Singer Dua Lipa is one of the world’s biggest pop stars, but the singer has voiced her frustration with the public’s perception of her.
“I don’t know if people believe that I like to read books,” she said. “They don’t want you to be political. They don’t want you to be smart. There is so much more to me than just what I do.”
Since her breakout single New Rules in 2017, the British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa has launched a book club, a lifestyle newsletter and an international music festival in Pristina, Kosovo.
She has also made headlines for her political views criticising the UK government’s stance on immigration and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Speaking in a new interview with Rolling Stone, she said her worldview had been shaped by her parents’ experience of fleeing the Kosovo war in the late 1990s.
“My existence is kind of political, the fact that I lived in London because my parents left from the war,” she said.
“I feel for people who have to leave their home. From my experience of being in Kosovo and understanding what war does, no-one really wants to leave their home.
“They do it for protection, to save their family, to look after the people around them, that kind of thing, for a better life. So I feel close to it.”
The star said she saw parallels between what her parents went through and the situation Palestinians currently find themselves in, which prompted her to sign a petition calling for a ceasefire.
However, she was also critical of the atrocities carried out by Hamas during their deadly attack on Israel last October.
“I don’t condone what Hamas is doing,” she said. “I feel so bad for every Israeli life lost and what happened on 7 October.
“At the moment, what we have to look at is how many lives have been lost in Gaza, and the innocent civilians, and the lives that are just being lost.
“There are just not enough world leaders that are taking a stand and speaking up about the humanitarian crisis that’s happening, the humanitarian ceasefire that has to happen.”
‘I won’t spill my guts’
While the star has been vocal about her political views, she is less forthcoming about her personal life.
“I think I’m British,” she told Rolling Stone, by way of explanation.
“I don’t think I’m here to spill my guts on a talk show because it’s going to be good for a news cycle or getting attention.
“As much as people think they know the people they support, I actually don’t think they know anything about them anyway.”