it, and you don't give up. Okay. Mhm, smells good. Can you see it?
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I guess it's not very much, so it's like the first one.
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I shouldn't really be Mhm. That one's really nice.
1:30
So, Future Nostalgia dropped at the end of March right as the realities of the pandemic were settling in, and the mechanics of a big international pop album rollout are typically so precise and tactical.
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Looking back on what must have been a difficult decision to just release the album anyway, what's something you were super stressed out about in the moment that totally turned out to be not a big deal at all? Would anyone care?
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Is this like a good time to put it out?
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Is there so much like suffering going on in the world?
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and um is is the music what people need, but I also realized that you know, I wrote this album to get away from any like outside pressures, anything that was kind of going on in the world to kind of put it behind us and just dance and have fun.
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And I was like, maybe the time is now.
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Maybe the time is to just put it out and and the response was great cuz it it could have gone one of like one of two ways, I feel.
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And I'm I'm really happy that people reacted to it so well. Mhm. So zesty.
2:38
I don't think it made it to the final Times profile she did on you, but I heard Keiran Gaan say that when she interviewed Katy Perry, Katy named you as someone who has what it takes to be a career artist.
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How do you think about your own personal longevity?
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Like is that something you even strategize?
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Wow, I didn't know um she said that, that's really cool.
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And I'm such a fan of Katy.
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Um that's I I can tell you that story in a second, but um um in in terms of like a career artist, like my dream is to be able to do this for as long as I can.
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All I want to do is like make music, write, and perform for as long as people will have me, really.
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And back to Katy Perry, when I was like 15, I uh I went to Katy Perry show and she was like inviting people up on stage to go and dance with her and I was like, I have to do it.
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Jumped up on stage, danced with her, made my whole life. Chipotle and habanero. It's good.
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It's a bit spicy, but Mhm. not not too much.
3:44
So as someone who grew up a self-described G Unit obsessive, you may be interested to know that our first ever guest on Hot Ones was none other than Tony Yayo. Legend. G-G-G-G-G-G-Unit.
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When 50 Cent came down to perform in Kosovo, he was one of the first artists that I ever saw perform live.
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I really thought Tony Yayo was for some reason going to come out of jail and show up in Kosovo.
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I was like, "This is This is the night. This is it's happening.
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I know he's going to show up." Fortunately, he didn't. 50 did an amazing show. Love 50. Anyway.
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Yeah, and on the topic of that concert, my understanding is that 50 Cent's 2007 concert in Pristina's City Stadium was a historic event because it was the first international artist to perform in the capital as Kosovo was declaring independence.
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What do you remember about that time and maybe even more specifically that concert? Um My god.
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Well, it was like an It was an open-air um football stadium.
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It was freezing cold, so everybody was in there like winter clothes.
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I'd learned like all of 50's songs. I'd read the book. I'd watched the movie.
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I was like super super ready for the show, really excited.
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It lived up to all my expectations.
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I was like, "He's the best. I love him."
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And that thought has never changed since. Hotter than L. Very on-brand.
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In case you weren't aware, this is an Anglophile show at heart, so we can't let you out of here without taking a wing to talk about British things.
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For the uninitiated, why is KOKO in Camden such an important London music venue?
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I grew up in Camden, so um KOKO was like my main um constant venue that I would go to.
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I'd always check the website.
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I'd always try and see who's coming down. I saw um J. Cole there. I saw Schoolboy Q there.
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I saw Bruno Mars and his like doo-wop and Hooligans um tour.
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And it's like it's like a small venue.
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It doesn't have like a massive capacity, so to get to see those artists in those rooms was so surreal.
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And when I performed at KOKO on my Hotter than Hell tour, it was just such a life-changing experience for me not to be like the kid at the barricade just like screaming every word and and and being so like I I I was so just passionate about all the artists that I went to see and I was so excited to be there and to be on the other side was a massive dream come true. Los Calientes. Mhm. Have a little bit more. I'm into that one.
