As the rightful winner of many BRIT Awards last night, including British Album of the Year, Dua Lipa graced us with another memorable performance (fresh from the one she gave at the Grammys) complete with a London Underground-centric theme. Walking down into the Charing Cross stop of the Tube, Lipa takes us back to a time when riding public transportation wasn’t so rife with paranoia, even if the strategic “passersby” she comes across are wearing masks and she isn’t (just another instance of celebrity privilege).
Commencing with the opening notes many will still recognize as White Town’s “Your Woman,” “Love Again” kicks off Lipa’s Future Nostalgia medley as she continues her descent into the Underground while a bevy of violinists “just happen” to be there to punctuate her mood (kind of like that scene in “Papa Don’t Preach” where they “happen to be there” to play for Madonna and her “no-good” baby daddy).
The tone changes as the doors open and “Physical” begins. The moment we see Lipa pop in through the other side, she’s already in a new costume—most notably a Union Jack blazer. And these days, more than ever, we all know how controversial wearing a Union Jack as clothing can be. Soon, we see that it’s all, ultimately, just a reconstructed version of the Tube as it proceeds to bifurcate and light up in neon with the stop written above it being: FUTURE NOSTALGIA. The coat eventually comes off to reveal Lipa’s matching Union Jack pleated skirt as she shakes her ass for the cash like we all do. Getting, quite literally, physical as she does so.
From here, she transitions to “Pretty Please,” with her dancers getting more orgiastic than ever (at moments, it reminds one of the choreography Madonna favored for her own dancers during live performances of “Hung Up”). The sectioned off, split portions of the “train” work to her and her dancers’ advantage as they get close and pull apart at their whims. Lipa then flits to “Hallucinate,” where an overhead shot of the psychedelic graphics being showcased on the floor makes for a decidedly “Oops!…I Did It Again” video moment.
Lipa then continues to ramp up her dance floor cachet as a hint of “Boys Will Be Boys” plays—but this is only for an instant. For then, a disco-fied version of “Don’t Start Now” materializes as an aurora borealis-flavored (a.k.a. rainbow) backdrop and bursting confetti materializes. This track in particular holds an especial tinge of “nostalgia.” Because, although many would like to forget all about the key pop culture moments of 2020, it’s hard not to remember that “Don’t Start Now” unwittingly became an anthem of the “stay home, stay safe” mantra chanted at the outset of COVID-19—which made the single ultra memeable (therefore filled with potential to enter the history “books”).
Interpolations of “Future Nostalgia” also get incorporated into the mix, with Lipa’s lyrics, “No matter what you do, I’m gonna get it without ya/I know you ain’t used to a female alpha.” Well, maybe not in Britain–thanks to Margaret Thatcher giving all powerful women a bad name.
As she and her dancers pull the “freeze frame” maneuver that comes at the end of any major choreo breakdown, beams of light emit from the stage, with Lipa calling out with finality, “Walk away, walk away!/Future nostalgia!” Once again proving that she’s one of the only—if not the only—performers who still understands the importance of show(wo)manship, we’re reminded, somewhat bittersweetly, just how much this record was intended to be enjoyed on a dance floor with others (even if Club Future Nostalgia was meant to be an “at-home solution” to this).
Watching Lipa finally be able to maximize what Future Nostaliga was designed for is almost more joyous than actually being “in da club” oneself—where an anxiety attack will inevitably ensue amid all those sweaty, writhing bodies.
