Why Dua Lipa Skipped the 2022 Met Gala
Despite rumors online that Dua Lipa would be perfectly encapsulating tonight's Met Gala Gilded Glamour theme, the British singer is actually far from the New York City event. Lipa is skipping
the Met Gala this year because she's performing in London on her Future Nostalgia Tour.
Lipa teased her London show in an Instagram post earlier today, writing, “‘twas the night before the 02!! ~ ? LONDON I CAN’T WAIT TO HIT THE STAGE IN A FEW HOURS!!!!!!!! ?” Even with th time difference, there's no way for Lipa to do her London concert and attend the Met Gala's event, as the carpet starts at 5:30 P.M. EST, which is 10:30 P.M. London time.
Lipa last attended the Met Gala in 2019. She leaned into the Camp theme impeccably:
Lipa spoke to NPR on April 28 about how it feels finally touring after the coronavirus pandemic delayed all musicians' concert plans. “I've been dying to get out on the road, to finally perform these songs [from Future Nostalgia],” Lipa said. “When we finally got the chance to go out on the road in the U.S., there was this whole surge of excitement and adrenaline. It's like, wow, we finally get to do this.”
She also addressed whether she has imposter syndrome. “I have self doubt, I'm only human,” she said with a laugh. “Although I have a passion for what I do, because I really love music, when things start to get bigger and people start to have an opinion on something you love so much, then you start to listen to the background noise. In the beginning, when I first started, the response was like, ‘Oh, this is so good.’ Then, all of a sudden, there was like a turning point, and it just completely shifted and changed. 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.”
“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.,” she added. “Social media is kind of run on this toxic currency of ‘who can make people laugh at the expense of others.’”
“Of course it got to me,” she continued. “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. I realized that what anyone says doesn't actually matter. 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. Nothing even cuts through, because I realized that if you're passionate about something and you're good at your job and you write from the heart, no one can take that away from you. I had to take myself off Twitter, but if that's going to help me and my mental health and allow me to thrive in whatever way I choose to, that has been a saving grace.”