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So last year Vogue dubbed you the signature Gen Z fashion star, and I know clothes have been a passion of yours since the days of Dua Lipa a fashion blog you published in school. OH MY GOD, DON'T.
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HOW do you know about that?
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You really did your research, didn't you?
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Hey, you're you're Dua Lipa. We have to know. Oh my god. All right. All right. Let's talk about it. My skeletons.
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Well, you know Dua don't worry cuz we're going to misdirect a little bit.
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What we want to do here is show you some of our favorite Dua Lipa fit pics that we pulled off the wire, and I'm hoping that you can talk us through each look to get the Dua Lipa style guide directly from the source. Let's do it.
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I've noticed you'll sometimes use your handbag as like a stylish paparazzi evasion tactic.
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Is that instinct or did someone teach you that move?
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Okay, so this is definitely instinct because I was going through a really bad hair day on both of these pictures.
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I have bad hair days quite a lot.
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Um so when I went blond um which now I've This is actually the first bit of of of like promo that I'm doing with with my hair back to normal, but when I went blonde, it was kind of dramatic because my hair just slowly started like fizzling away and I just got this involuntary fringe.
7:51
Yeah, there was just like paps literally outside the rehearsal studio and outside my apartment in New York and uh it was more just self-protection.
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Here you are in Goosebumps sweatpants and then an anime wrap puffer jacket.
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Are those things you pick out because you're interested in what they represent or is it more just like, "Hey, that's a cool looking jacket."
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or "Those are cool looking sweats."
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It's kind of like a bit of both.
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Like I thought it was really cool.
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I love this this brand, the jacket with like the Dragon Ball Z like anime drawings on it from this brand called Scoot, which is just a really cool brand and the designer, she just a lot of the the clothes she just kind of hand paints and she puts glue on them and colors it in and I love the whole process behind how she creates the clothes. Goosebumps trackies.
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Goosebumps is one of my favorite shows that I watched while I was growing up.
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I've always loved scary things, scary movies, anything that would get my adrenaline going when I was younger and Goosebumps would be something that I loved and I read the books when I was little, too.
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Um and so that was kind of like a bit of nostalgia that I was like, "I have to have these."
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What's the backstory on the Versace bodysuit?
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I remember I wore this for um promo that I did for Colbert.
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But what was quite funny was after I did the promo, I went to this restaurant uh afterwards and I came out the restaurant and there were a couple paps and you chose a really good picture cuz there's one where bless the pap he was like walking backwards, didn't see the bin bags which you see behind me here and he just completely takes a tumble backwards and I'm just there in the pictures going, "No."
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Then I I was like, "Okay, I'm going to I'm going to stop."
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and so he can take a picture cuz I so bad that he he fell over.
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All right, Dooley, but thank you so much for the crash course.
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Are you ready to move on here to the second half? Yeah, let's do it. What's this one called? SeaFire.
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It's called mate reaper hot sauce. So it's okay.
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Is this going to set my ass on fire? Is it? Maybe. Probably. Mhm. Yeah. It's really good.
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It reminds me of this um like Albanian like it's kind of like a sausage. It's called sujuk.
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It's just this really spicy sausage that's like grilled for ages and it's it's got that kind of smoky flavor to it.
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Did you grow up eating a lot of spicy food?
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Because we've been doing this remotely and and typically what I notice happens is people just dump sauce on the wings like kind of like how you are and we end up with such big reaction episodes cuz everyone's like over saucing the wings.
10:53
But you're so you're so composed.
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You're so Yeah, I'm quite I'm quite good at spice.
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I'm quite good at good at it.
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My parents are really good with spice.
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Like since I was a kid I have like such an early memory of my parents eating like really spicy peppers, windows open, sweating, almost crying, but literally not stopping.
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And since I was a kid, they're like, "Try some. Have some.
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Come on, that's not so bad. Do it again.
