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View as: GRID LIST

Dua Lipa GAF, The Brits 2018

1

Dear Dinner Party DJ
I’ve reserved a space on our couch next Wednesday night for an evening in with my kids watching the Brits and scoffing pizza. Trouble is, apart from Ed Sheeran, I’ve not really got a clue who’s going to be on. 

Well, you’re in luck, Ed Sheeran has been nominated for four awards and is due to perform alongside most of the nominees as well as the Foo Fighters and Justin Timberlake.

Maybe, like me, you’ve grown up with the Brits watching it for over 30 years and remember that excruciating evening when Sam

SelfishMother.com
2
Fox and Mick Fleetwood teamed up to present the awards and Jarvis Cocker stormed the stage during a Micheal Jackson performance?

I love The Brits! It’s a real celebration of  British pop and what people are listening to right now. And right now, despite what some critics might say, most people are listening to Ed Sheeran so he’s likely to have a big night.

Really though, you need to know about Dua Lipa who has already made history as far as the Brits are concerned. She has been nominated for five

SelfishMother.com
3
awards, more than any other female in a single year. So is she likely to be heading home with one of those beautiful red trophies designed by Anish Kapoor?  On the subject of those statuettes, did you know that every year a different designer or artist is given the task of making them over? Anish Kapoor follows in the footsteps of Tracey Emin and Damien Hurst who have previously been set the job.
Best British Female

“Lipa might be a pop star but she carries herself with the bravado and charisma of the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.”

SelfishMother.com
4
FORBES

22-year-old Dua (who needs a stage name with a name like that?!) was born in London to Albanian parents from Kosovo. She started out at the Sylvia Young Theatre School before her parents took her back to their homeland. But at the age of 15, Dua, who had always wanted to be a singer, decided she wanted to come back to London and focus on music. She studied full time at Sylvia Young, singing along to YouTube videos and began posting covers of her favourite pop songs including Jessie J and Joss Stone before ”determination took her from

SelfishMother.com
5
YouTube stardom to the charts” (NME).

 

If you haven’t heard her sing yet, it’s the quality of her voice that sets her apart from her contemporaries. Her voice has been compared to Amy Winehouse and Joss Stone. The NME described her voice as carrying a ”20-a-day raspiness capable of making heartfelt ballads sound edgy”, her vocals are distinctively smoky and sultry.  Listen to her cover of The Arctic Monkeys song ’Do I Wanna Know’ in the Radio 1 Live Lounge this week and you’ll hear how amazing her voice is when just

SelfishMother.com
6
accompanied by a piano.

2017 was pretty massive for Dua Lipa, at the start of the year she won Best New Artist at the NME Awards and was described by them as ”the real deal”. Her long-awaited album was released, she was the most streamed female of 2017 and the youngest artist to hit a billion views on YouTube for her music video of ’New Rules’.

In this category she’s up against Jessie Ware, Kate Tempest, Laura Marking and Paloma Faith, surely this one’s in the bag?!
British Single of the Year –

SelfishMother.com
7
New Rules
Lipa released ’Be The One’ as her debut single in 2015 and a string of hits followed including ’Hotter Than Hell’ before ’New Rules’ stormed the charts around the globe and became one of the big tunes of summer 2017. It was an infectious smash hit for Dua who has described her music as ”dark pop”  saying that “all the sad things that happen are the things that linger on my mind the longest, the things that I feel like I want to write about. But then at the same time, I like dancing to it.” I think this song is a perfect example of
SelfishMother.com
8
that, it has a fun and addictive sound that you want to dance to but also has meaning to it. In interviews, she had previously spoken about her strong feminist beliefs and ’New Rules’ became her anthem, it oozes confidence and sass whilst offering an action plan for anyone tempted to rekindle things with a dodgy ex. In a nutshell, it’s break-up advice set to music.

In this category, Dua is up against the record-breaking, infectious ’Shape of You’ by Ed Sheeran which was the best selling song of 2017 and the most streamed song on Spotify that

SelfishMother.com
9
year. Could be a tough gig.

 

 


British Artist Video of the Year – New Rules

“The dopest video I’ve seen in ages”
— LORDE

It was the knockout video for this song that was a major part of its appeal. It’s a cool, colour coordinated video with girlfriends hanging out at a sleepover looking after each other and who all have each other’s backs. It went viral after Lorde and Camila Cabello tweeted about it and its powerful statement. It was this video

SelfishMother.com
10
which propelled Dua as a role model for the empowerment of girls as well as showing that a great video can be a game changer.

