Dua Lipa, one of the world’s leading pop stars, was left out of 2025’s incredibly tight Grammy race when the nominations dropped in November, but she’s happy to see others get the attention — especially one of her best friends and supporters in the industry, Charli XCX.
With nods lined up for Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and the year’s internet queen XCX, this year’s Grammy Awards are gearing up to be a certified diva-off. Lipa would have liked to have been included with Radical Optimism, but she’s not overly bothered, considering she’s just had “the best year of [her] life”
“Overall I’m really happy with where I am,” she told Billboard UK for its Global No. 1s series regarding the lack of Academy love for her third studio album. “I don’t think it really matters in the grand scheme of things — where I am, where I want to be and where I’m going. It doesn’t change the way I feel about the record at all.”
The 29-year-old says the album helped her realize some of her biggest dreams, including working with Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, concerts all over Asia, a special Royal Albert Hall performance, and headlining Glastonbury’s mythical Pyramid Stage. “There came a point in the year where I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to sit down and write some new dreams and new plans and other things I wanted to do.'”
Nominated or not, Radical Optimism contributed to a year that was just overwhelmingly ruled by female voices. Most of 2024’s biggest, most talked about albums belonged to women, and the Grammys already reflect that. Beyoncé received a whopping 11 nods for her country turn in Cowboy Carter, officially becoming the most nominated artist in the awards’ history, followed by Eilish and XCX with seven (including a shared best pop duo/group performance nod for their collaboration in “Guess”), and Swift, Carpenter and Roan with six each. Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone were the only male artists to crash the ladies’ party, both with seven nominations.
While Lipa would have been a surefire addition to that list a couple of years ago, this year she’s just happy to see so many of her peers dominate.
Although it would have been nice to be recognized by your industry, especially as a woman, I’m so proud seeing so many incredible female artists nominated at the Grammys this year.”
Album of the Year winner predictions have varied, but the zeitgeist-seizing Brat is comfortably leading the race when it comes to end-of-year “Best Album” lists. Picked by the likes of The New York Times, Billboard, Rolling Stone, and NME as 2024’s best, XCX’s career-defining record also seems to be Lipa’s top pick.
“[Charli] has worked her arse off, and it’s so beautiful to see her get the recognition she deserves,” the British-Albanian singer said, adding “She’s really stuck to her guns and allowed herself to be creative in her own way, and it’s paid off. That’s the best thing that can ever happen to an artist. She’s so deserving of every moment.”
Lipa, of course, is featured in the deluxe version of Brat in the track “Talk Talk” alongside Troye Sivan and has been good friends with XCX since at least 2016, coming up in the same Brit pop scene. In an early 2024 Rolling Stone interview, she named the “360” musician as one of two friends that she really values in the industry, alongside Tove Lo. “Those are just two solid, core girls who are really girls’ girls … Both of them are just so real.”
Recently, a resurfaced clip of XCX doing back-up vocals for her friend on a 2018 BBC Live Lounge appearance went viral. “She was so wrong for having all the girls just do backup vocals omg like not even a single line,” said one fan — a wild sight considering the trajectories both of their careers have taken since.
Months before, in 2017, the Essex musician had promoted Lipa’s debut album on her profile. “Love you, Dua, congratulations,” XCX wrote.
Indeed, the “Houdini” singer isn’t exaggerating when she says XCX has “been so supportive from day one.” “I love her so much … She’s always been a really good friend of mine … She deserves all the flowers,” Lipa gushed.
In 2024, Brat replicated a lot of the same viral success Lipa’s own Future Nostalgia achieved four years ago. And though it would have been fun to see the two London besties make the award rounds together this year, their respective global success is a testament to their hard work and longevity. That Lipa, who was one of the few main pop girls to be overlooked by the Grammys this year, will be channeling her energy towards supporting her friend instead is a lesson in sisterhood that should be celebrated.
Published: Dec 17, 2024 10:32 am