Dua Lipa wanted her performance at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards to be unlike any other.
Speaking to reporters in the press room backstage after the show on Sunday night, Lipa, 25, talked about her dazzling performance of hits “Levitating” and “Don’t Start Now — which featured three different costume changes all created by Atelier Versace — and how she wanted the experience to something she “had never done before.”
“There’s always gonna be a little bit of pressure when you’re performing at the Grammys for sure, so I was a little bit nervous, but I was very excited,” Lipa said.
She continued: “You know we did so much rehearsals and preparation for it and you know I just wanted to do something fun, something I’ve never done before, I wanted to challenge myself a little bit, whether it was from the outfit changes to the choreography to you creating a little bit of drama in a performance that I felt grew as the performance went on.”
Lipa started her upbeat performance with “Levitating,” wearing a sparkly magenta cape and crystal-adorned bralette in front of an aurora-like background. The singer then changed into a Swarovski-embellished blazer with matching boots as DaBaby joined her on stage to perform the remix of the hit with masked backup dancers, who all wore matching pink Versace looks.
Sticking with the magenta palette, Lipa finished her stellar performance with “Don’t Start Now,” complete with a final outfit change featuring a sparkling two-piece set.
“I was just really, really proud of of all of us,” the “Physical” singer said, “and I have to thank my choreographer Charm La’Donna because her and her assistant, Alex, they pulled this all together and it was just absolutely amazing to be able to walk alongside them.”
Also during the award show, Lipa took home the golden gramophone for best pop vocal album for her pandemic soundtrack Future Nostalgia. Other nominees in the category included Changes by Justin Bieber, Chromatica by Lady Gaga, Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa, Fine Line by Harry Styles and Folklore by Taylor Swift.
“This is insane. Future Nostalgia means the absolute world to me and it has changed my life in so many ways,” Lipa said while accepting the award. “One thing that I’ve really come to realize is how much happiness is so important. I felt really jaded at the end of my last album where I felt like I only had to make sad music to feel like it mattered.”
“I’m just so grateful and so honored because happiness is something that we all deserve, and that’s something that we all need in our lives,” she added.
Ahead of the show, Lipa spoke with PeopleTV about her now-Grammy-winning album.
“Because I was at home and not touring or doing all this work that I really got to take it all in and really feel the response from everyone around and really here [what people] thought of the record,” she explained. “It just meant so much to me.”
“I never thought this would happen in a million years — that I would be promoting my record from my sofa or setting up green screens in my living room,” Lipa added.
The Grammy Awards, hosted by Trevor Noah, aired Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS Television Network and Paramount+.