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Come on, just keep going."
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And I feel like I've always been like really adventurous and really into my spice and so I feel like I've trained my taste buds a little bit. But I am feeling it. It's just not crazy yet.
11:33
So, I know you have a close connection to your fans seeking artistic feedback from a select few via group chat and even talk about bringing back old school writing letter fan clubs.
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These stan groups, particularly in pop music, seem to be so well organized and tech-savvy.
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Is that kind of support empowering or does it give you a little bit of an uneasy feeling knowing that even though they're acting on your behalf, you have absolutely zero control over them?
11:57
You know, I I love social media.
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I love the whole um connection with the fans and and talking to everyone and I I spend so much time just um like speaking to fans online and and you know, having group chats with them and going on Instagram and creating really like personal relationships and but sometimes social media can be quite intense and when I was making Future Nostalgia, I had to like take a step back from Twitter.
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Some of the negative stuff started really getting to me and then I felt like if I was to make a record that I was really proud of, I had to take a step from all that.
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And with the fan club, I feel like people have to really go through the extra length of write me a handwritten like hate mail.
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So, I'm like, if that happens, I'm like, okay, I'll read it. Thank you. I'll take the criticism.
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But um you know, I I think it it it's it's nice to be able to kind of go back to basics a little bit.
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All right, starting to sweat from the forehead a little bit, which means I think that it's a it's time to move on to one. to number seven. Okay.
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I think it's this one, right?
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The Thor's Hammer super hot sauce. All right. Oh, no, no, no. I I [ __ ] this up. I put so much on. Figuring that one out. Yeah.
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And my it immediately made my nose start running. Okay. So, sniffles are here.
13:42
Your video for New Rules has more than 2 billion views, which is rarefied air for any artist.
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Besides just being a good record, are there specific details about that song or video that you think helped propel it to that level of success?
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I really think the the music video was like rocket fuel for the song.
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There was this one Versace picture with Naomi Campbell and Kristen McMenamy, and it just came up on my feed randomly, and I was like, "Oh my god, this is so cool.
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It's like two girls helping each other up, you know?"
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And I loved that the imagery behind it.
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I thought the colors were really cool, and I kind of based the whole idea of what I wanted the video to be around that and how I am with my friends, and I guess that message just translated so well through the video, and that was really amazing that it did that without us like trying in a way.
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What's your all-time favorite Dua Lipa music video? Ooh.
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Um you know, I really love um I don't give a [ __ ] Um Physical is my baby.
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That took us a really long time to to do.
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Um then there's like Electricity, and that was the first music video I feel like where I was really confident in myself.
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And because I felt so myself and so free at in that music video in that moment, it holds such like importance and value and such amazing memories for me, and so that, too, because I feel like if it wasn't for that, maybe that there wouldn't be like that that feeling, then I wouldn't have had the confidence to go in and and make Future Nostalgia. Beyond insanity.
15:34
Oh, this one's like thick. Harsh. Mhm. Instant. Oh, yeah.
15:56
This one like hits a little bit after.
15:57
I feel like I'm sweating now. But like under my eyes.
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Well, careful around them. Don't touch.
16:04
Don't touch your going to.
16:04
I was I was warned before.
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I was like, that would be such a mistake.
16:09
I'm So, my understanding is that you went through a starving artist phase while getting your start in London, living off supermarket meal deals when the end of the month came around.
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Do you have a cooking or grocery store hack for the struggling musicians out there living on a tight budget? Beans on toast. Beans on toast.
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That's like one of my favorite like English meals.
16:32
No, that's It's like I guess it's a meal. Am I crying? I can't tell.
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I'm like I feel like I can feel tears, but I can't tell.
16:44
Yeah, I feel like a I feel like a sponge that is slowly being squeezed. Oh, yeah.
16:49
This is like This is like the silent killer I told you about earlier.
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I was like, this is the one you can feel. Anyway.
