“Saturday Night Live” will return tonight for the last episode of 2020 hosted by show alum Kristen Wiig with musical guest Dua Lipa.
If you're asking yourself, "Who is Dua Lipa?", have no fear. Here's everything you need to know about the talented 25-year-old before tonight's "SNL."
Who is Dua Lipa?
In 1995, Lipa was born in London to Albanian immigrants, Dukagjin and Anesa. (And yes, her real name is actually Dua Lipa. Her first name can be translated to mean "love" in Albanian.) She began performing at a young age, returning to Kosovo as a child. At 15, she ended up moving back to London to pursue a singing career and that is when she began posting videos of her singing covers to YouTube.
In a recent clip on WIRED's YouTube channel, Lipa said that she used these YouTube videos as "a form of a portfolio" to work with producers and get into the studio. After recording a few demos, Lipa eventually scored herself a record deal, releasing her first single “New Love” in August 2015.
Lipa released a series of singles leading up to her freshman eponymous album in 2017, including two of her breakout hits, “Hotter Than Hell” and “Blow Your Mind (Mwah).” Not long after, Lipa made history in 2018 for becoming the youngest female artist to hit one billion views on a music video, NME reported. The colorful choreographed video for “New Rules,” the sixth single off her first album, has now garnered more than two billion views on YouTube.
Lipa released her much-anticipated sophomore album, “Future Nostalgia,” at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The singer told People at the time that she felt a lot of pressure to deliver on her second album following the success of her first album.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to try and do something with the second record,'" she said. "But I wanted to get away from all those pressures and other people’s expectations and opinions of what I should be doing because I felt like then I would try and recreate ‘New Rules’ and never get anywhere. I wanted to mature as an artist.”
All of Lipa’s hard work throughout the last five years has paid off. The critically-acclaimed '80s pop-fusion album earned the singer six Grammy nominations, including record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best pop solo performance, among others. But Lipa is no stranger to the Grammys. In 2019, she won not only best dance recording for her track with Diplo "Electricity," she also won the coveted award for best new artist as well.
Saturday won't be Lipa’s first time hitting the “SNL” stage either. The two-time Grammy winner was the musical guest on the show back in February 2018 alongside host Natalie Portman. That year, she performed her hit song “New Rules” followed by her ballad “Homesick,” co-written by Chris Martin from Coldplay.
Since June 2019, Lipa has been romantically linked to model Anwar Hadid, the brother of Gigi and Bella Hadid.