Dua Lipa has addressed a viral clip of her dancing on stage, speaking out against the “toxic currency” of social media.
A clip of the singer dancing at one of her 2017 concerts was turned into a meme, with fans sharing the video widely on social media.
Some critics called the choreography – which saw Lipa moving her hips back and forth while standing still – “lazy” and “uninspired”.
Speaking about the widespread attention that the clip received, earlier today (28 April) the Grammy winning artist told NPR: “Social media just kind of took over.
“There was this one little dance routine that I did when I was performing, and people took that one little snippet and decided to base my whole stage presence and who I was as a performer on stage [on that].”
The 26-year-old continued: “I think at that point, there [were] moments of self-doubt, even though it was kind of unfair because a lot of the people that had sent in those messages or were saying things online actually hadn’t been to a show.
“Social media is kind of run on this toxic currency of ‘who can make people laugh at the expense of others.’”
Lipa said that “of course, it got to me”, adding: “I was at a point where I was so happy, I was doing everything that I wanted to, but then there were people who made me feel like maybe I wasn’t good enough or I didn’t deserve to be there, I wasn’t cut out to be a musician.”
The singer added that public perception no longer bothers her.
“I realised that what anyone says doesn’t actually matter,” she said. “It was something that I learned during the period of writing Future Nostalgia – I was able to shut people out. Now, if anybody says anything, it doesn’t even bother me.”
Lipa is currently on her worldwide Future Nostalgia tour, which has received high praise.