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What's an Albanian delicacy that everyone should try before they die? Oh, ajvar.
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Ajvar is like this roasted pepper like like paste sauce.
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It comes in a jar and there's like roasted peppers cooked for a really long time with like a little bit of oil, salt, but it's the spiciness of the peppers that's delicious and it goes on everything.
17:24
Eggs, toast, you're like spinach pita, which is another one of my favorite like Albanian dishes.
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It's like a pastry with spinach and cheese, which is delicious.
17:46
I feel like I want to blow this. Oh my god. Okay.
18:10
This is uh This is spicy.
18:13
If you could collaborate with any artist from the disco era, living or dead, who would it be? Ooh.
18:18
I was in the studio once with Nile Rodgers and we were going to we were going to work together on the record and for some reason it didn't work for this album, but I'm dying to get back in the studio with him if he'll have me to like work on something together from scratch.
18:35
He's such an icon and such an incredible artist. It's still okay.
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Like it's spicy, but it's okay.
18:44
I think I've like maybe I've like ruined myself.
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Like I douse my pizza and like scotch bonnet sauce until I'm like crying, but I still don't stop eating.
18:54
So, I'm I've clearly messed myself up a little bit, but Absolutely incredible. I like it. I want one of these. It's for you. Take the whole table. Yes. Thank you. Okay, Dua Lipa. Jesus. One second.
19:18
Can I have a little bit more? Go ahead.
19:20
Is that really No, maybe that's so artsy.
19:21
Is that just like Oh, look at me.
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Like Oh, I can have this.
19:25
But I do kind of want some, but I just feel like I can Okay. The people will love it. Indulge. Okay.
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I've got a big I've got a big windup for this one anyway. Okay. Okay, Dua Lipa.
19:38
We've reached the conclusion of our spicy journey together, and I just have one more challenge for you on the way out.
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I've read that besides singing, one of your lesser-known talents is spelling.
19:46
Now, whether or not that's true, I have no idea, but that's not going to stop us from putting you on the spot anyway.
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This is our first ever Hot Ones Spelling Bee.
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I'll give you the word, I'll give you the origin.
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If you'd like for me to use it in a sentence, I'm happy to do that.
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Two out of three, and I think I speak on behalf of everyone watching, we would all be blown away. All right. First word is Scoville. Noun of English origin.
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A scale for expressing the relative pungency of chili peppers against that of pure capsaicin. Okay. Scoville.
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S c o v i l l e Ding ding ding DING DING. WOO! ALL RIGHT. XYLOPHONE. Noun of Greek origin.
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A musical instrument consisting of a graduated series of wooden bars. Okay. Xylophone.
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x y l o p h o n e Bang bang. Two out of two. All right.
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Finally, this is the last one.
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It's actually the word that won the 1936 Spelling Bee. Eczema. Eczema. e c z e m a Bang bang. You got all three right.
21:05
I am humbled sitting across the Zoom call from you.
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Now, there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you, my friend.
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This camera, or possibly a second camera, if you've set it up, let the people know what you have going on in your life. Hey guys. Uh I just did Hot Ones. It was very hot.
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Um Future Nostalgia, my album, is out now. Uh I hope you like it.
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I hope it makes you dance.
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Send me videos of you dancing in the kitchen cuz we know we love that. All right. Love you guys. MWAH. LIT. THANK YOU. THIS WAS SO FUN.
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I'VE been wanting to do this for so long.
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So, I'm so happy to get to do this. Thank you so much.
22:01
Born from a delicious accident, the Classic Garlic Fresno Edition came to be when we accidentally took a batch of the Classic and mixed it with 10 times the amount of garlic recommended in the recipe. Whoops. Well, you know what?
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At that point, a star was born.
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The Classic Garlic Fresno Edition is now available at heatness. com. heatness.
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com to pick up your bottle of the Classic Garlic Fresno Edition.
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Around here, we call it the blue label.