With three Grammys and dozens of hit songs, Dua Lipa is one of the century’s most influential artists. Inadvertently, she also inspired the viral “Go girl, give us nothing” meme.
For most musical genres, being a talented singer and songwriter suffices. When it comes to pop, though, the ability to dance and put out mind-blowing live presentations is also mandatory for someone’s success. Pop fans are obsessed with complex choreographies and energetic dance moves, as necessary for the community as the songs themselves. That’s why some fans are constantly judging the live shows of pop artists.
The “Go girl gives us nothing” meme dates back to Feb. 22, 1018, when Dua Lipa released a YouTube video of her live “New Rules” presentation during the Brit Awards. A YouTube user named Tobias found the singer’s dancing skills disappointing and posted a comment that read: “I love her lack of energy, go girl give us nothing!” The comment went viral, and a new meme was born, with the motto being used to describe lackluster presentations of female singers.
While there are dozens of parodies and joke videos on YouTube about the “Go girl gives us nothing” meme, the phrase became particularly connected to K-pop sensation Jennie from BLACKPINK. Her dancing was considered “lazy” by fans who used the Dua Lipa meme to attack her, ignoring that she had a knee injury. That is just one example of how a meme can become hurtful, with Dua Lipa also being affected by the “Go girl gives us nothing” meme.
How did Dua Lipa cope with becoming a meme?
In a 2021 interview for Vanity Fair, Dua Lipa revealed she was aware of the “Go girl gives us nothing” meme. At the time, the singer said that the meme fueled her determination, giving her a reason to dedicate more time to rehearsing her dancing presentations. According to the singer, the haters only allowed her to rise to new heights, which she keeps doing with each new single. At the time, she even took the blame for the public’s reaction, saying she knew she didn’t give her best at 2018’s Brit Awards.
In a 2024 interview for The Guardian, however, Dua Lipa returned to the meme and revealed she was deeply hurt by it. In her words:
“When people took that snippet of me dancing online and just turned it into a meme, and then when I won the best new artist Grammy and people were like, ‘She’s not deserving of it, she’s got no stage presence, she’s not going to stick around.’ Those things were hurtful. It was humiliating. I had to take myself off Twitter.”
As Dua Lipa puts it, at the time, she was still figuring out who she wanted to be as an artist, and the vile comments that rose with the meme took away part of the joy she felt with singing and songwriting. The meme weighed heavily in her mind for years and she only got over it when she finished her studio album Future Nostalgia and performed “Don’t Start Now” for the first time at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
From the safety of a computer screen, people don’t always realize that what they say on the internet has an effect, and how their words can steal someone’s self-esteem. The viral meme was created at the cost of making a young Dua Lipa question her talent. She managed to not let it govern her confidence, but what about other artists who find themselves at the receiving end of the meme just because they couldn’t meet the expectations of a few people with an internet connection?