She’s up against Sheeran again as well as yet another raunchy video from Little Mix and three former bandmates from One Direction.
Mastercard British Album – Dua Lipa

“No dull moments, not a whiff of boring, just bangers.”
— THE NME

Her self-titled debut album was a long time coming having been delayed three times but this didn’t seem to have any negative effects as sales reached over 1 million

SelfishMother.com
11
worldwide. She established herself with hit singles before the album came along and her current single, the booming ’IDGAF’ is the 7th track to be released from it. Dua co-wrote most of the album and obviously takes pride in her involvement with every aspect of her music. I like that she seems to be in control of how she’s portrayed, who she works with and how she manages her ascent to stardom. She has had some very successful collaborations with the likes of Chris Martin (he wrote the final track on the album, ’Homesick’) and Sean Paul but has also
SelfishMother.com
12
turned down working with other musicians because they didn’t feel right. As she says, ”when features aren’t done correctly they don’t represent who you are as an artist and you get a bit lost.”

This category is the biggy of the Brits. Other contenders include Ed Sheeran’s ’Divide’which the NME described as ”kind of weird”, The ’Bouf Daddy’ J Hus’s genre-hopping ’Common Sense’, Stormzy’s ”multi-faceted masterpiece” (The Independent), ’Gang Signs and Prayers’ and Rag n’Bone Man’s ’Human’ described by The Guardian as ”a triumph

SelfishMother.com
13
of gritty, blues-infected pop”. Tough decisions.
British Breakthrough Act
So this is the category you can vote for, what do you think? Have I done enough to convince you that Dua Lipa is ’the real deal’ or do you think the award should go to Dave, J Hus or Loyle Carner from the world of hip-hop that is so big right now or even to Sampha, the Mercury Prize winner from last year and who featured in the top 20 most acclaimed albums of last year?

Roll on Wednesday and that pizza, it’s a shame that Dua will be busy or she could have

SelfishMother.com
14
delivered them herself!

 

 

.

 

 

MARY THAINFEBRUARY 16, 2018

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- 17 Feb 18

Dear Dinner Party DJ

I’ve reserved a space on our couch next Wednesday night for an evening in with my kids watching the Brits and scoffing pizza. Trouble is, apart from Ed Sheeran, I’ve not really got a clue who’s going to be on. 

Well, you’re in luck, Ed Sheeran has been nominated for four awards and is due to perform alongside most of the nominees as well as the Foo Fighters and Justin Timberlake.

Maybe, like me, you’ve grown up with the Brits watching it for over 30 years and remember that excruciating evening when Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood teamed up to present the awards and Jarvis Cocker stormed the stage during a Micheal Jackson performance?

I love The Brits! It’s a real celebration of  British pop and what people are listening to right now. And right now, despite what some critics might say, most people are listening to Ed Sheeran so he’s likely to have a big night.

Really though, you need to know about Dua Lipa who has already made history as far as the Brits are concerned. She has been nominated for five awards, more than any other female in a single year. So is she likely to be heading home with one of those beautiful red trophies designed by Anish Kapoor?  On the subject of those statuettes, did you know that every year a different designer or artist is given the task of making them over? Anish Kapoor follows in the footsteps of Tracey Emin and Damien Hurst who have previously been set the job.

Best British Female

“Lipa might be a pop star but she carries herself with the bravado and charisma of the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.”

— FORBES

22-year-old Dua (who needs a stage name with a name like that?!) was born in London to Albanian parents from Kosovo. She started out at the Sylvia Young Theatre School before her parents took her back to their homeland. But at the age of 15, Dua, who had always wanted to be a singer, decided she wanted to come back to London and focus on music. She studied full time at Sylvia Young, singing along to YouTube videos and began posting covers of her favourite pop songs including Jessie J and Joss Stone before “determination took her from YouTube stardom to the charts” (NME).

 

If you haven’t heard her sing yet, it’s the quality of her voice that sets her apart from her contemporaries. Her voice has been compared to Amy Winehouse and Joss Stone. The NME described her voice as carrying a “20-a-day raspiness capable of making heartfelt ballads sound edgy”, her vocals are distinctively smoky and sultry.  Listen to her cover of The Arctic Monkeys song ‘Do I Wanna Know‘ in the Radio 1 Live Lounge this week and you’ll hear how amazing her voice is when just accompanied by a piano.

