You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
This episode contains explicit language.
Dua Lipa is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter from London.
Her second album, Future Nostalgia, came out in March 2020.
It hit number one on the charts in 13 countries, and it was shortlisted for the UK's Mercury Prize.
One of the songs on the record is Levitating.
Dua co-wrote it with some of her closest collaborators, including producer Steven Kosmanek, a.k.a.
Kaz.
In this episode,
Dua and Kaz break down Levitating and explain how Dua's childhood memories shaped the song's sound.
My name's Dua Lipa.
The day I wrote this song, I actually know the exact date.
Levitating was created on the 28th of August, 2018.
I guess I had just started writing for the second record,
still figuring out where I wanted to go with it,
but knowing what my album title was going to be, which is Future Nostalgia.
And I knew I wanted to touch on my childhood influences.
And a lot of my childhood influences are really songs and music that my parents listened to.