Dua Lipa’s music has been omnipresent this year. Her Grammy-winning album Future Nostalgia, released last spring, became the soundtrack for a global audience’s new virtual reality. The record is cavalcade of glossy dance pop and a surprisingly transporting at-home listen, offering a fantasy facsimile of a night on the dance floor.
Still, nothing compares to sharing music in-person and communing in the same room, even if it’s socially distanced. For her live take on Arlo Parks’ “Eugene,” Dua Lipa and a modest ensemble find joys in the song’s small gestures and resonant core. The cover features a single pared-back guitar, occasional plumes of electric bass and four voices: Lipa on lead, plus a trio of backing singers (Matt Maijah, Ciara O’Connor and Naomi Scarlett). The vocalists revel together in the song’s final delicate harmonies, distilling a concentrate from Parks’ sweet tune. While the spare sounds are a far cry from Future Nostalgia’s mighty club energy, Dua Lipa’s “Eugene” is no less striking — and certainly as intoxicating.
Check out Dua Lipa’s cover of Arlo Parks’ “Eugene,” released for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, below.
Check out more covers of Dua Lipa here.
Check out more covers performed by Arlo Parks here.