2017 was pretty massive for Dua Lipa, at the start of the year she won Best New Artist at the NME Awards and was described by them as “the real deal”. Her long-awaited album was released, she was the most streamed female of 2017 and the youngest artist to hit a billion views on YouTube for her music video of ‘New Rules’.

In this category she’s up against Jessie Ware, Kate Tempest, Laura Marking and Paloma Faith, surely this one’s in the bag?!

British Single of the Year – New Rules

Lipa released ‘Be The One’ as her debut single in 2015 and a string of hits followed including ‘Hotter Than Hell’ before ‘New Rules’ stormed the charts around the globe and became one of the big tunes of summer 2017. It was an infectious smash hit for Dua who has described her music as “dark pop”  saying that “all the sad things that happen are the things that linger on my mind the longest, the things that I feel like I want to write about. But then at the same time, I like dancing to it.” I think this song is a perfect example of that, it has a fun and addictive sound that you want to dance to but also has meaning to it. In interviews, she had previously spoken about her strong feminist beliefs and ‘New Rules’ became her anthem, it oozes confidence and sass whilst offering an action plan for anyone tempted to rekindle things with a dodgy ex. In a nutshell, it’s break-up advice set to music.

In this category, Dua is up against the record-breaking, infectious ‘Shape of You’ by Ed Sheeran which was the best selling song of 2017 and the most streamed song on Spotify that year. Could be a tough gig.

 

 

British Artist Video of the Year – New Rules

“The dopest video I’ve seen in ages”

— LORDE

It was the knockout video for this song that was a major part of its appeal. It’s a cool, colour coordinated video with girlfriends hanging out at a sleepover looking after each other and who all have each other’s backs. It went viral after Lorde and Camila Cabello tweeted about it and its powerful statement. It was this video which propelled Dua as a role model for the empowerment of girls as well as showing that a great video can be a game changer.

She’s up against Sheeran again as well as yet another raunchy video from Little Mix and three former bandmates from One Direction.

Mastercard British Album – Dua Lipa

“No dull moments, not a whiff of boring, just bangers.”

— THE NME

Her self-titled debut album was a long time coming having been delayed three times but this didn’t seem to have any negative effects as sales reached over 1 million worldwide. She established herself with hit singles before the album came along and her current single, the booming ‘IDGAF’ is the 7th track to be released from it. Dua co-wrote most of the album and obviously takes pride in her involvement with every aspect of her music. I like that she seems to be in control of how she’s portrayed, who she works with and how she manages her ascent to stardom. She has had some very successful collaborations with the likes of Chris Martin (he wrote the final track on the album, ‘Homesick’) and Sean Paul but has also turned down working with other musicians because they didn’t feel right. As she says, “when features aren’t done correctly they don’t represent who you are as an artist and you get a bit lost.”

This category is the biggy of the Brits. Other contenders include Ed Sheeran’s ‘Divide’which the NME described as “kind of weird”, The ‘Bouf Daddy’ J Hus’s genre-hopping ‘Common Sense’, Stormzy’s “multi-faceted masterpiece” (The Independent), ‘Gang Signs and Prayers’ and Rag n’Bone Man’s ‘Human’ described by The Guardian as “a triumph of gritty, blues-infected pop”. Tough decisions.

British Breakthrough Act

So this is the category you can vote for, what do you think? Have I done enough to convince you that Dua Lipa is ‘the real deal’ or do you think the award should go to Dave, J Hus or Loyle Carner from the world of hip-hop that is so big right now or even to Sampha, the Mercury Prize winner from last year and who featured in the top 20 most acclaimed albums of last year?

Roll on Wednesday and that pizza, it’s a shame that Dua will be busy or she could have delivered them herself!

 

 

.

 

 

MARY THAINFEBRUARY 16, 2018

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I have created a music sharing game called Playlist Game which is made up of 60 music provoking category cards. It's best played in conjunction with a digital music streaming site and some good friends. Players put on tunes relating to the categories and before long have built up a unique playlist and are sharing memories and stories based on the music they have chosen. It's such a fun game and a great way of keeping your music fresh. I've also started writing a blog, 'The Dinner Party DJ' for parents, well anyone really but mainly aimed about people in their late 30s and 40s who feel that they have lost touch with recent music. My game is all about music sharing and that's the angle I wanted to take with the blog too.

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